Massey Energy

see blankenship

SEE CORP BAD ACTOR COAL MURRAY BLANKENSHIP KIA WORKERS

CORP PERSON?

huffpo 12/11

wASHINGTON -- Having left Congress after an embarrassing 2007 arrest, former Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) has quietly reemerged in Washington as a lobbyist working on behalf of the coal industry. According to his federal filings, Craig has registered to wheedle his former Capitol colleagues on the obscure but critical issue of mine safety.

It's an issue that Craig's new client, Murray Energy, knows all too well. The largest privately held coal company in the nation, Murray Energy owned a subsidiary that ran the Crandall Canyon Mine in Utah, the site of a tragic cave-in incident that took the lives of six miners and later three rescuers. The cave-in occurred in August 2007, just weeks after Craig was arrested for allegedly soliciting sex in an airport bathroom.

the addition of a heavyweight like Craig to the coal lobby serves as a reminder of just how difficult it can be to pass mine safety reform in the face of industry influence, even in the aftermath of the worst mining disaster in 40 years. Since 29 miners died in an explosion at theUpper Big Branch minein West Virginia in April 2010, a bill that would further empower the Mine Safety and Health Administration to shut down dangerous mines and punish unsafe operators has languished in Congress. Now that more than a year and a half has passed, the window of opportunity may have already closed for meaningful reform, industry observers say.

"We knew at the very beginning that the further you get from the [Upper Big Branch] tragedy, the less likely it is to get something passed," says a senior Democratic aide. "The pay-to-play politics eventually comes into play. And that's exactly what happened."

The status quo may well be what Murray Energy and the coal lobby are hoping for. Since the Crandall Canyon disaster, congressional staffers who work closely on mine safety issues have come to know the firm's tough CEO, Robert Murray, simply as "Mr. Murray," and they consider him and other deep-pocketed coal operators a prime obstacle to stronger mining regulations.A big Republican donor, Murray feuded publicly with safety-minded Democrats who called for criminal prosecutions of Crandall Canyon managers after the tragedy. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Utah says the Crandall Canyon case is "ongoing," although no charges have been filed in more than four years.

Murray Energy has paid Craig's consultancy and lobby shop, New West Strategies, $200,000 this year to work on legislation surrounding mine safety as well as greenhouse gas emissions. When asked for details about the firm's work, Craig's partner and former chief of staff, Michael Ware, said, "I'm not going to talk to you at all." Murray Energy has so far spent nearly $400,000 on lobbying this year, according to the watchdog group Center for Responsive Politics.

rob Murray, vice president and son to the CEO, declined to talk in detail about Murray Energy'sstance on MSHA and mine safety reform. In an email, he said the company was working to "inform lawmakers of practical solutions to improve the working environment in mines," adding that "the overall health and safety of our employees is our number one priority."

At the time of the tragedy, Robert Murray blamed the mine collapse at Crandall Canyon on an earthquake -- an assertion challenged by MSHA, which levied more than $1 million in penalties against the mine. Similarly, officers at Massey Energy, the owner of Upper Big Branch,have attributed that disaster to a natural explosion, contrary to the findings of both an independent investigative panel and a team of MSHA investigators.

Two exhaustive reports produced on Massey have put the blame squarely on a corporate culture that put profits before workers' well-being. Investigators noted that the company routinely hid safety problems from inspectors and intimidated workers who spoke out about dangerous conditions. Managers went so far as to maintain two sets of safety books -- one that included documented dangers at the mine, and a separate sanitized version for inspectors to see. Alpha Natural Resources, Massey's new owner, has entered into a $210 million settlement over Massey's role in the disaster, though officials have left open the possibility of prosecuting individual Massey officers.

Cynical as it may sound, safety advocates note that the wake of a mining disaster is usually the best opportunity to reform mining law and MSHA, since public attention so rarely turns to such issues. Justin Feldman, worker health and safety advocate at Public Citizen, says he's disappointed but not shocked that nothing legislatively has been done. Feldman says he's actually spoken with congressional aides who wrongly believe a bill was passed after Upper Big Branch.

"We don't see any momentum on this issue," says Feldman. "The industry has survived this, in terms of not being subject to new regulations. ... When I talk to Republicans on this, the first they say is, 'Let's wait for the [next] report to come out.'"

Even piecemeal reforms have proven nearly impossible to get through the GOP-led House. For example, Republicans have twice tried to block a new rule aimed at reducing the number of miners who suffer and die from black lung disease. In September House Republicans tried to scuttle the rule, which would lower the amount of allowable coal dust in a mine's atmosphere, in a health-and-labor budget bill. And last week, as lawmakers scrambled to avoid a shutdown, Republicans put a rider in the budget bill that would simply delay implementation of the new rule by eight months, a move that the United Mine Workers of America said could cost lives.

Since Upper Big Branch, MSHA officials have been trying to clear the agency's infamous backlog of safety cases, which hovered around 70,000 as of the end of September. Many mine owners appeal their safety violations simply as a matter of course, allowing them to continue operating as the judicial process drags on. A 2008 congressional report found that Murray Energy, for instance, had enacted a "blanket policy of contesting all MSHA safety violations, regardless of the merits of the contest petition."

Led by Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and Reps. George Miller (D-Calif.) and Shelly Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), some lawmakers have sought to expand MSHA's limited subpoena power and boost civil and criminal penalties on operators who break the law. Those reforms have been kept at bay by the coal industry, which has spent at least $13 million on lobbying this year, and industry-friendly Republicans, who seem loath to impose any regulations on Big Coal. Earlier this year, an official with the industry group the National Mining Association (NMA), speaking as a guest of the GOP, went so far as to tell lawmakers at a mine safety hearing that the industry should be allowed to simply police itself.

"We're trying to be open-minded about it," NMA spokesman Luke Popovich tells HuffPost, speaking about MSHA reform. "We don't see the need for additional authority. MSHA has only started to use the authority it has that could improve mine safety."

As Upper Big Branch recedes further, reform advocates say it's doubtful they'll eventually overcome both a powerful lobby and anti-regulatory Republicans. Of course, veterans on the issue aren't exactly surprised to see their efforts fizzle. As Rep. Miller himself said earlier this year, "The sad thing is that nothing will happen until the next major disaster."

mofo!

Smith pulled up to another mine, which was also closed but had no guards in its weed-choked parking lot. This Solid Energy mine, along with the Rockhouse mine he drove by earlier, was operated byMassey Energy, now a defunct company with deadly mine disasters in its history and a CEO who went to prison for conspiracy to violate mine safety laws.

Smith got out and walked up to a rusted fence with a padlock. A ball cap shaded his face. Sunglasses hid his tears.

“It’s [been] eating at me for the last two years,” he said, “that I’m going to die over this. … Of all the things that could’ve killed me while I did work there, the rockfalls and all that stuff, I lived through all of that. And I find out years later I’m going to die over black lung. And it’s heartbreaking.”

Smith then mentioned his wife and two daughters and wondered what will happen to them when he’s gone. He wondered about the grandchildren he may never see. His voice breaking again, he talked about the excitement of being a young miner, about the hope and promise of good pay and good lives.

“We was all young and strong and stout and they took advantage of us. Every one of us is either crippled or dead. We was all young men,” he said, crying softly.

Back at his house in a narrow valley — a holler — in Canada, Ky., Smith pointed to a family cemetery on a knoll at the edge of the lawn he has so much difficulty mowing. It features a single gravestone with bright flowers and the names of his parents. Behind it, Smith told us, in the shade, is the burial plot he has picked out for himself. He’s 46 years old.

NPR’s Adelina Lancianese, Barbara Van Woerkom, Katie Lawrie and Cat Schuknecht; Elaine McMillion Sheldon of FRONTLINE; Benny Becker and Jeff Young of Ohio Valley ReSource; and Ellen Smith of Mine Safety and Health News contributed to this story.

https://www.publicintegrity.org/2013/10/29/13585/coal-industrys-go-law-firm-withheld-evidence-black-lung-expense-sick-miners

...at least 15 years since Fox first noticed signs of black lung disease. It started with shortness of breath. Then a cough that yielded black mucus. By 1999, his symptoms convinced him to apply for federal benefits. A doctor certified by the U.S. Department of Labor examined him and diagnosed the most severe form of the disease, known as complicated coal workers’ pneumoconiosis. The government ordered his employer, a subsidiary of behemoth Massey Energy Co., to begin paying him monthly benefits, but, as is almost always the case, the company appealed.

