A lengthy story from NPR and West Virgina Public Radio: Pain Persists For Mine Disaster Family, by Howard Berkes

Eight months after the Upper Big Branch mine disaster, the families of the 29 coal miners who lost their lives continue to live in grief, yet few have described their pain publicly.

"Here in southern West Virginia [we] tend to keep that stuff closely held," said Randolph McGraw, a lawyer in Beckley, W Va., who represents the families of six Upper Big Branch victims.

"[We] understand the risk … when something ultimately happens that is beyond the comprehension of people from other parts of the country," McGraw said.

But Gene Jones believes speaking out is critical, especially as public memory of the tragedy fades. Jones, 50, lost his identical twin Dean in the explosion.

"We're just going to be forgotten," Jones says, while mine disasters are "going to continue and continue and continue to go on. We need it fixed."

So Jones agreed to describe his family's ordeal, hoping that mine safety regulators, state and federal investigators, the mining industry, Congress and Americans in general will be reminded of the human cost of the nation's worst mine disaster in 40 years.

...

Gene reflects on the eight months since Dean Jones and 28 other brothers, fathers, sons and grandfathers died. Congress rejected mine safety reform, he says. The civil and criminal investigations of the Upper Big Branch explosion drag on. And he wonders about the value Massey Energy has placed on his brother's life. Departing CEO Don Blankenship, he notes, is getting a golden parachute worth at least $12 million â€" four times the settlement the company offered to the Jones family.

"It's so sad to hear these crazy things," he says. The miners "were there every day risking their lives for that black coal, for us, surviving in this country."

Gene Jones pauses with a massive sigh. "And because of that," he continues, "I lost my brother."

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Truly tragic.

~ Becky in Tucson