29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 04 Nov 10 - 03:45 PM

Russ, that is really scary.

His full quote:

"Is there a certain amount of accidents and unfortunate things that do happen, no matter what the regulations are?" Paul says at the Harlan Center, in response to a question about the Big Branch disaster. "The bottom line is I'm not an expert, so don't give me the power in Washington to be making rules. You live here, and you have to work in the mines. You'd try to make good rules to protect your people here. If you don't, I'm thinking that no one will apply for those jobs. I know that doesn't sound..." Here he stumbles, trying to parse his words properly but only presaging his campaign misstep. "I want to be compassionate," he concludes, "and I'm sorry for what happened, but I wonder: Was it just an accident?"

from Details magazine, online, August

In the opening of that article, Paul (and the articles author, who may be forgiven as a non-Kentucky-native and not someone who's running for senator from Kentucky) cannot remember why Harlan County is significant in Kentucky history.

~ Becky in Long Beach

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: GUEST,Russ
Date: 04 Nov 10 - 10:22 PM

Rand Paul is dangerously ignorant and naive on some many levels.

Russ (Permanent GUEST)

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: Janie
Date: 04 Nov 10 - 11:12 PM

It is scary - what happens when adherence to a philosophy is clung to in total disregard for the exigency of reality.

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: GUEST,Russ
Date: 05 Nov 10 - 08:50 AM

In the senate he will get his nose rubbed in reality.

Russ (Permanent GUEST)

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 05 Nov 10 - 09:42 AM

That is almost incredible. One might have thought that even the TeaPotty could not be so wholly idiotic.

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 05 Nov 10 - 11:47 AM

Libertarianism is a strange combination of idealism ("if only we didn't tamper with people, they'd all do the right thing") and paranoia ("government will inevitably screw us all").

~ Becky in Long Beach

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: GUEST,Russ
Date: 05 Nov 10 - 12:07 PM

Pike County KY is across the river from my home county, Mingo County WV.
Pike County is definitely "coal country".

Apparently the residents of Pike County are not as concerned with mine safety as they are with other issues.

Pike County                
Rand PAUL (REP)                50.64%
Jack CONWAY (DEM)        49.36%
                
Kentucky                
Rand PAUL (REP)                55.74%
Jack CONWAY (DEM)        44.26%

Russ (Permanent GUEST who likes to keep score)

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Nov 10 - 12:11 PM

IMHO (emphasis MY) libertarians are anarchists in sheep's clothing.
Not that I have a problem with anarchism.
I guess Rand wants to change the system from within.
That's a laugh.

Russ (Permanent GUEST who maybe should just keep his mouth shut)

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: GUEST,Russ
Date: 05 Nov 10 - 12:14 PM

OOP! the above was from me.

Sorry:(

Russ (Permanent and sometimes forgetful GUEST)

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 05 Nov 10 - 02:45 PM

Russ, I was curious about Harlan County results, but didn't find them. Where'd you get yours?

~ Becky in Long Beach

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: catspaw49
Date: 05 Nov 10 - 04:24 PM

If I have been absnt from here it is simply because out of all the insanity of this election, nothing compares to the election of Rand Paul. It took a few days to get past being apoplectic.   

Russ is right here and it does appear the folks are pissed over many other things. When the day-to-day economy of living is in the tank, we are all willing to give up on bigger goals to keep the daily bread on the table. Many people step back and think it through and go for the long term.   However, it is also then that many of the same ones who need help the most and are at the bottom of the food chain are willing to elect someone who is at the top of the chain and has no idea how these folks below them live. I suppose some hope that electing a "have" will elevate them from "have not" status but it never works.

Even knowing all of that it is hard to see how a Rand Paul could be elected.......or why. Like it or not, coal is still a major part of Kentucky's economy. How can a candidate for U.S. Senate know nothing about Harlan? His first association with Hazard is a fucking TV SHOW!!!

Jesus.....somebody just shoot me..............


Spaw

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 05 Nov 10 - 06:51 PM

Spaw - you KNOW who needs shooting - but they seem to have most of the gun nuts.

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: GUEST,Russ
Date: 06 Nov 10 - 10:48 AM

Becky,

I went to the Kentucky State Board of Elections website.

Try this

Results by County

That should put you on the "Reports" tab. Use the dropdown to select the county.

The Harlan County results are even more "interesting"

Rand PAUL (REP)    58.82%
Jack CONWAY (DEM) 41.18%

As my dad used to say, "It's enough to make a preacher cuss."