Gary and Mary now found themselves visitors in a foreign world — one populated by administrative law judges who must make sense of reams of medical evidence, sophisticated legal arguments and arcane rules; coal-company lawyers who specialize in the vagaries of the system and know how to attack claims; and doctors who consistently find cause to diagnose almost anything but black lung.

Among the most prominent denizens of this world are the attorneys in the federal black lung unit of the law firm Jackson Kelly PLLC. For almost two centuries, the firm has served the coal industry. It is the go-to place for many of the industry’s giants when they want to beat back a miner’s claim for benefits.

Jackson Kelly, with offices throughout Appalachia, as well as in Denver and Washington, D.C., defends companies accused of polluting the environment, marketing dangerous drugs or discriminating against workers. It helps corporations avoid regulations, drafts bills and lobbies legislators. Its bailiwick, though, is mining. U.S. News & World Report recently named it the nation’s top firm in mining law. Jackson Kelly’s name is on the lips of clinic workers, miners and lawyers throughout Appalachia and is emblazoned atop an office overlooking the Monongahela River in Morgantown, W.Va.

Now, with government scientists documenting a resurgence of black lung disease, the firm’s legal strategy — including, the Center for Public Integrity found, a record of withholding evidence — could have significant consequences for sick miners and their families.

The Robert C. Byrd Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Beckley, W.Va., where Gary and Mary Fox, unable to find a lawyer, faced a seasoned Jackson Kelly attorney during a 2000 hearing. GSA.gov

More from 'Breathless and Burdened'

Part One: The Law Firm

The Center for Public Integrity reports how a prominent law firm has withheld evidence of black lung in cases over the years, helping to defeat the benefits claims of sick miners.

Part Two: The Doctors

The Center, in partnership with ABC News, reports on the crucial role played by doctors — including a unit at the nation’s top-ranked hospital — in helping to beat back miners’ benefits claims. Reports will appear on publicintegrity.org and abcnews.go.com, and televised segments will air on World News and Nightline.

Part Three: The Next Battleground

The Center reports on the newest battle in the long-running war between coal companies and miners, revealing the latest industry effort to defuse emerging scientific evidence and contain its liabilities.

Jackson Kelly PLLC headquarters in Charleston, W.Va. Google Maps

On this September morning in2000, in the courthouse named for longtime Sen. Robert C. Byrd, an experienced Jackson Kelly attorney sat at one table. At the other, Gary and Mary sat alone, having tried unsuccessfully to find a lawyer. This imbalance is not uncommon, as claimants’ attorneys have fled the federal black lung system in recent decades. Time and money are on the side of the coal company, which can hire scads of experts and drag cases out for years or decades. Miners’ lawyers are legally barred from charging claimants any fees, and the payoff, in the rare event of a win, is relatively meager.

Tall, lean and stoic, Fox, then 50, answered the judge’s questions with quiet deference — “Yes, sir” and “No, sir.” His brief testimony, along with the report from the examination paid for by the Labor Department, constituted virtually his entire case. Then it was Jackson Kelly’s turn. Exhibit after exhibit became part of the record — medical reports, depositions, résumés of eminent doctors who’d reviewed the evidence.

More important, however, was what didn’t make it into the record. Two years earlier, doctors had removed a suspicious mass from Fox’s lung. The purpose had been to rule out cancer, which the hospital’s pathologist had done. There is no evidence he looked for signs of black lung, or even that he knew Fox was a miner. Unknown to Fox, however, Jackson Kelly had obtained the slides of his lung tissue and sent them to two pathologists in its usual stable — doctors whose opinions typically supported the firm’s case.

This time Jackson Kelly didn’t get the answer it wanted. Both pathologists wrote reports indicating the mass likely was complicated black lung — a finding that, if credited by the judge, automatically would have won the case for Fox.

The firm’s lawyers could have accepted the opinions of the doctors they’d relied on so many times before. They could have conceded that Gary’s case had merit and agreed to pay him and Mary $704.30 a month, allowing him to escape the dust destroying his lungs. Even if they chose to fight the claim, they could have allowed their experts to see all of the pathology reports as they formed their opinions.

None of that is what the lawyers at Jackson Kelly did. Instead, the firm withheld the reports; Fox, the judge and the firm’s own consulting doctors had no idea they existed. In the months that followed, a team of Jackson Kelly lawyers built a case around the hospital pathologist’s report and its vague diagnosis of “inflammatory pseudotumor.” They encouraged the court and their own consulting doctors to view the report as the sole, definitive account of what Fox’s lung tissue revealed. Even one of the doctors retained by Jackson Kelly originally thought Fox had black lung. After being given the pathologist’s report, he changed his mind.

Relying heavily on the pathology report, a judge denied Fox’s claim for benefits in 2001, leaving him few options. He had a family to support, and he needed health insurance because Mary had a chronic illness.He went back to the mine, his health deteriorating.For years, no one but the firm knew of the powerful evidence that he had the severe disease and should get out of the mine’s dusty atmosphere immediately.

What happened to Gary Fox was not the result of a rogue attorney or singular circumstances. It was part of a cutthroat approach to fighting miners’ claims that Jackson Kelly has employed to great effect for decades, an investigation by the Center for Public Integrity has found. Some of the firm’s tactics go beyond aggressive advocacy, crossing into unethical behavior, according to current and former judges, lawyers and state disciplinary officials. As a result, sick and dying miners have been denied the modest benefits and affordable medical care that would allow them to survive and support their families.

The role of lawyers in orchestrating sophisticated legal strategies to defeat claims for benefits is just the first chapter in the story of a system in which well-paid specialists thrive as miners struggle, the Center’s yearlong investigation, Breathless and Burdened, found. Coal companies rely on a cadre of doctors with prestigious affiliations, including a unit at the nation’s top-ranked hospital, to trump the opinions of miners’ physicians. Experts for hire continue a century-old tradition: denying scientific evidence that black lung can assume different appearances in different people, locking an entire class of sick miners out of the benefits system.

Jackson Kelly, documents show, over the years has withheld unfavorable evidence and shaped the opinions of its reviewing doctors by providing only what it wanted them to see. Miners, often lacking equally savvy lawyers or even any representation, had virtually no way of knowing this evidence existed, let alone the wherewithal to obtain it.

“I’m utterly dumbfounded. I just cannot conceive of attorneys doing that. … That’s really misleading the court. It’s misleading the witnesses.”

-Retired Administrative Law Judge Edward Terhune Miller, after learning evidence had been withheld from him more than a decade earlier.

By the numbers: respiratory deaths, 2000-2010

55,421

All work-related lung diseases

29,002

Mesothelioma, a form of cancer caused by breathing asbestos fibers

26,632

Pneumoconioses, diseases in which dust, such as coal, causes scarring of the lungs

Source: NIOSH; Note: Some deaths may be from multiple causes

Key findings:

Jackson Kelly PLLC, long the go-to law firm for coal companies seeking to beat back miners’ claims for federal black lung benefits, has a decades-long record of:

Withholding key evidence. The firm has shielded reports generated by doctors of its choosing when even they found the miner had black lung. Of 15 cases reviewed in detail by the Center — dating from the 1980s to the present — the firm withheld reports in at least 11. Jackson Kelly has argued, sometimes successfully, that there is nothing improper about its approach, saying it submits evidence that support its case.

Presenting incomplete or potentially misleading evidence. The firm has allowed judges and consulting doctors to form opinions based on only the reports it chose to provide, even as it withheld other documents that cast doubt on what was in the record.

Conceding the case and avoiding disclosure. In the rare instances when a miner’s lawyer pushed for documents to be turned over and a judge commanded the firm to do so, Jackson Kelly, on behalf of its client, sometimes conceded the case, in theory rendering disclosure moot. This happened in six of the cases reviewed by the Center.

