Lawmakers urge Criminal Charges in Upper Big Branch Disaster
The Department of Justice must “go up Massey’s chain of command as far as possible” and hold accountable those individuals responsible for the deaths of 29 coals miners at Massey Energy’s Big Branch (W.Va.) mine in 2010, a group of lawmakers urged Attorney General Eric Holder.
In a letter to Holder from Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) and 15 other House members, they say that although the recent settlement between the federal government and Alpha minerals—which took over Massey several months after the deadly disaster—includes a non-prosecution agreement with Alpha in exchange for $210 million in investments in mine safety and research, civil penalties and restitution to families,
It does not prevent the Department of Justice from investigating or bringing criminal charges against the individual’s responsible for the April 5, 2010 disaster. Read the rest of this entry »
Former Massey Official Guilty in Upper Big Branch Mine Case
The former director of security at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch (W.Va.) mine was found guilty in federal court of lying to federal agents and destroying documents sought by investigators looking into the deadly blast. Twenty-nine miners were killed in the 2010 explosion.
Hughie Elbert Stover faces up to 25 years in prison after being convicted on two felony counts of making a false statement and trying to cover up records in a federal investigation.
At press conference following yesterday’s verdict, U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin said:
This will send a very clear message that this is way too important an investigation to obstruct. We need to get to the bottom of what circumstances led to this explosion and who was responsible. Read the rest of this entry »
Mine Workers Report: Upper Big Branch ‘A Bomb Waiting to Go Off’
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There were many factors that led up to the April 5, 2010, explosion that killed 29 coal miners at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch (W.Va.) mine, according to a new Mine Workers (UMWA) report on the disaster. But according to the report—”Industrial Homicide“—“there is only one source for all of them:”
A rogue corporation, acting without real regard for mine safety and health law and regulations, that established a physical working environment that can only be described as a bomb waiting to go off.
And that same company established a working environment where, operating through subterfuge, fear and intimidation, management prevented any opportunity for the workers to know the full range of dangerous conditions in the mine, or to effectively protest them even if they did know. Read the rest of this entry »
Two Sets of Books Hid Upper Big Branch Safety Problems
Massey Energy managers hid serious safety problems at the Upper Big Branch (W.Va.) mine from federal mine safety officials by keeping two sets of records, Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) officials revealed this morning. An April 5, 2010, explosion at the mine killed 29 miners.
The mine’s production log noted issues such as accumulations of coal dust, ventilation problems, equipment malfunctions and other issues, but no mention of those problems was included in the official set of records Massey was required to provide to MSHA inspectors, said Kevin Stricklin, MSHA’s head of coal mine safety at a public briefing this morning.
Failure to control highly explosive coal dust, inadequate ventilation and a longwall coal cutting machine’s faulty water sprayers and worn cutting bits all played a role in the massive explosion that roared through the mine, according to MSHA.
In a video message played this morning and at a special briefing last night for the victims’ families, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said MSHA’s investigation shows:
The tragedy at Upper Big Branch was preventable. Mine safety is the responsibility of the operator…those responsible must be accountable. Read the rest of this entry »
Massey Exec. Dropped from Merged Coal Firm
After intense criticism from mine safety advocates, lawmakers and others, a former Massey Energy Co. executive tied to the Upper Big Branch explosion that killed 29 miners will not be part of the newly merged company.
Alpha Natural Resources—which took over Massey’s operations this week—had earlier announced that former Massey chief operating officer and senior vice president Chris Adkins would “spearhead the implementation” of Alpha’s safety program.
But late yesterday, Alpha CEO Kevin Crutchfield told NPR’s Howard Berkes “Chris [Adkins] will not be joining Alpha. I’m not going to say anything more about it.”
During Adkins tenure at Massey, according the Governor’s Independent Investigation Panel (GIIP) that investigated the West Virginia disaster:
The company broke faith with its workers by frequently and knowingly violating the law and blatantly disregarding known safety practices…Massey exhibited a corporate mentality that placed the drive to produce coal above worker safety.
Massey Execs Tied to Upper Big Branch Blast Keep Jobs in Merger
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The former Massey Energy Co. chief operating officer who invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and declined to be interviewed by the West Virginia commission investigating the Upper Big Branch explosion that killed 29 miners, will play a role overseeing safety at the corporation taking over Massey’s mines.
He is just one of several former top Massey officials with Upper Big Branch connections who are moving to Alpha Natural Resources after shareholders for both companies yesterday approved the merger.