Russ (Permanent GUEST)

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 01 Dec 10 - 11:51 AM

Massey to Close KY Mine That Regulators Wanted Seized (NPR)

... In a statement, Massey also says it still believes the mine is safe but that it's size and age present safety challenges. In fact, two dangerous rockfalls occurred at the mine just last week.

Um, yeah.

~ Becky in Long Beach

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: GUEST,Russ
Date: 01 Dec 10 - 12:33 PM

Massey is still gaming the system.

Russ (Permanent GUEST)

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 11 Dec 10 - 10:37 AM

Legislation strengthening mine safety regulators goes down in the lame duck session: NYT editorial.

I have to take a deep breathing break every time I read the news coming out of Washington (and Phoenix) lately.

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: GUEST,Russ
Date: 11 Dec 10 - 05:01 PM

Becky,

It is an old story in WV. Not really surprised to see it at the national level.

The owners make the rules.

Russ (Permanent GUEST)

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 13 Dec 10 - 10:10 PM

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."

----

Truly tragic.

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: Bobert
Date: 13 Dec 10 - 10:45 PM

Beyond tragic... Criminal...

B~ (former Wes Ginny hillbilly)

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 20 May 11 - 01:11 PM

Report Faults Mine Owner for Explosion That Killed 29 (NY Times)

"In the first comprehensive state report on the 2010 coal mine disaster in West Virginia, an independent team of investigators has put the blame squarely on the owner of the mine, Massey Energy, concluding that it had "made life difficult" for miners who tried to address safety and built "a culture in which wrongdoing became acceptable." "
...
"The 120-page report offered a scathing indictment of Massey practices at the Upper Big Branch mine, pieced together through months of interviews and the analysis of documents, data and correspondence. "
...
"As the largest coal producer in Appalachia at the time, Massey used its leverage "to attempt to control West Virginia's political system," and through it, oversight agencies. Inspectors, whose job it was to protect miner safety, were cast as "enemies," the report said, with the company challenging their very legitimacy.

"Politicians were afraid of the company, the report said, because the chief executive at the time, Don Blankenship, "was willing to spend vast amounts of money to influence elections," the report said.

"It also faulted regulators for stopping short of applying the strictest censure of Massey, though it noted that individual regulators, like Mr. Mackowiak, made every effort to stop dangerous practices. Massey's allegations that the ventilation problems were the mining administration's fault were baseless, the report said. "

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: gnu
Date: 20 May 11 - 01:13 PM

Bastards!

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: catspaw49
Date: 20 May 11 - 02:12 PM

What a shock! I am extremely upset and surprised that a mining company would be at fault here! And Massey at that.......Why, they are the run and owned by folks who are the salt of the earth with just the finest company............ and so safety conscious............ that such a thing should blemish their record............oh my....................I feel the Vapors coming........Hope my nose doesn't blow up..............


Spaw

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: GUEST,Russ
Date: 21 May 11 - 08:22 AM

Why does the report used the past tense?

Russ (Permanent GUEST)

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 21 May 11 - 11:21 AM

gnu - yeah.
Spaw - yeah.
Russs - yeah.

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 29 Jun 11 - 12:04 PM

Officials: W. Va. Mine Operator Kept Two Sets Of Safety Records

Federal mine disaster investigators disclosed a few pieces of new information Tuesday night from their year-long look at the April 2010 deadly Upper Big Branch mine explosion. They said that:

— Mine owner Massey Energy kept two sets of records that chronicled safety problems. One internal set of production reports detailed those problems and how they delayed coal production. But the other records, which are reviewed by federal mine safety inspectors and required by federal law, failed to mention the same safety hazards. Some of the hazards that were not disclosed are identical to those believed to have contributed to the explosion.

— Portions of the Upper Big Branch mine hit by the explosion were not treated for excessive and explosive coal dust because the entryways or tunnels in those areas were too small to accommodate the machine used to spray the material that neutralizes coal dust.

— Gas readings taken shortly after the explosion showed too little methane to support Massey Energy's claim that a massive, naturally-occurring and unpredictable inundation of gas caused the disaster.

— The path of the fiery blast that accompanied the explosion traveled in more complicated and convoluted ways than reported earlier.

Those details come from a private briefing in Beckley, W.Va., held last night for the families of the 29 mine workers killed in the disaster. Six participants provided those details to NPR.

The participants said the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHSA) presented findings that support its earlier, preliminary conclusions, as well as those of an independent team of investigators, who issued their final report last month.

