Saturday, November 15, 2014

Ex-Massey CEO Don Blankenship indicted for coal mine disaster that killed 29



Ex-Massey CEO Don Blankenship indicted for coal mine disaster that killed 29
By Gail Sullivan November 14

Don Blankenship testifying on Capitol Hill in 2010. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

When mine safety inspectors arrived at Upper Big Branch, a guard at the front gate would radio the mine office to raise the red flag. “We’ve got a man on the property,” he would say. The message was then passed in code to supervisors using a telephone system that connected underground, where they instructed miners to get rid of accumulated coal dust and throw up missing roof supports and ventilation equipment.

“We just got things legal,” Mike Shull, a former miner at Upper Big Branch told NPR in 2010, the year an explosion at the mine killed 29 men. “You probably had an hour and 15 minutes to get ready.”

The tip-off scheme is described in detail in the 43-page indictment handed down Thursday by a federal grand jury against Don Blankenship, the former chief executive officer of Massey Energy.

“Blankenship knew that [Upper Big Branch] was committing hundreds of safety-law violations every year and that he had the ability to prevent most of the violations,” the indictment alleges. “Yet he fostered and participated in an understanding that perpetuated UBB’s practice of routine safety violations, in order to produce more coal, avoid the costs of following safety laws, and make more money.”

Blankenship was cited 835 times in the 28 months leading up to the worst coal mine disaster in 40 years, in which a combustible mixture of coal dust and methane ignited, killing 29 men working 1,200 feet below ground. The explosion was a direct result of safety violations at the mine, according to a 2011 report by the Mine Safety and Health Administration. Its findings were corroborated by two independent investigations.

“The carnage that was a recurring nightmare at Massey mines during Blankenship’s tenure at the head of that company was unmatched,” United Mine Workers of America President Cecil E. Roberts told the New York Times.

In 2008, Upper Big Branch was ranked as one of the w

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