In the rare cases in which miners’ lawyers have pushed for access to these materials and a judge has ordered disclosure, Jackson Kelly has fought back aggressively, arguing that it has the right to withhold them. The firm has asked higher courts to intervene and accused judges of bias. It has defied court orders, knowing administrative law judges have no contempt powers to enforce their commands, or conceded the case rather than turn over evidence.

In published decisions, judges have called the firm’s defenses of its actions “ludicrous” and “flimsy at best.” “This is pretty shocking,” a current judge wrote of Jackson Kelly’s behavior in a 2009 email obtained by the Center. “It appears to represent a long-standing pattern of misconduct.”

Still, judges generally haven’t been receptive to arguments that Jackson Kelly’s handling of a particular case is symptomatic of anything broader or that disciplinary action is warranted.

Fox’s case, still unresolved, could change that. A judge deemed Jackson Kelly’s actions in the case a fraudulent scheme that threatened the integrity of the judicial system. A split appeals court vacated that ruling, and the decision is now on appeal. After the Center contacted the West Virginia Office of Disciplinary Counsel and asked whether action would be taken, the office opened investigations into three Jackson Kelly lawyers who were involved in Fox’s case. To date, they have not been charged with any wrongdoing.

The judge who denied Fox’s claim in 2001, Edward Terhune Miller, recently retired and, in an interview with the Center, learned what had been shielded from him more than a decade earlier. His eyes widened, and, for a moment, he was speechless.

“I’m utterly dumbfounded,” he said. “I just cannot conceive of attorneys doing that. … That’s really misleading the court. It’s misleading the witnesses. It’s tainting the witness testimony.”

Jackson Kelly’s general counsel, on behalf of the firm and the individual attorneys contacted by the Center, declined repeated interview requests and would not discuss specific cases or general practices.In court filings, the firm has argued that there is nothing wrong with its approach and that its proper role is to submit the evidence most favorable to its clients.

A spokesman for Alpha Natural Resources, which purchased Massey Energy and is now opposing Fox on appeal, declined to comment on the case while it is ongoing.

Until now, Jackson Kelly’s conduct in black lung cases has remained largely buried in voluminous files that are confidential because of the private medical and financial information they contain.

Over the past year, however, the Center has identified key cases and obtained written permission from miners or their surviving family members to view their entire case files. These 15 files span 40 years and include hundreds of thousands of pages. The Center also reviewed the limited publicly available information on dozens more of the firm’s cases.

“Employer's ‘zealous’ representation strategy instills uncertainty and cynicism into a program intended to compensate miners disabled from black lung disease …” - ALJ Thomas Burke decision in the Gary Fox case, February 9, 2009

In court decisions and emails obtained by the Center for Public Integrity, some judges have criticized Jackson Kelly’s approach in federal black lung benefits claims.

Breathless and Burdened

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_Big_Branch_Mine_disaster

The Upper Big Branch Mine disaster occurred onApril 5, 2010 roughly 1,000 feet (300 m) underground in Raleigh County, West Virginia at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch coal mine located in Montcoal. Twenty-nine out of thirty-one miners at the site were killed.^[1] The coal dust explosion occurred at 3:27 pm.^[2] The accident was the worst in the United States since 1970, when 38 miners were killed at Finley Coal Company's No. 15 and 16 mines in Hyden, Kentucky.^[3][4][5] A state funded independent investigation would later find **Massey**Energy directly responsible for the blast.^[6]

The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) released its final report on December 6, 2011, concluding that flagrant safety violations contributed to the explosion. It issued 369 citations at that time, assessing $10.8 million in penalties.^[7] Alpha Natural Resources, which had bought Massey Energy in 2011, settled its corporate criminal liabilities with the U.S. Attorney for $209 million.^[8] Investigation of possible personal criminal liability continues,^[8] with one former superintendent, Gary May,pleading guilty in March 2012, and "confess[ing] to conspiring to 'impede the [MSHA]'s enforcement efforts'".

In April 2012, Coal producer Alpha Natural Resources Inc. (ANR) (the then current owner) said it will permanently close its Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia.^[9]

Contents

  [hide] 

• 1 Explosion
• 2 Rescue and recovery mission
• 3 Investigation
• 4 Prior history of safety violations and fatalities
• 5 MSHA final report and Dept. of Justice settlement
• 6 Public reactions
• 7 Memorial
• 8 In popular culture
• 9 Guilty plea
• 10 See also
• 11 References
• 12 External links

Explosion

The explosion occurred at 3:27 pm local time (19:27 UTC) on Monday, April 5, 2010, at the Upper Big Branch South Mine near the community of Montcoal, about 30 miles (48 km) south of Charleston. The mine was operated by the Performance Coal Company, a subsidiary of Massey Energy.^[2] The explosion ignited from an unknown source with high methane levels being a contributing causal factor. Twenty-five men were initially identified as killed.^[10] Four days later, four missing men were found dead for a total of 29 deaths.^[11][12] Investigators later faulted Massey Energy for failure to properly maintain its ventilation systems which allowed methane levels to increase to dangerous amounts.^[6]

Rescue and recovery mission

Emergency crews initially gathered at one of the portals for the Upper Big Branch Mine in Birchton, West Virginia, about 2 miles north of Montcoal and 3 miles south ofWhitesville on Route 3 (on the west side of the road).^[13] Kevin Stricklin, an administrator with the Mine Safety and Health Administration, stated 25 were reported dead and 4 unaccounted for. There are four boreholes to the mine; rescuers said they must drill 1,200 feet (370 m) through one of them to reach the affected area where survivors were located. Officials stated that there were two rescue chambers – ventilated rooms with basic supplies for survival – in the mine. On April 6, 2010, at 2:00 am, high levels of methane and carbon monoxide were detected forcing the team of rescuers to higher ground, further delaying the search.^[14]

By Wednesday April 7, eleven bodies had been recovered, while fourteen still had not.^[14] Although there were no indications that the four missing miners were still alive, the operations continued in rescue mode, rather than moving to recovery. Joe Manchin, the Governor of West Virginia, said, "Everyone is holding on to the hope that is their father, their son."^[15] On the morning of April 8, 2010, the rescue efforts were suspended due to dangerous levels of methane in the mine.^[16] Smoke in the mine, still present on April 9, indicated that there was an active fire in the mine making conditions hazardous for rescuers. Rescue attempts were set to resume later that day.^[17]

According to an Associated Press story,^[18] the two safety chambers in the mine were inflatable units made by Strata Safety Products with air, water, sanitary facilities, and food sufficient to support more than a dozen miners for about four days; they could possibly support four miners for longer than 96 hours, though only if any miners managed to reach a chamber after the blast.^[19]

Late on April 9, Governor Manchin announced that the bodies of the four missing miners had been found, bringing the death toll to 29. The miners had not been able to make it to either of the safety chambers. Conditions were so poor in the mine that rescuers who were inside on the first day of the rescue operation unknowingly walked past the bodies of the four miners. It was the worst U.S. coal mining disaster in 40 years.^[20]

Investigation

Due to the large concentration of toxic gases in the mine, MSHA investigators had to wait for over two months to enter the mine for investigation.^[21] Investigators were able to enter the mine on July 2, 2010.^[22]

On May 19, 2011, the independent investigation team released a report which faulted both Massey Energy and the MSHA for the blast. Massey was strongly condemned by the report for multiple failures to meet basic safety standards outlined in the Mine Act of 1977. “A company that was a towering presence in the Appalachian coal fields operated its mines in a profoundly reckless manner, and 29 coal miners paid with their lives for the corporate risk taking,” read the report. “The company's ventilation system did not adequately ventilate the mine. As a result, explosive gases were allowed to build up.” Also detailed in the report are allegations that Massey Energy threatened miners with termination if they stopped work in areas that lacked adequate oxygen levels. Numerous other state and federal safety standards that Massey failed to comply with were detailed in the report.

Investigators also say that the U.S. Department of Labor and its Mine Safety and Health Administration were at fault for failing to act decisively at the mine even after Massey was issued 515 citations for safety violations at the Upper Big Branch mine in 2009. The report lambastes MSHA inspectors for failing to issue a flagrant violation citation which could have fined the company up to $220,000. Investigators claimed that this citation was entirely necessary given Massey's failure to meet basic safety protocols and the investigators found it “disturbing” that the violation was not issued. The failure to issue flagrant violation citations was attributed to MSHA which also failed to notify the miners and their families that they were working in a mine which had not met minimal safety requirements.

