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Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Details 3) (USD $)
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2014
Dec. 31, 2013
Dec. 31, 2012
Property, plant and equipment      
Capitalized interest costs $ 500,000us-gaap_InterestCostsCapitalized $ 1,700,000us-gaap_InterestCostsCapitalized $ 7,700,000us-gaap_InterestCostsCapitalized
Present values of the asset retirement obligations 112,327,000us-gaap_AssetRetirementObligation 116,393,000us-gaap_AssetRetirementObligation 89,478,000us-gaap_AssetRetirementObligation
Sustained price decrease over and above prices used in analysis through life of assets that would result in potential impairment as per sensitivity analysis (as a percent) 5.00%wlt_SensitivityAnalysisPercentageOfSustainedPriceDecreaseOverLifeOfAssetsThatWouldResultInPotentialImpairment    
Asset impairment charges 51,556,000us-gaap_AssetImpairmentCharges 0us-gaap_AssetImpairmentCharges 43,103,000us-gaap_AssetImpairmentCharges
Goodwill impairment 0us-gaap_GoodwillImpairmentLoss 0us-gaap_GoodwillImpairmentLoss 1,064,409,000us-gaap_GoodwillImpairmentLoss
BCCT      
Property, plant and equipment      
Asset impairment charges 51,600,000us-gaap_AssetImpairmentCharges
/ us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionAxis
= wlt_BlueCreekCoalTerminalandAdditionalParcelofLandMember
   
North River Mine      
Property, plant and equipment      
Long-lived asset impairments 0us-gaap_ImpairmentOfLongLivedAssetsHeldForUse
/ us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionAxis
= wlt_NorthRiverMineMember
   
Asset impairment charges   $ 8,000,000us-gaap_AssetImpairmentCharges
/ us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionAxis
= wlt_NorthRiverMineMember
 
Machinery and equipment | Minimum      
Property, plant and equipment      
Estimated useful lives 3 years    
Machinery and equipment | Maximum      
Property, plant and equipment      
Estimated useful lives 10 years    
Land improvements and building | Minimum      
Property, plant and equipment      
Estimated useful lives 15 years    
Land improvements and building | Maximum      
Property, plant and equipment      
Estimated useful lives 30 years    
Capitalized computer systems and software implementation costs | Minimum      
Property, plant and equipment      
Estimated useful lives 3 years    
Capitalized computer systems and software implementation costs | Maximum      
Property, plant and equipment      
Estimated useful lives 5 years