~ Becky in Long Beach

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 10 Dec 11 - 07:35 PM

For 29 Dead Miners, No Justice

David Uhlman
NY Times Op-Ed

"During my 17 years at the Justice Department, we prosecuted corporations criminally in hundreds of cases that, while serious, did not involve the tragic loss of life at the Upper Big Branch Mine. The Justice Department did not live up to its name in agreeing not to prosecute Massey for its crimes. We can only hope that when it comes to the other unfathomable disaster that took place in April 2010, the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, justice will be better served. "

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: gnu
Date: 10 Dec 11 - 07:43 PM

Fuck me! That is....

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: Janie
Date: 10 Dec 11 - 10:08 PM

I have been following this story very closely and recommend reading articles in the Charleston Gazette and/or Daily Mail, written by lmostly damned good local reporters if you are trying to sort out what has happened and what is happening on legal fronts.

It isn't easy to sort out political spin from what the realities will ultimately prove to be, and I don't pretend that I have managed to do so.   It is also, imo, pretty complex to weigh the pros and cons of the latest settlement that has been reached.

Massey dodged a corporate bullet by being bought by Alpha, and Alpha, not being the owner of Upper Big Branch at the time of the disaster, does not appear to have incurred the full brunt of financial and corporate liability that Massey would probably have been faced with had the friendly take over by Alpha not have occurred. However, Massey may have decided to fold in response to the fines and settlement to the families. Once the company was gone, I assume the old adage "you cant get blood out of a turnip" would have applied.

Holding a corporation civilly or criminally liable does not hold the management or the board of directors of the corporation personally or individually liable. May or may not interfere with a few career trajectories, but probably not for long.

No amount of money can compensate for the loss of a life.    No levying of anyone's definition of justice can either.

The settlement does not preclude criminal prosecution of individuals and there is an on-going investigation toward that end. Only time well tell if and who might face criminal prosecution and liability. If no one is prosecuted, or if the laws are such that upper levels of management and/or people on the board of directors of Massey are not prosecuted, this settlement will prove to have been a travesty except to whatever extent safety conditions in the mines are improved by coal companies out of fear of the financial consequences for safety violations.

I don't know what Alpha's reputation is regarding mine safety. If it is good, they are likely to insist and rapidly work toward establishing the same safety protocols in former Massey mines that are already in place in their existing mines. If that is the case, then I would consider Alpha's takeover to be a net gain for miners working in formerly Massey mines.

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 11 Dec 11 - 03:51 AM

"Sir Coughsalot" wrote a song called Upper Big Branch Disaster .
Take a listen.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 11 Dec 11 - 06:53 PM

The settlement does not preclude criminal prosecution of individuals and there is an on-going investigation toward that end.

Thanks for that information, Janie. I sure hope that Alpha makes the needed changes.

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 11:55 PM

Interesting report today on PBS News Hour from Howard Berkes of NPR: Upper Big Branch Miners' Families 'Encouraged' by Prosecutors' Moves

[Intro] Today, state mining officials issued 253 violations against the company and released their final report. In it, they singled out two foremen, saying they repeatedly failed to clean conveyor belts or apply rock dust used to neutralize explosive coal dust, all leading to unsafe conditions.

And, just yesterday, federal prosecutors brought criminal fraud charges against the mine's former superintendent Gary May.

[Berkes:] ...in that state report, they noted that the maximum fine for those foremen, for these citations, is $250, and that state law doesn't permit citing anyone above the level of mine foreman.

And those foremen didn't make up the way that they behaved in that mine. They were working at the direction of a mine superintendent, of the president and vice president of the Massey Energy subsidiary that ran that mine. And we know from documents that have been released in the investigation so far and in a deposition by former CEO Don Blankenship in another case that this mine was micromanaged and that Blankenship and other senior officials at Massey Energy knew what was going on there.

They monitored the coal production by the foot and by the minute. And so, even though it's clear that these -- that the superintendent who was charged yesterday and that the mine foremen who were mentioned in the state report today were not acting on their own, it appears that it's very difficult in -- certainly in state law in West Virginia to reach beyond the foreman to cite anyone else and get anyone else held responsible.

He goes on to say, however, that Gary May appears to be cooperating with prosecutors, and so there is hope to actually get to higher level officials.

More from the NY Times:
Mine Superintendent Charged in 2010 Disaster, with more details of the procedures for getting around inspections

~ Becky in Long Beach

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: Janie
Date: 24 Feb 12 - 09:11 PM

I heard the story of Mays' being charged on NPR the other morning. It will be very good news if charges move well up the food chain.

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: catspaw49
Date: 24 Feb 12 - 09:30 PM

........and your bet on that happening? I was glad to see the story but if this goes up the line I'll be amazed! On the other hand I'll take whatever can be got!!!

Spaw

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: gnu
Date: 24 Feb 12 - 10:03 PM

Sad that money will stop that, Spaw. And it will go on... all over the world.