 As further evidence of MSHA's failures in the lead up to the UBB mine explosion, the report discusses how MSHA safety inspectors failed to enforce the safety protocols at Massey Energy's Aracoma Alma No. 1 mine. In 2007, a fire broke out at the Aracoma Alma No. 1 mine killing two miners. The report described the fire as “preventable” and cites an internal MSHA review following the fire which found that inspectors “were shocked by the deplorable conditions of the mine” and that MSHA inspectors had “failed” to enforce adequate safety measures. Furthermore the report outlines how in the lead up to the blast the UBB mine “experienced at least three major methane-related events”. One in 1997, another in 2003, and a third in 2004. Instead of addressing these issues, “Upper Big Branch management elected to consider each methane outburst or explosion as an anomaly.” Furthermore, MSHA officials “did not compel (or to our knowledge even ask) UBB management to implement,” safety precautions following these events.

The report states that Massey used its power “to attempt to control West Virginia's political system.” The report cites how politicians were afraid of the company because it “was willing to spend vast amounts of money to influence elections.” Massey intentionally neglected safety precautions for the purpose of increasing profit margins according to the report. Safety precautions in mines are “a hard-earned right paid for with the blood of coal miners” read the report's introduction.^[6] These findings were repeated by miners and their families.^[23][24]

It was claimed that the FBI had launched a probe investigating the possible bribery of federal officials overseeing mining industry regulation by Massey Energy.^[25][26]

In November 2014 the then CEO, Don Blankenship, was indicted by a federal grand jury on four criminal counts, including conspiracy to violate safety laws, defrauding the federal government, securities fraud and making false statements to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.^[27]

Prior history of safety violations and fatalities

In 2009, the company, Massey Energy, was fined a total of $382,000 for "serious" unrepentant violations for lacking ventilation and proper equipment plans as well as failing to utilize its safety plan properly.^[28] In the previous month, the authorities cited the mine for 57 safety infractions.^[29] The mine received two safety citations the day before the explosion, 600 in the preceding 18 months, and 1,342 in the preceding five years. The CEO of Massey Energy, Don Blankenship, has received criticism for his apparent disregard of safety.^[24][30] The Upper Big Branch Mine-South, where the explosion occurred, has been in operation since October 1994.^[31] Between 2000 and 2009, two fatalities occurred at this mine.^[32]

In the previous year, 50 of the safety violations, more than 10%, were categorized as "unwarrantable failures to comply," which indicates willful or gross negligence; this was higher than the 2% national average.^[33]

According to miners at Massey, many employees knew the Big Branch mine was hazardous; to protect themselves some experienced miners had left in months prior to the explosion.^[23] One miner said mine officials "buy off judges and have political connections. They disregard safety rules; they get away with it. And most of all they work you to the bone."^[23] Another miner said “When you work for Massey, you give your life to Massey.^[23] According to the World Socialist Web Site, many of the mine's infractions prior to the explosion entailed a sharp increase in coal production.^[23]

MSHA final report and Dept. of Justice settlement

On December 6, 2011, the MSHA concluded its investigation, deciding that the disaster was an entirely preventable coal dust explosion. It said "the root cause of the tragedy" was "unlawful policies and practices" of the company and issued 369 citations at the same time as the report.^[7][34][35]

On the same day the U.S. Attorney announced a settlement with Alpha Natural Resources, which had acquired Massey Energy's assets and liabilities in 2011.^[8][34]

Alpha Natural Resources will pay a MSHA $10.8 million civil fine plus $209 million for the Dept. of Justice settlement.^[7] The settlement comprises $46.5 million in restitution payments, $34.8 million in fines for safety citations, $48 million for a health and safety research and development trust fund, and $80 million for safety improvements during two years. The restitution payments are $1.5 million to each of the two survivors and the families of each the 29 fatal casualties. The civil fine is about 5 times bigger than the previous largest fine for a mining accident. The settlement ends the corporation's criminal liability, although investigation of possible individual criminal liability continues.^[34]

The 1000 page MSHA report dismissed Massey Energy's theory of a sudden surge of natural gas. It said 12 of its citations were related to the disaster, including 9 in the most severe "flagrant" category. Most important was failure to check for methane and failure to clean up coal dust. It recounted examples of a corporate culture more devoted to production than safety, and recounted examples of employees sanctioned for delaying production in order to resolve safety issues.^[34]

While the investigation found the physical conditions that led to the coal dust explosion were the result of a series of basic safety violations at UBB, which PCC and Massey disregarded, the report cites unlawful policies and practices implemented by PCC and Massey as the root cause of the explosion --- including the intimidation of miners, advance notice of inspections, and two sets of books with hazards recorded in UBB's internal production and maintenance book but not in the official examination book. The investigation found that the operator promoted and enforced a workplace culture that valued production over safety, including practices calculated to allow it to conduct mining operations in violation of the law.

— MSHA News Release 11-1703-NAT^[7]

Public reactions

Davitt McAteer, former leader of the Mine Safety and Health Administration had harsh words for the disaster citing lessons unlearned from the 2006 Sago Mine disaster: "That was defining of Sago. That was one of the first things that we are not doing enough and we know how to remove methane and control dust problems and the fact that we had an explosion with methane or dust suggests that we are not doing enough to protect miners.”^[39] Days before the disaster a United States Department of Labor report emerged entitled "Journeyman Mine Inspectors Do Not Receive Required Periodic Training".^[40] The report detailed the federal governments shortcomings in retraining its mine inspectors.State and federal leaders, including Governor Manchin, United States Senators Robert Byrd and Jay Rockefeller, United States Representative Shelly Moore Capito, and Cecil Roberts of the United Mine Workers of America, all expressed their condolences to the families of the workers.^[36] On April 5, 2010, Governor Manchin and President of the United States Barack Obama spoke over the phone; the president expressed his condolences and offered federal assistance.^[37] The American Red Cross and theSalvation Army have sent workers to the scene to provide emergency response vehicles, mental health counselors, food and water.^[38]

Massey Energy is the sixth largest coal company in the country, owning 56 mines. Historically, this area of West Virginia has been dependent on coal production and on Massey Energy.^[41] Relatives of the missing and confirmed dead expressed their anger that they were not notified directly by Massey Energy executives, but found out information from the company website or government sources. "They're supposed to be a big company," said Michelle McKinney, daughter of a missing employee, "These guys, they took a chance every day to work and make them big. And they couldn't even call us." McKinney was alerted of the incident by a local school.^[14]Miners stated that they were warned of reprimand or losing their jobs if they took time from work to attend funerals.^[23][24] A former miner asked, "Is a lump of coal that valuable to you that you can’t even give the miners a day off to mourn their friends?"^[23] A miner's wife told the World Socialist Web Site, "These are the miners’ brothers; they know them better than their own families, and they can’t even attend their funerals.”^[23]

Ted Turner commented on CNN about the mine disaster, stating "I'm just wondering if God is telling us He doesn't want to drill offshore (in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill off of the Gulf of Mexico.). And right before that, we had that coal mine disaster in West Virginia where we lost 29 miners ... Maybe the Lord's tired of having the mountains of West Virginia, the tops knocked off of them so they may get more coal. I think maybe we ought to just leave the coal in the ground and go with solar and wind power and geothermals..."^[42]

The West Virginia University Mountaineers will wear Nike Pro Combat System of Dress uniforms designed to pay respect to the deadly explosion at the Big Branch Mine, for the 2010 Backyard Brawl against the rivial Pitt Panthers. According to the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, West Virginia will wear a shade of white "that looks as if it has a fine layer of dust on the jersey" and has accents in university gold that "references the canaries used long ago to test toxicity in mines." The helmet has a thin yellow line, designed to look like "the beam of light emitted by a miner's headlamp."^[43]

Memorial

The Upper Big Branch Miners Memorial in Whitesville, West Virginia features a 48-foot (15 m) black granite monument with life-size silhouettes of twenty-nine miners etched on the front.^[44]

The reverse side of the monument tells the "Story of Coal", a brief summary of the coal industry and its impact on West Virginia and the nation. Also etched on the back is a tribute to all coal miners who have suffered illness, injury or death as a result of working in the coal industry and a tribute to the makeshift gazebo memorial. The names of all twenty-nine miners killed and the two survivors are listed as well. Dedicated in July 2012, the memorial also includes a bronze sculpture and plaque recognizing the local first responders and mine rescue teams from West Virginia and neighboring states that aided in recovery efforts. The bronze sculpture was created by West Virginia native Ross Straight.^[45]

Beside the parking area is a gateway to the memorial. Three interpretive signs tell the story of the Upper Big Branch Disaster and serve as an introduction to the events of that day and following week.

