According to CNN, the so-called "Coal Cares" initiative, the brainchild of activist group Coal is Killing Kids, set up the website claiming to be sponsored by Peabody that offered free inhaler actuators for children living within 200 miles of a coal plant, as well as coupons for the purchase of asthma medication.

The group reportedly took responsibility for the hoax, telling national media including CNN that it is "an environmental and public health group that aims to challenge big coal's expensive lobbying against sensible updates to the Clean Air Act".

Peabody issued a response regarding the fake website quickly to dispel the group’s statements.

“Peabody is proud to help hundreds of millions of people live longer and better through coal-fueled electricity,” officials said.

“A growing collection of studies demonstrate the correlation between electricity fueled by low-cost coal and improvement in health, longevity and quality of life.

“The United Nations has linked life expectancy, educational attainment and income with per-capita electricity use and the World Resources Institute found that for every 10-fold increase in per-capita energy use, individuals live 10 years longer.”

The producer also said while coal use had more than tripled over the past several decades in the US, regulated emissions had dropped 84%.

“Peabody Energy is a global leader in clean coal solutions and is advancing more than a dozen clean coal projects around the world, leading to our ultimate goal of near-zero emissions from coal.”

The company referred interested parties to its website for more information or to pro-coal group CoalCanDoThat.com.