Company That Bought Massey Energy Pays $200 Million Settlement Over Mining Disaster That Killed 29

Alpha Natural Resources, which purchased Massey Energy in June 2011, has agreed to a $209 million settlement in restitution and civil and criminal penalties for the role Massey Energy in the mining disaster in West Virginia that killed 29 miners.

Massey Energy flagrantly disregarded numerous safety rules and regulations in its operations at the mine, which led to the explosion and death of 29 miners.

The settlement, first reported by the Charleston Gazette, follows months of investigative work by federal officials from the Departments of Justice and Labor, as well as an independent commission appointed by the former West Virginia governor. The findings that had been made public placed the blame for the blast squarely on Massey and what investigators said was its reckless disregard for safety standards, but had stopped short of assigning criminal blame.

Tuesday’s announcement, which will be made public after federal investigators meet with families of the victims in West Virginia, will detail criminal responsibility, that Alpha, and in turn Massey, which it now owns, will accept.

In the past, Massey, which was purchased by Alpha in June, had dismissed investigators charges that its actions led directly to the disaster.

“It’s a record-level settlement,” said a former federal mine safety chief, J. Davitt McAteer, who conducted the independent state investigation, which issued the first findings about the explosion this year. “This is an amount that will get companies to pay attention. It has to affect their bottom line, otherwise it doesn’t mean anything.”

The settlement does not protect individual Massey managers, including the former chief executive, Don L. Blankenship, who have not been charged. In all 18 executives refused to be interviewed by federal investigators, invoking their Fifth Amendment rights.

In addition to the $46.5 million payout to victims and families, the agreement includes $80 million to bolster safety and infrastructure in all underground mines owned by Alpha and Massey; $48 million to establish a mine health and safety foundation to be used to finance academic research on mine safety; and about $35 million in fines and fees that Massey owed to the Mining, Safety and Health Administration, the branch of the Department of Labor that oversees the mining industry.

Under the terms of the agreement, Alpha must also put in place a plan that guarantees it has enough safety equipment, ventilation and methods of clearing potentially explosive rock dust out of all its underground mines within 90 days.

The company will be required to build a state-of-the-art training facility in West Virginia, including a mine lab where it will be able to simulate mining disasters.

The key detail here is that Alpha made the settlement after buying up Massey; Massey had done an insufficient job in dealing with the aftermath of the disaster. In many respects, Alpha is cleaning up the mess that Massey and its corporate leaders made. It's also good that Alpha is going to bolster safety and infrastructure at all its mining operations.

RIP: Sen. Robert Byrd Passes Away at 92

Robert C. Byrd, the Democratic Senator from West Virginia, died at the age of 92. His stamp on the operation of the US Senate is indelible given that he was the longest serving member in its history. West Virginia will surely miss his presence as one of the state's champions and who made sure that the state received more than its share of federal funds over the years.

Memeorandum has a roundup of reaction from across the political spectrum.

While some reports will deemphasize his formative years including his time as a member of the KKK and his opposition to school integration via busing, the fact that he was in office for so long meant that the state's voters were more than willing to see past those earlier events and reelected him time and again.

West Virginians clearly thought he was doing something right all these years.

West Virginia Coal Mine Explosion Kills 25; 4 Remain Missing

A massive explosion deep inside the Upper Big Branch mine near Montcoal, West Virginia killed 25 miners and 4 others remain unaccounted for. It was the worst coal mining disaster in the United States since 1984. The explosion may have been due to a buildup of methane gas in the mine, but the cause has not been officially declared.

The accident was the worst in an American mine since Dec. 19, 1984, when 27 workers died in a fire at the Wilberg Mine in Orangeville, Utah, and it came just four years after federal regulators enacted a sweeping overhaul in mine safety laws. That overhaul, the first in over three decades, came after 19 miners died in a series of mine accidents in West Virginia and Kentucky — including one that brought criminal charges against a Massey subsidiary.

The explosion occurred about 3 p.m. Monday at the Upper Big Branch mine, 30 miles south of Charleston, in Raleigh County.

The mine, which employs about 200, is owned by the Massey Energy Company, based in Virginia, and operated by the Performance Coal Company.

Mine safety officials said that there were three groups of miners affected by the blast. One group consisted of nine miners who were leaving the site at the end of their shift in a vehicle known as a “mantrip.” Seven of the miners in the man trip were killed by the explosion while two others were injured and taken to the hospital by rescue workers.

A second group of 18 miners was said to be working a bit deeper in the mine, closest to the area where coal was actually being extracted. All 18 of them died.

A third group of four miners — the ones still unaccounted for — was even deeper in the mine.

The miners were all thought to be working more than 1,000 feet underground.

The explosion on Monday destroyed all communication lines inside Upper Big Branch, but Kevin Stricklin, an administrator with the Mine Safety and Health Administration, said there were two rescue chambers near the blast site. If the miners could reach them, the chambers were stocked with food, water and enough air to allow them to survive four days.

Mr. Stricklin said that officials did not think there had been a roof collapse, but that they did not know what had caused the explosion in the sprawling mine. Upper Big Branch, which cannot be seen from the road, has 19 openings and roughly seven-foot ceilings, federal safety officials said.

Just a month ago, the mine was found to not be in compliance with mining safety rules, including proper ventilation and mitigation of methane gas. Despite a massive overhaul of mine safety rules four years ago, companies are still skirting the rules, and enforcement by government regulators is anything but assured.

The mine had been fined more than $1.5 million, but had paid only a fraction of the fines imposed by the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).

Meanwhile, rescuers were attempting to drill three shafts into the mine to vent methane and carbon monoxide.

West Virginia Goes to the Polls

It's expected that Sen. Hillary Clinton will win West Virginia in convincing fashion, but the pundits are already claiming that she has no chance of winning the nomination or overcoming the insurmountable lead in the popular vote held by Obama.

Scott Rassmussen is no longer providing daily updates to the polls between Obama and Clinton, as he's declared things over.

Clinton might not be able to win things unless Obama commits a huge gaffe between now and the convention, but her continued presence showcases Obama's faults - he can't win in many parts of the country based on the demographics. He can't even get a majority of Democrats to vote for him in major states across the country.

Obama will be lucky to be within 15 points of Clinton in West Virginia. Of course, that wont matter, as the media continues to promote the Obama nomination.

Then again, would you want Whiplash Ray Nagin to throw his support behind your campaign? He's a superdelegate from Louisiana, and he's going to be supporting Obama. That's the same Mayor Nagin who is immortalized with the Ray Nagin Memorial Motor Pool, joking with firearms, and whose whiplash moniker comes from his flip flopping on providing direction in reconstruction and recovery efforts following Hurricane Katrina. He's also known for calling New Orleans a "chocolate city" and whose views on race are odious and reprehensible (which makes it a perfect fit for the Obama campaign given Obama's penchant for hanging with such people).

UPDATE:
Quite a few Democrats want to see the campaign continue, and it looks like they'll get their wish through at least June 3.

UPDATE:
Hillary wins handily. 2-1 margin in fact and won across all demographic groups. Obama fans in the media are going to try and ignore this race, and all the rest to come as though Obama has sown up the nomination and that his electability is all but assured. Hillary's showing continues to provide plenty of evidence that Obama isn't quite the candidate the left thinks he is, and that come the general election, they will be in for quite a rude awakening.