The memorial and plaza were designed by Rob Dinsmore of the Chapman Technical Group and built by Pray Construction.

In January 2013, a web memorial, www.ubbminersmemorial.com, was launched.^[46]

In popular culture

Singer-songwriter Ray Harris's song "West Virginia Coal Mine" is a song about the Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster. The song is written from the point of view of a miner.^[47]

Hip-Hop-Bluegrass fusion group Gangstagrass recorded the song "Big Branch" with Portuguese-born artist Tomasia in their album Lightning on the Strings, Thunder on the Mic, released in 2010. The song is written from the perspective of a woman whose family worked at the Big Branch coal mine for a number of generations, and is generally critical of the coal mining industry.

Guilty plea

'People who run coal mines have a fundamental obligation to be honest with mine regulators,' said Booth Goodwin, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia, in announcing the guilty plea of a former superintendent of the Upper Big Branch Mine, Gary May, who confessed to conspiring to impede the Mine Safety and Health Administration's enforcement efforts. 'When mine operators resort to tricks and deceit to keep government officials in the dark, our mine safety system unravels and miners are put in harm's way.' May owned up to giving advance warning of inspections and concealing violations including 'poor airflow in the mine; piles of loose, combustible coal; and scarcities of rock dust, which prevents mine explosions,' the government said." When the plea was announced, May faced up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.^[48]

See also

• Monongah Mining disaster

References

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46. :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;-webkit-user-select:none;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^ Upper Big Branch Miners Memorial. Retrieved: February 20, 2013.
47. :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;-webkit-user-select:none;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^ Pitta, Terra (July 1, 2015). Catastrophe - A Guide to World's Worst Industrial Disasters. Alpha Editions. ISBN 9385505173.
48. :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;-webkit-user-select:none;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^ Spain, William, "Guilty plea in 2010 mine disaster", MarketWatch, March 29, 2012. Retrieved March 29, 2012.

External links

• Upper Big Branch Mine disaster — official U.S. MSHA site
• Massey Energy Company Preliminary Report of Investigation — Massey Energy's June 3 report on the explosion
• Montcoal Mine Disaster — The Register-Herald special section
• A Tragic Anniversary: Improving Safety at Dangerous Mines One Year after Upper Big Branch: Hearing of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, United States Senate, One Hundred Twelfth Congress, First Session, March 31, 2011
• *Faces of the Mine* Online memorial

Categories: 

• Raleigh County, West Virginia
• Coal mining disasters in West Virginia
• 2010 mining disasters
• 2010 disasters in the United States
• Massey Energy
• 2010 in West Virginia
• Explosions in 2010

==

==

People v. The Coal Baron

Posted on July 8 2015 by Bri Holmes

West Virginia — In 2010, a disastrous coal mine explosion at the Upper Big Branch facility claimed the lives of twenty-nine miners. An independent report investigating the blast found Massey Energy directly responsible for its neglect. Massey’s parent corporation agreed to criminal and civil penalties, but such recklessness deserves harsher penalties than a fine or a slap on the wrist.

The Report of the Governor’s Independent Investigation Panel (the “Report”) concerning the April 2010 Upper Big Branch Mine explosion and deaths describes in more than 100 pages how Massey repeatedly placed profits ahead of worker safety and compliance with the law, and has a long history of criminal and civil violations of law.

Driving Massey Energy’s aggressive growth and misconduct, is former CEO Don Blankenship. Blankenship’s “quasi-dictatorial management style as chief executive produced spectacular results for Massey.”During his tenure as CEO, Blankenship elevated Massey Energy from a modest business to a multi-billion dollar corporation, and the sixth-largest coal company in the country. Various accounts tell of Mr. Blankenship spending millions of dollars to thwart the efforts of politicians and judges that he saw as threats against his free-market and anti-regulatory views.

Federal prosecutors found the deadly explosion resulted from Massey cutting corners on important safety measures, and last November a grand jury indicted Blankenship on four criminal counts. The counts include conspiracy to violate mine safety standards and conspiracy to impede federal mine safety officials. If convicted, he could face up to 31 years in prison.

The people of West Virginia hailed the indictment as a major breakthrough.

Although the charges against Blankenship mark a shift in improving mine safety and accountability, Massey Energy got off easy.

:{Revoking Massey Energy’s corporate charter in Delaware :(style="background-color:#ffff66;"):}:is a way to hold the corporation accountable for its lethal neglect.

A corporation is an artificial entity. It exists only because we the people — represented by a state government — allot a charter. Just as we the people can grant that charter, we can also revoke it. Most major corporations in the U.S., including Massey Energy, are legally based in Delaware. To revoke a charter, the state of Delaware must take action.

In 2011, Free Speech For People, Appalachian Voices, and Rainforest Action Network delivered a petition with 35,000 signatures calling for Massey’s corporate charter to be revoked.

With increasing consequences of unrestrained multinational corporate power in America, corporate charter accountability is more important than ever. Individuals, like Don Blankenship must be brought to justice for their actions, but corporations should not be let off the hook.

To learn more about our initiative to revoke Massey’s corporate charter, click here.

Watch the video below to find out more about our Model Corporate Charter Revocation Act.

http://freespeechforpeople.org/people-v-the-coal-baron/

==

==

misplaced?

Massey Energy to Pay Largest Civil Penalty Ever for Water Permit Violations

Release Date: 01/17/2008

Contact Information: Contact: Roxanne Smith, 202-564-4355 / smith.roxanne@epa.gov

(Washington, D.C. – Jan. 17, 2008) Massey Energy Company Inc. has agreed to pay a $20 million civil penalty in a corporate-wide settlement to resolve Clean Water Act violations at coal mines in West Virginia and Kentucky, the Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced. This is the largest civil penalty in EPA’s history levied against a company for wastewater discharge permit violations.

"This is a landmark settlement for the environment, and raises the bar for the mining industry," said Granta Nakayama, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. "Today's action reiterates the message that EPA will enforce environmental laws."

“The measures required by this settlement represent a significant step forward in the way that mining facilities currently address Clean Water Act compliance,” said Ronald J. Tenpas, assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department’s Environmental and Natural Resources Division. “This settlement will greatly benefit citizens in West Virginia and Kentucky and improve many of our nation’s waters for years to come.”

As part of the settlement, Massey, the fourth largest coal company in the United States, has agreed to take measures at all of its facilities that will prevent an estimated 380 million pounds of sediment and other pollutants from entering the nation’s waters each year. These compliance measures are unprecedented in the coal mining industry.

In a complaint filed on May 10, 2007, the government alleged that Massey violated its Clean Water Act permits more than 4,500 times between January 2000 and December 2006. The complaint alleged that Massey discharged excess amounts of metals, sediment, and acid mine drainage into hundreds of rivers and streams in West Virginia and Kentucky. Many of the pollutants were discharged in amounts 40 percent or more than allowed. Some pollutants were discharged at levels more than 10 times over the permit limits. 

The complaint also alleged that Massey spilled large amounts of slurry, which is waste containing metals and sediment, into local waterways numerous times. Sediment can clog streams and harm fish habitats. The spills occurred as a result of failures in the processing, storage, and transportation of coal slurry. 

