Politically Connected Owners of W. Virginia Mine

[Teacher Mark 53]

BY Tina Moore

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

The company that runs the West Virginia coal mine where 25 workers died in a horrific blast has a history of thumbing its nose at federal safety laws.

The Upper Big Branch Mine had 458 safety violations last year, records show. Fifty of the violations, about 10%, were declared willful or gross negligence - five times the national rate of 2%.

Just last month, the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration slapped the owners of Upper Big Branch with 57 more violations - for ventilation failures and improper escape route plans.

The mine is a run by a subsidiary of politically tied Massey Energy, whose deep-pockets CEO, Don Blankenship, has no problem spending money on pro-coal, anti-union pols.

Blankenship keeps as a trophy in his office a TV that was hit by a bullet when he battled a past strike. The Upper Big Branch Mine, where three miners had died in the past year, isn't unionized. In 2004, Blankenship spent $3 million for advertising to help a challenger defeat a sitting state Supreme Court justice. The new judge refused to recuse himself in a $70 million case against Blankenship; the U.S. Supreme Court later ruled he should have.

In the same case, the chief justice of the state court also hadto recuse himself after photos surfaced of him on vacation with Blankenship in the French Riviera.

Blankenship insisted in a statement the company's "top priority is the safety of our miners and the well-being of their families." Critics say that's just not the case.

Monday night's explosion is thought to have been caused by a pocket of methane. Proper ventilation is key to preventing the buildup of such gases.

The Massey subsidiary that runs Upper Big Branch, Performance Coal Co., has a checkered history of fighting fines - or simply failing to pay them. It was hit with $897,325 in fines last year but has paid only $168,393.

In 2006, a fire at Aracoma Alma No. 1 mine, another Massey mine in West Virginia, trapped 12 workers. Two miners suffocated while searching for a way to escape. Aracoma admitted in a plea agreement that two permanent ventilation controls were removed a year before.

The Aracoma fire led to 25 health and safety violations and criminal charges against company executives. The Mine Safety and Health Administration hit Massey with a $1.5 million fine - the largest ever against a mining company. In 2009, a judge hiked the fine to $2.5 million after executives pleaded guilty to 10 criminal charges.

Lawyer Bruce Stanley, who won a settlement for the two widows in the Aracoma case, said the number of violations at Upper Big Branch "causes concern."

Mine accidents like the one at Aracoma and the Sago Mine disaster that killed 12 workers in West Virginia in 2006 have led to scrutiny of the federal monitoring agency. An audit by the U.S. Labor Department's found mine safety officials failed to adequately retrain veteran inspectors

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/04/07/2010-04-07_politically_connected_owners_of_wva_horror_mine_have_a_long_history_of_violation.ht

Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship said that a carbon monoxide warning at Massey Energy Co.'s Upper Big Branch mine was the first sign of trouble before a huge underground explosion killed 25 miners.

Edited April 7, 2010 by Mr. Saigon

[Saddle Bronc 124]

So for such industries as mining, there is almost no difference between the US and third-world?

[ally and moh 3]

Just want to post as a West Virginian.... living only about 45 minutes form this accident in the same county.

Everyehere you go here now things are very sad as the community reaches out to those who have lost loved ones. It seems everyone knew someone there.

Even with the violations and all that the mine had, no one is ever prepared for something like this. Please pray for our community!

[PhiLandShiR 18]

So for such industries as mining, there is almost no difference between the US and third-world?

Mining in the US has a long history of abuse to its workers. I am not surprised to hear about this latest disaster but still saddened by it.

[Oosie 1]

So for such industries as mining, there is almost no difference between the US and third-world?

Nothing has improved in 40 years I'm afraid. Even when I was a child I heard my father and my uncles talking about how dangerous it was to be a miner in the USA. Not one of them would have considered working for an American mining company. They were all miners or mining engineers working in Scotland in old pits with narrow seams that made getting coal out virtually impossible with machines so they all worked by hand cutting and hauling. The biggest thing for them was that by working in a nationalized industry their managers had to abide by safety regulations and though they all got hurt now and again I only know of one fatality in 40 years in the mines around home. It breaks my heart when I see the high fatality rate here as I still remember waiting with my friends back in 1967 to know if my father or theirs was the one who died or if they would all be coming home. I would never wish that on anyone. He arrived with a couple of burst fingers that he got trying to save his friend.

My thoughts are with everyone closely involved in this latest disaster.