The recent report by the Governor’s Independent Investigation Panel (GIIP) found that the:
responsibility for the Upper Big Branch Mine lies with the management of Massey Energy. The company broke faith with its workers by frequently and knowingly violating the law and blatantly disregarding known safety practices.…Massey exhibited a corporate mentality that placed the drive to produce coal above worker safety.
Yesterday in a letter to Alpha CEO Kevin Crutchfield, Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) and Rep. Lynn Woolsey Lynn (D-Calif.), senior members of the House Education and Workforce Committee, questioned Alpha’s decision to retain Chris Adkins, former Massey chief operating officer and senior vice president, former General Counsel Shane Harvey and Baxter Phillips, who served as Massey CEO after Donald Blankenship resigned in December and prior to that as Massey president.
In an April 15 letter to Alpha and Massey employees, Crutchfield said that Adkins would “spearhead the implementation” of Alpha’s safety program known as “Running Right.” In the letter Miller and Woolsey write:
We are troubled by indications that as Chief Executive, you could think that miners are fairly served by perpetuating Massey’s safety culture for even one minute.
Study Finds Unionized Coal Mines Substantially Safer
A new study shows that miners in unionized coal mines are far less likely to be killed or injured on the job than miners in nonunion operations. The independent study funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) found that “unionization predicts an 18-33 percent drop in traumatic injuries and a 27-68 percent drop in fatalities.”
The comprehensive study, conducted by Stanford University law professor Alison D. Morantz, the John A. Wilson Distinguished Faculty Scholar at Stanford Law School, looked at coal mine fatality and injury statistics from 1993 to 2008.
Mine Workers (UMWA) President Cecil Roberts says the study “quantifies the profound differences in safety underground coal miners experience when working union versus working nonunion.”
He points out that recent mining disasters, including the blast at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch (W.Va.) mine that killed 29 miners last year, the Crandall Canyon (Utah) disaster that killed nine in 2007 and the Sago explosion in 2006 that killed 12 miners, have all been in nonunion mines.
The simple truth is that union mines are safer mines, and this study proves that.
Report: Upper Big Branch Miners Died Because of Corporate Risk-Taking
Massey Energy Co.’s Upper Big Branch (W.Va.) coal mine exploded April 5, 2010 because the company operated the mine in a “profoundly reckless manner and 29 coal miners paid with their lives for the corporate risk-taking,” according to an independent report on the disaster commissioned by former W.Va. Gov. Joe Manchin (D).
The report by Davitt McAteer, former head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration, says:
The disaster at Upper Big Branch was man-made and could have been prevented had Massey Energy followed basic, well-tested and historically proven safety procedures….Massey exhibited a corporate mentality that placed the drive to produce coal above worker safety.
It found that a combination of methane gas and huge amounts of coal dust in the poorly ventilated and improperly monitored nonunion mine turned a small ignition into a massive explosion that roared through the underground tunnels.
Today Is First Anniversary of Deadly Upper Big Branch Explosion
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One year ago today, 29 coal miners were killed in an explosion at a West Virginia mine that had a long and troubling record of safety violations.
This evening in Whitesville, W.Va., family members, mine rescue personnel and first responders, along with acting Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin (D), Labor Secretary Labor Hilda Solis, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D), Sen. Joe Manchin (D) and Rep. Nick Rahall (D) will gather for a private ceremony to commemorate the miners who were killed in the blast. While the service is closed to the public, it will be streamed live at www.FacesOfTheMine.com at 6 p.m. EDT.
Yet a year after the Massey Energy Upper Big Branch mine disaster, we still don’t have a definitive answer as to exactly what happened nor exactly who was responsible for the deadly blast that federal mine safety officials say was “preventable.” But Mine Workers (UMWA) President Cecil Roberts says, “there are things we do know” about the nonunion mine.
We do know that the mine’s owner, Massey Energy, operated the Upper Big Branch and other mines with an attitude bordering on contempt for mine safety and health laws and regulations. We do know that the mine’s head of security has been indicted for lying to investigators and trying to destroy evidence.
MSHA Says Massey Blast Shows Need for Tougher Safety Laws
As we approach Tuesday, April 5, the first anniversary of the deadly blast at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch (W.Va.) mine that killed 29 coal miners, the nation’s top mine safety official today called for tougher laws and bigger penalties for safety violators.
Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) chief Joe Main today told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee:
No mine operator should be risking the lives of its miners by cutting corners on health and safety. For those operators who do knowingly engage in such practices, we need to send a message that their actions will not be tolerated.
Main also called for stronger protections for miners who speak out about unsafe practices and conditions.
Miners know best the conditions in their mine. But miners are afraid to speak out because they fear they’ll lose their jobs. Read the rest of this entry »