In addition to the penalty, Massey will invest approximately $10 million to develop and implement a set of procedures to prevent future violations. Massey will implement an innovative electronic tracking system that allows the company to quickly address compliance problems and correct any violations of permit limits. This measure fits within a comprehensive environmental compliance program that Massey has agreed to implement, which includes in-depth internal and third-party audits, employee training, and a plan to prevent future slurry spills. 

Massey will also set aside 200 acres of riverfront land in West Virginia for conservation purposes and protection from future mining. The company is also required to perform 20 projects downstream from mining operations. 

Massey, the largest coal producer in Central Appalachia, owns and operates approximately 33 underground mines and approximately 11 surface mines in West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia, with corporate headquarters in Richmond, Va. Massey controls 2.3 billion tons, or approximately one-third, of the coal reserves in Central Appalachia.

The company holds hundreds of state-issued wastewater discharge permits. The permits allow the company to discharge certain pollutants in limited amounts to rivers, streams, and other water bodies. Some pollutants must be treated with chemicals prior to discharge, while others must go through a settling process. Massey is required to monitor discharges regularly and report results to the state agency. Permits are issued for a five-year term. 

The consent decree, lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, is subject to a 30-day public comment period and approval by the federal court. 

More information on the Massey settlement:_{http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/cases/civil/cwa/massey.html}_

More information on Clean Water Act Enforcement: _{http://www.epa.gov/compliance/civil/cwa/index.html}_

Help EPA protect our nation's land, air and water by reporting violations: http://www.epa.gov/tips

......

==

price of justice laurence leamer

pricejustice

12/18/2013

6k workers, 40 mil tons col /yr p 14  28 yrs at massey

suruvual of fittest = most productive

massey bought United, sub-cvo Wellmore had longterm contract to buy Harmon coal, but DB decidedd too $, Caperton wartne not to sue by DB, but won 50 mil$ Boone cty WV. before appeal, DB spent 3 mil $ to elect brent d benjamin jusge (1 of 39 states that elect) p 15 also japan ans swirzerland; $ 2x 8 yrs before n elections; big % 40% 15 DB #1 by far anywhere? 15

Ted O pal of scalia and chf just JRoberts 17; took cap case b/c of 4th wife lady booth demo?, image makeover 17

coal co's used cts to prevent miners from marching or even meeting in a church 35

100k miners kia, more than VN and Korea 35  1940 130k mineras, by 97 20K p 35

we spend a mil/mo on lawywers" cap offered to settle for 6 when owed 17m$, DB didled for mos, then walked, had to defult so ut of biz

took over M 1991, fired 12%, ended retirement rx for new hires 49

db born? 6 mi for matewan 1920, next eat 100 kia Blir Mtn

2000 fluor spun off massey, so no oversight

elliot spike maynard judge mingo

2000 massey spill 230 mil gal coal slurry in E kty 3 others too

made 200m$ 1999 to 1 mil loss 2001? 154  fines

db couldaffordto pay cap off, but had to win

sup ct appels WV progressive: starcher cherry bomb dad was to send to ref school but teachers got him 2nd chance, felt sorry of kid accused of molestation 205

USCoC war on judges 2003 100M$ 3 yrs 198 target McGraw (trial lawyers0

july 2004 DB meets  pol ops Gregory Alan Thomas,

WV maj dems and historically as liberal as Mass denied gore 5 votes, coal fired victory, looking for payback in mtntop 210

DB 527 "and for the Sake of the Kids' 212  davis set up? let child rapist go free to work in our school ads  Robin Jean Davis wrote both maj opinion anddissent/ 218  3m$ = 60% got 90% of vote; DB said he spend 4m$ to get starcher next time

maynard partied on riviera w/ 42 yo paraleglal

starcher wrote in jrnl decided now 75M caperton case in less 60secs; benj and maynard pals and robin kiss butt for her husb.

ted o intersted in recusal

syanley tied to nullify maynrd vote

nyt do sammuels taunted to scotus on recusal 304 kennedy, steven, souter gins and breyer rule w/345 kennedy swing vote

11/09 sup ct appeal w v rejected cap 3rd time, now 4-1

apr 5 2010 upper big branch, citeds 3K x since 95, twice on day of expl 356, rahall heard probs 2 mos before; bobby ray inman w/ DB for press conf (aslo ex head mine safety Suboleski appt by b2 357 inman attacked press.

Rawl Sales dumped 1.4 billion gal into mine shaft; pl got sick; DB ran pvt water supply 359

1972 slurrt spill kia 118 ppl

dr thot meth b/c one tooth leftm but water manganese 360

july 2010 db press conf rant marathon, bd fired/ quit dec 2010 10 mil salary, 40 mil retirement, 15 mil asorted 370 office and sec 5 yrs...1965 chevy pickup

competitonist www

massey upper big branch

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/21198255/#.Un6V6fnks0w

Records Show Upper Big Branch Mine Amassed Scores of Safety Citations, Thousands in Fines

Massey Energy CEO Releases Statement Saying Safety is 'Top Priority'

By MATTHEW MOSK and ASA ESLOCKER

Apr. 6, 2010 —

The West Virginia coal mine where an explosion killed 25 workers and left another four unaccounted for in the worst mining disaster since 1984 had amassed scores of citations from mining safety officials, including 57 infractions just last month for violations that included repeatedly failing to develop and follow a ventilation plan.

The federal records catalog the problems at the Upper Big Branch mine, operated by the Performance Coal Company. They show the company was fighting many of the steepest fines, or simply refusing to pay them. Performance is a subsidiary of Massey Energy. Another Massey subsidiary agreed to pay $4.2 million in criminal and civil fines last year and admitted to willfully violating mandatory safety standards that led to the deaths of two miners. The fine was the largest penalty in the history of the coal industry.

The nation's sixth biggest mining company by production, Massey Energy took in $24 million in net income in the fourth quarter of 2009. The company paid what was then the largest financial settlement in the history of the coal industry for the 2006 fire at the Aracoma mine, also in West Virginia. The fire trapped 12 miners. Two suffocated as they looked for a way to escape. Aracoma later admitted in a plea agreement that two permanent ventilation controls had been removed in 2005 and not replaced, according to published reports.

The two widows of the miners killed in Aracoma were unsatisfied by the plea agreement, telling the judge they believed the company cared more about profits then safety. After the deal, the Massey subsidiary pledged a renewed focus on safety after the fines were levied.

But Bruce Stanley, the attorney who tried the Aracoma Mine accident case, had doubts. He told ABC News Monday there are a lot of similarities between the Aracoma mine and the one involved in this week's tragedy, and he has concerns about Massey's checkered track record on safety issues. Data kept by the Mine Safety and Health Administration show the Upper Big Branch mine has suffered three worker fatalities in last 12 years.

"One can only hope that the level of criminal neglect evident at the Aracoma accident was not repeated at the Upper Big Branch mine," Stanley said Monday night.

After the Aracoma accident, Massey Energy released a statement that said the company "is a recognized leader in safety innovation and performance and remains committed to working with federal and state agencies to fully understand the causes of the accident and to prevent a similar occurrence at Massey Energy or elsewhere in the future."

Monday night, Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship released a statement saying, "Our top priority is the safety of our miners and the well-being of their families. We are working diligently on rescue efforts and continue to partner with all of the appropriate agencies."

"You're Liable to Get Shot"

The company is well known in West Virginia, in part because CEO Don Blankenship grew to become a fixture in state politics, doling out thousands of dollars to candidates he favored – most of them Republicans. In 2004, he spent millions on advertising that attacked a West Virginia state Supreme Court justice, leading to the election of challenger Brent Benjamin.

Massey had a $70 million case before the state Supreme Court and, once elected, Benjamin made the controversial decision not to recuse himself because of Blankenship's support of him and to hear arguments anyway. Another member of the court hearing the case was Chief Justice Elliott "Spike" Maynard. He later recused himself after photographs surfaced showing that he vacationed with Blankenship in the French Riviera.

When an ABC News reporter tried to interview Blankenship about the possible conflicts in the parking lot of a Massey Energy office in Belfry, Ky., Blankenship became agitated.

"If you're going to start taking pictures of me, you're liable to get shot," Blankenship told the reporter before grabbing his camera.