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: Bobert
Date: 24 Feb 12 - 10:17 PM

Mines get cited every day for violations... ((((yawn)))... They don't care... It's just part of the game to them... They sandbag... They don't correct anything... Just a bad but well known joke...

B~

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 24 Feb 12 - 10:51 PM

The citations for violations are from the state, but the charges against Gary May are federal, so maybe something more than business as usual will ensue [insert appeal to luck or a higher power here]. From the NY Times article:

The way the charges were filed — directly to the court by prosecutors from the United States attorney's office, instead of by a grand jury indictment — indicates that Mr. May is cooperating with prosecutors, a strategy that observers say could eventually lead prosecutors to top executives, including Don L. Blankenship, the former head of Massey, who state investigations concluded had enforced a culture of cutting corners and ignoring risks for the sake of profit.

The charges, filed in federal court in West Virginia, include conspiracy to defraud the United States by impeding a federal agency, a felony that is punishable by up to five years in prison.

The charging document paints a picture of deception with Mr. May at its center, directing workers to falsify record books and speaking to them in code as a way of warning that inspectors were coming.

According to a person close to the investigation, those phrases included "bringing in a load of blocks," and "it's raining outside" or "there's a hailstorm outside." Another warning phrase was "I had a hamburger (or cheeseburger) for dinner last night," the person said.

The conspiracy charges against Mr. May were an unusual strategy, lawyers said. Few violations qualify as federal felonies under existing law, and law enforcement has been hampered by weak misdemeanor penalties. A conspiracy charge allows prosecutors to be more flexible in their strategy, and if it is successful, could give them a tool to reach senior mine officials who have traditionally been insulated from criminal charges because they are rarely involved in actual coal mining.

~ Becky in Long Beach

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 23 Mar 12 - 06:34 PM

Surprised? Report: Mine Safety Agency 'Could Have Prevented' Deadly Disaster (NPR Two-Way blog, by Howard Berkes):

An independent review of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration's (MSHA) enforcement at the Upper Big Branch (UBB) coal mine in West Virginia says the agency failed to spot "a number of enforcement deficiencies" at the mine which were major factors in the April 2010 explosion that took 29 lives.

The report from an independent panel assembled by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health contains this stunning conclusion:

    "...if MSHA had engaged in timely enforcement of the Mine Act...it would have lessened the chances of — and possibly could have prevented — the UBB explosion."

~ Becky in Long Beach

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: catspaw49
Date: 23 Mar 12 - 06:44 PM

Gee, what shock..................Nice they can spread the blame out...............


Spaw

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 18 Jan 13 - 01:01 AM

Massey Mine Boss Sentenced; Feds Toughen Mine Safety Rule

Nearly three years after a deadly mine explosion in West Virginia, a former Massey Energy mine superintendent has been sentenced to prison and federal regulators have toughened a regulation that could have helped prevent the disaster.

Today in federal court in Beckley, W.Va., former Upper Big Branch coal mine superintendant Gary May was sentenced to 21 months in prison and ordered to pay a $20,000 fine.
...
Prosecutors indicate they're aiming higher up the corporate ladder, targeting former Massey managers and executives. David Hughart, a former president of a Massey mining subsidiary has also entered into a plea agreement.

Just as May's sentencing hearing concluded, the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) toughened and streamlined a regulation that had rarely been enforced and could have helped prevent the Upper Big Branch tragedy, according to disaster investigators.

MSHA calls it the "pattern of violations" rule and it's supposed to identify coal mines with serious, persistent and habitual safety violations and then target them for heightened scrutiny. But MSHA failed to enforce the rule in the first 33 years of its existence, in part because of a self-imposed and cumbersome regulatory step.
...
The revised rule eliminates preliminary steps so that regulators will have a much easier time citing and sanctioning habitual violators of serious safety standards. The new rule also triggers automatic and immediate shutdowns of mining areas if serious and substantial violations are found in mines with POV status

These seem like positive steps... but so late, and so slow...

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: catspaw49
Date: 18 Jan 13 - 02:35 AM

Geez Becky....You always beat me on these. I read the story at Huffington earlier and I thought I'd come by tonite with about three places to post. So when I go to look for this one I realizze you just posted on it!!!

Here's the litle bit that was on Huffington but the best thing is, IT IS A START! Damn near unprecedented and most surely welcome. I am also glad to know and I think believe they aren't done and are stilll after the higher ups. But this alone is huge. HE may have been a scapegoat but he was a culpable scapegoat!