Blankenship later told the Charleston Daily Mail he couldn't recall making any threats. "Quite frankly, I don't know what I said except that I know I'm never loud, vulgar or rude to strangers," he said.

The conflicts surrounding the state Supreme Court saga triggered a cascade of changes, including a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that called on judges to recuse themselves when major donors come before them in court, and a vote by the West Virginia legislature to adopt public financing of judicial campaigns.

Click Here for the Blotter Homepage.

==

The Desperate Plight of Retired Coal Miners

Posted: 02/28/2013 5:20 pm

I got an email from David Miller, a retired West Virginia coal miner and former president of a United Mine Workers' local, that made me both sad and angry. "Myself and other retired and active miners got on a bus at the Ohio Valley Mall and went to St. Louis to protest at Peabody coal," Miller wrote. "Some of the retirees were in their 70's. I sat listening while they spoke of their medical conditions to each other. Some had cancer, some problems breathing and many did not get around very well. These men took a bus trip that was about 11 hours each way to protest. The protest was on 2-13-13. Ten men were arrested."

These men who had worked at many different mines were there protesting at a time when they should have been playing with their grand kids and enjoying their senior years. They were there because they risked losing their pension and health benefits. They had mined the coal without which our lights would grow dim and there would be no steel to build our cities, and this was what was greeting them.

Their problems began back in 2007 when Peabody spun off a new company that they named Patriot Coal. They gave it 13 percent of the larger company's coal reserves, but a whopping 40 percent of future health care liabilities from 8,400 miners. These are massive obligations based largely on long past union contracts, and coal companies do whatever they can to get rid of them. Patriot went ahead and acquired a subsidiary of Arch Coal called Magnum Coal and loaded up with 2,300 more retirees health obligations. All told Patriot was saddled with $1.37 billion in future obligations according to The New Republic.

And then Patriot declared bankruptcy. The United Mine Workers is suing Peabody and Arch, saying they can't walk away from their obligations in such a blatant fashion.

This isn't the first time coal companies have figured out a way to avoid social responsibility. It's basically a way of doing business. Years ago, the A.T. Massey Coal Company figured out that they would mine the richest seams, give the lesser seams to their subsidiaries and the worst seams to contractors. In a brilliant series in 1993, the Charleston Gazette's Paul Nyden wrote that in the previous 13 years, the Massey contract operations "left behind more than $200 million in debts in Southern West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky alone."

Peabody and Arch seem to be following in a business tradition. The companies argue that they had no idea that Patriot would fail and it's not their problem.

David Miller and several thousand other retired miners think otherwise. "Do you think area newspapers print labor issues so people will know what is going on?" Miller asks. "Or do they just print stories that favor the radical right? What side is West Virginia Congressman David McKinley, Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia attorney general Patrick Morrisey, and Governor Earl Ray Tomblin on?"

Those are all good questions.

==

ECKLEY, W.Va. — The chief executive at the time of the deadly West Virginia mine explosion was implicated by a former longtime subordinate Thursday of ordering a widespread corporate practice of warning coal miners about surprise federal inspections.

The allegation made a former president of a Massey Energy subsidiary came as he pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges and as federal investigators have signaled they are working their way up the ladder to what experts say would be a rare prosecution of a major corporate executive.

Former White Buck Coal Co. president David Hughart admitted in federal court to working with others to ensure miners at his company and other Massey mines got advance warning about inspections between 2000 and March 2010.

==

FOIA:

Escalating Legal Action Against Mountaintop Removal Activists

Anti-coal protesters in West Virginia have been facing escalated legal struggles as a result of their non-violent actions against mountaintop removal. Protests in 2008 were often met with arrests for trespassing, where the individuals involved in the actions were ticketed and released. Since that time, bails have increased as well as charges. Protesters have been denied the right to a bail bondsman in some cases. Critics note that this has been done in an attempt to keep the activists in jail longer.

:{Massey Energy:(style="background-color:#fff200"):}:, which has been the target of many of the most recent protests in West Virginia, has filed multiple civil lawsuits against these activists arrested on their property.^[68]

Lawsuits demanding injunctions and so-far unspecified money for “damages” have been filed against dozens of these protesters: one suit in Raleigh County against participants in several protests there early in 2009, one suit in Boone County against participants in an action there, and a separate Raleigh County suit against participants in a tree-sit [plastic rope terrorist?]action last summer. Protesters not actually named in any of these suits have been found in contempt of a court’s injunction for “acting in concert” with one of a suit’s named parties; that ruling is currently being appealed. In addition, Massey recently filed suit in federal court against participants in the January tree-sit protest at Massey's Marfork Complex, requesting at least the minimum of $75,000 in damages that would make such a case eligible for federal court.^{[68] http://www.counterpunch.org/2010/03/02/mountain-injustice/}

SW mtr

--

March 02, 2010

Escalating Sanctions Against Mountain Top Removal Activists

Mountain Injustice  http://www.counterpunch.org/2010/03/02/mountain-injustice/

by TRICIA SHAPIRO

"Protesters Occupy Marfork Coal Co.’s Office in Response to Mounting Violations,” said a press release from the protesters’ supporters at Climate Ground Zero on Thursday morning, Feb. 18.

A news release from Massey Energy, Marfork’s parent company, told rather a different story: “EnvironmentalTerroristsInvade Marfork Coal Company Office…. Three criminals clad in fatigues and carrying chains invaded a company office and chained themselves to chairs in the lobby. A terrified receptionist went into shock and was transported by ambulance to a local hospital…. One of the criminals, Mike Roselle, was a founding member of Earth First!, which is considered by many to be a domestic terrorist group…. These domestic terrorists are part of an anti-coal group that wants to shut down mining in Appalachia and destroy West Virginia’s economy.”

Massey’s “news release” doesn’t specify who those “many” are who consider Mike and his colleagues to be “domestic terrorists.”But even right-wing activist Ron Arnold, who’s written an entire book on “ecoterrorism,” asserts that “Roselle may be a terrible pain in the ass, but he’s no terrorist.” Writing shortly after Mike’s first trespassing arrest on Massey property, at Marfork’s Bee Tree strip mine site a year ago, Arnold scolded those who would “dilute” the meaning of the word terrorism by applying it to nonviolent protest.

“Face it,” he wrote, “what he did was civil disobedience, not terrorism.”

The claim that “a terrified receptionist went into shock” is equally puzzling. “She was definitely startled when we came in,” says Joe Hamsher, one of the three protesters arrested that day. But soon “she calmed down. She was even laughing.”

Protests are not a new experience for Massey workers. Since February of last year, more than 130 arrests have been made at civil-disobedience actions protesting mountaintop-removal (MTR) strip mining for coal in West Virginia. Several of those actions have targeted Marfork, which has begun blasting at its Bee Tree MTR site a short distance from its enormous Brushy Fork impoundment, which holds billions of gallons of liquid coal waste up above the Coal River valley. Anti-MTR activists and local residents are concerned that blasting so close to the impoundment, which is built over abandoned underground coal mine tunnels, risks catastrophic flooding that by Massey’s own estimate could kill close to a thousand people.

The only violence or threats of violence at any of these actions have been directed at the protesters, not vice versa. For example, at a protest rally at the front gate of Massey’s Goals Coal facility last June, a Massey supporter slapped anti-MTR activist Judy Bonds hard enough that she couldn’t move her neck properly for days. Most recently, in January, workers at Marfork’s Bee Tree site blared multiple airhorns, day and night, at three protesters sitting in trees there, risking permanent damage to the protesters’ hearing. At a previous tree sit, last summer, a sitter was threatened with gang rape.

“We were definitely not much of a threat to her,” Joe Hamsher says, referring to the receptionist at the Marfork office. “I mean, we were locked down.” Joe, the first of the three to enter the building that morning, announced “this is a protest,” then immediately sat down and locked himself to a chair. (That’s why they were carrying chains.)

Meanwhile, Mike Roselle posted a sign reading “CLOSED: Stop the Blasting!” on the building’s front door. A Marfork employee tore the sign down, while the third protester, Tom Smyth, took pictures. Then Mike and Tom entered the building and sat down near Joe. Tom chained himself to his chair.

The three protesters had brought with them a “citizen’s arrest warrant” for Marfork’s president. “Since 1994,” the warrant read, “the Marfork Coal Company has committed over 100 documented permit violations…. Marfork’s continued operations in such close proximity to both Marsh Fork Elementary and the Pettus Head Start Program are not only endangering, but also assaulting the children at these locations with coal dust and other particulates floating off of the mine sites owned by Marfork Coal…. Marfork is continuing its operations on the Bee Tree Strip Mine, placing nearby communities in imminent danger. As President of the Marfork Coal Company, you are responsible for the illegal practices of Marfork. Given the absence of any intervention from West Virginia or federal law enforcement, a citizen’s warrant has been issued for your, Christopher L. Blanchard’s, arrest.”

Two hours after the protesters arrived, state police took them away to jail. (When they left, the allegedly terrified receptionist was still at work, showing no ill effects, Joe notes.) The three were charged with trespass, obstruction, and conspiracy– all misdemeanors. Bail was set for Joe and Tom at $5,000 each, for Mike at $7,500. The magistrate specified that the arrestees would have to raise the entire $17,500 in cash, rather than paying a bail bondsman a small fraction of the money, typically 10 percent. ./maxresdefault.jpg).)

The Massey “news release” cited above quotes the company’s chairman and CEO, Don Blankenship, saying: “These criminals have been allowed to become more and more aggressive with little repercussion.”

In fact, the “repercussion” against anti-MTR protesters in West Virginia has escalated dramatically over the past year. Early on, protesters arrested for trespassing were simply ticketed and released. Now, they’re sent to jail and required to raise large sums of bail money. Even accused murdererers and child molesters are typically permitted to use the services of a bail bondsman, to reduce the amount of cash they have to muster to get out of jail before trial. But West Virginia magistrates are now typically specifying large cash-only bonds for civil-disobedience arrestees at anti-MTR protests. This has resulted in protesters being kept in jail after their arrests, but before any trial, sometimes for many days, far longer than the norm for such nonviolent offenses. (Of the three Marfork protesters, Joe was bonded out after eight days in custody. Tom and Mike remain in jail. Click here to help them raise bail.) When protest cases do come to trial, the fines assessed have generally been increasing as well.

In addition to these escalating sanctions in criminal court, Massey lawyers have filed multiple civil suits against protesters arrested on their property. Lawsuits demanding injunctions and so-far unspecified money for “damages” have been filed against dozens of these protesters: one suit in Raleigh County against participants in several protests there early in 2009, one suit in Boone County against participants in an action there, and a separate Raleigh County suit against participants in a tree-sit action last summer. Protesters not actually named in any of these suits have been found in contempt of a court’s injunction for “acting in concert” with one of a suit’s named parties; that ruling is currently being appealed. In addition, Massey recently filed suit in federal court against participants in the January tree-sit protest at Marfork, requesting at least the minimum of $75,000 in damages that would make such a case eligible for federal

court.

At a hearing for the federal lawsuit on Tuesday, Feb. 23, Massey attorney Sam Brock said that activists protesting against Massey “just have to live by the same rules as everybody else.” Sitting in the courtroom that day, I remembered Massey’s 2008 settlement with the federal EPA for thousands of permit violations related to the Clean Water Act: Massey agreed to pay $20 million, although given the number and nature of the violations the EPA could properly have assessed $2 billion or more–100 times as much. (Massey’s own estimate of this prior to the settlement was $1.5 to $7 billion.) Furthermore, just a few weeks ago, in January, a coalition of environmental groups announcing their intent to sue Massey cited documentation that the company’s permit violations had become even more frequent since the EPA settlement.

Would an even-handed application of “the same rules” allow protesters to commit, say, 99 (or more) civil-disobedience actions with impunity before being arrested for one of them?

“While Massey’s lawyers were in court today trying to enjoin anyone anywhere from trespassing on Massey operations,” Vern Haltom, co-director of Coal River Mountain Watch, noted later that day, “Massey was spilling black water [coal waste] from their Martin County, KY, operation. And Pioneer Fuels (NOT a Massey subsidiary) was spilling black water into Clear Fork,” which empties into the Coal River near Marfork’s headquarters, upstream from the town of Whitesville’s public water intake.

“Unfortunately,” Vern says, “our regulators don’t escalate the enforcement of Massey’s repeating violations that are endangering the community with the same vigor that prosecutors and Massey attorneys are suppressing the voices of endangered people,” CRMW’s other co-director Judy Bonds, 2003 winner of the Goldman Environmental prize and a lifelong resident of Coal River valley, puts it more bluntly: “I believe the justice system in southern West Virginia is discriminatory in favor of the coal industry. I think keep screaming about it is all we can do.”

TRICIA SHAPIRO has been covering anti-MTR activism as an embedded freelance writer since 2005. Her book Mountain Justice: Homegrown Resistance to Mountaintop Removal, for the Future of Us All will be published by AK Press this fall.

http://www.counterpunch.org/2010/03/02/mountain-injustice/

FOIA/crimes: 2010

In addition to these escalating sanctions in criminal court, Massey lawyers have filed multiple civil suits against protesters arrested on their property. Lawsuits demanding injunctions and so-far unspecified money for “damages” have been filed against dozens of these protesters: one suit in Raleigh County against participants in several protests there early in 2009, one suit in Boone County against participants in an action there, and a separate Raleigh County suit against participants in a tree-sit action last summer. Protesters not actually named in any of these suits have been found in contempt of a court’s injunction for “acting in concert” with one of a suit’s named parties; that ruling is currently being appealed. In addition, Massey recently filed suit in federal court against participants in the January tree-sit protest at Marfork, requesting at least the minimum of $75,000 in damages that would make such a case eligible for federal

court.

At a hearing for the federal lawsuit on Tuesday, Feb. 23, Massey attorney Sam Brock said that activists protesting against Massey “just have to live by the same rules as everybody else.” Sitting in the courtroom that day, I remembered Massey’s 2008 settlement with the federal EPA for thousands of permit violations related to the Clean Water Act: Massey agreed to pay $20 million, although given the number and nature of the violations the EPA could properly have assessed $2 billion or more–100 times as much. (Massey’s own estimate of this prior to the settlement was $1.5 to $7 billion.) Furthermore, just a few weeks ago, in January, a coalition of environmental groups announcing their intent to sue Massey cited documentation that the company’s permit violations had become even more frequent since the EPA settlement.

--

exec pleads guilty

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/29/gary-may-upper-big-branch_n_1387689.html?ref=topbar

Two exhaustive reports produced on Massey have put the blame squarely on a corporate culture that put profits before workers' well-being. Investigators noted that the company routinely hid safety problems from inspectors and intimidated workers who spoke out about dangerous conditions. Managers went so far as to maintain two sets of safety books -- one that included documented dangers at the mine, and a separate sanitized version for inspectors to see. Alpha Natural Resources, Massey's new owner, has entered into a $210 million settlement over Massey's role in the disaster, though officials have left open the possibility of prosecuting individual Massey officers.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/22/larry-craig-lobbyist-mine-safety_n_1165516.html?view=print&comm_ref=false

BEAVER, W.Va. — Money – even a lot of it – is cold comfort to some relatives of the 29 men who died in the worst mining disaster in decades. They want justice, the kind that comes with a courtroom and a prison cell.

The families listened in shock Tuesday as federal prosecutors announced the biggest settlement in a U.S. coal mining disaster with the new owners of the Upper Big Branch mine. The former owner, Massey Energy, had been accused of putting profits ahead of safety, so Alpha Natural Resources agreed to pay nearly $210 million, with checks of $500,000 headed to the grieving families before Christmas.

Federal regulators explained how the deal wiped the slate clean for some 370 safety violations related to the April 5, 2010, explosion, the worst U.S. mine disaster in four decades. Though the Mine Safety and Health Administration also pledged to review its own handling of the mine, the words failed to placate. No criminal charges were announced.

"It was an act of murder," declared an angry Clay Mullins, whose brother Rex was among those killed. "They murdered 29 men, and I'm not satisfied one bit."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/07/mine-disaster-families-demand-prosecutions_n_1133669.html

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info: http://www.crocodyl.org/wiki/massey_energy