Spaw

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: Janie
Date: 14 Nov 14 - 10:16 PM

At last, the nearly unprecedented has happened. Don Blankenship, CEO of Massey, has been indicted.


http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20141113/GZ01/141119607/1419

Quoting Jay Rockerfeller from the article, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, also D-W.Va., said in a statement: "For more than four years, Upper Big Branch families have cried out for justice for their loved ones lost in that horrific tragedy. Today's indictment of former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship is another step toward justice. But let me be clear: in my view, Don Blankenship, and the mines he once operated, treated miners and their safety with callousness and open disregard. As he goes to trial, he will be treated far fairer and with more dignity than he ever treated the miners he employed. And, frankly, it's more than he deserves." - See more at: http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20141113/GZ01/141119607/1419#sthash.SmbN8dzb.dpuf

Whether he ends up convicted or not, may he end up a pauper from the legal fees.

If I still lived in WV, I'd read Joe Manchin's quoted statement, get up in his face if I could and sing, with garlic and onion on my breath as strong as I could get it, "Which Side Are You On."

Some call him a conservative Democrat. I call him a wolf in sheep's clothing. So much wishing 'Spaw were around to comment.

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 03 Dec 15 - 09:40 PM

Guilty, but not guilty enough. :-(

Former Massey Energy C.E.O. Guilty in Deadly Coal Mine Blast

Donald L. Blankenship, whose leadership of the Massey Energy Company was widely criticized after 29 workers were killed in the Upper Big Branch mine in 2010, was convicted Thursday of conspiring to violate federal safety standards, becoming the most prominent American coal executive ever convicted of a crime related to mining deaths.

But in a substantial defeat for the Justice Department, the verdict, announced in Federal District Court here, exonerated Mr. Blankenship, Massey's former chief executive, of three felony charges that could have led to a prison term of 30 years. Instead, after a protracted and complex trial that began on Oct. 1, jurors convicted Mr. Blankenship only of a single misdemeanor charge that carried a maximum of a year in prison.
...
Mr. Blankenship was not tried on any charges that accused him of direct responsibility for the deaths at Upper Big Branch, which investigators said exploded because of improper ventilation that allowed gases to accumulate. But prosecutors argued that Mr. Blankenship's leadership had laid the groundwork for a catastrophe. There was not necessarily a formal conspiracy, prosecutors acknowledged, but they said that Mr. Blankenship's example and tone had set Massey on a course that put profits ahead of lives.

Federal officials said they welcomed the verdict, mixed as it was. Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez said the decision sent "a clear message that no mine operator is above the law, that there must be accountability when people lose their lives because of the neglect of their employer."

~ Becky in Long Beach

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: Greg F.
Date: 03 Dec 15 - 10:09 PM

Murders 29 people & gets off with a year in jail.

Just great.

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 06 Apr 16 - 02:50 PM

The wheels of justice do turn exceedingly slowly.

Donald Blankenship Sentenced To A Year In Prison In Mine Safety Case

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Donald L. Blankenship, whose leadership of Massey Energy Company transformed him into one of the wealthiest and most influential men in Appalachia, was sentenced on Wednesday to a year in prison for conspiring to violate federal mine safety standards.

The sentencing, in Federal District Court here, came six years and one day after an explosion tore through Massey's Upper Big Branch mine, killing 29 people. Although Mr. Blankenship was not accused of direct responsibility for the accident, the deadliest in American coal mining in about 40 years, the disaster prompted the federal inquiry that led to Mr. Blankenship's indictment.

In addition to the year in jail, Mr. Blankenship was fined $250,000 and is subject to a year of supervised release .

"My main point is wanting to express sorrow to the families and everyone for what happened," Mr. Blankenship said in court before the sentencing. But he added later: "I am not guilty of a crime."

The Justice Department had urged Judge Irene C. Berger, the daughter of a coal miner, to sentence Mr. Blankenship to a year in prison, the maximum penalty. Mr. Blankenship's defense lawyers, who are planning an appeal, recommended that he be fined and placed on probation.

----

More at the link.

~ Becky in Long Beach

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: Greg F.
Date: 06 Apr 16 - 05:35 PM

He's "Not guilty of a crime"?

Murders 29 people & gets off with a year in jail.

Just great.

Subject: RE: 29 dead in West Virginia mine explosion (Apr 2010)
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 21 May 18 - 07:50 PM

Maybe kinda glad that Catspaw didn't live to see Blankenship run for the Senate from West Virginia. He went down in the primary, fortunately, but I saw today that he wants to do a third party run. It may be against West Virginia law to declare that after the primary (he has promised to fight that). What a piece of work.

Don Blankenship Announces Third-Party Bid for West Virginia Senate Seat

~ Becky in Long Beach