Donald Blankenship, who presided over his coalfields from a mountaintop castle, was sentenced Wednesday to a year in prison and a $250,000 fine, the maximum punishment after his misdemeanor conviction for conspiring to flout mine-safety rules. He also will not have to pay $28 million in restitution to Alpha Natural Resources, the company that bought Massey Energy in 2011.
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Summary: Over five years since the West Virginia coal mine explosion, the CEO of Massey Energy was sentenced to one year in prison, one year probation, and a hefty fine. That’s a travesty. He orchestrated a scheme to evade mine safety laws, impede enforcement of those laws, provide false information to federal safety inspectors and more, all of which put every miner who worked on any Massey property at risk of losing their lives every day they went to work. They’ve been doing it a long time. So far, that date hasn’t been set.
“During a short recess Wednesday morning, Betty Harrah, who lost her 40-year-old brother Steve in the blast, expressed her frustrations over Judge Berger not allowing victims’ families to speak at the hearing”.
“Hey, Don. This is Tom”, his voice cracking. How come you never came to apologize to me personally? “We buried our kid because of you”, survivor Tommy Davis yelled at Blankenship. “That’s all I got is a goddamn tombstone”, Atkins said.
Then about a half-dozen law enforcement officers surrounded Blankenship and his team and ushered them into an awaiting van.
Massey was the fourth-largest coal producer in the United States and the largest mine operator in Appalachia at the time of the explosion, which was one of the worst USA mine disasters in decades.
In a lengthy, intricate trial last fall, prosecutors here described Blankenship, who was Massey’s chief executive at the time of the explosion, as a leader with a stubborn focus on the company’s financial standing.
Blankenship was not charged with causing the explosion.
At Upper Big Branch, four investigations found worn and broken cutting equipment created a spark that ignited accumulations of coal dust and methane gas.
Blankenship disputes those reports.
Don Blankenship’s name used to be prefaced with the word “colourful”; the head of Massey Energy was the subject of many posts quoting his views on everything from turning down thermostats and conservation, which he considered the first steps to socialism.
“Instead of being able to tout you as a West Virginia success story, we are here as a result of your participation in a unsafe conspiracy”, the judge said.
“The explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine could have been prevented”, the report stated.
Blankenship’s attorneys said after the verdict in December they planned to file an appeal. “We’re confident that the court of appeals will reverse it”, Mr. Taylor said outside the courthouse amid a scrum of reporters before several angry family members began yelling at Mr. Blankenship and security guards walked the lawyer and his client to a waiting vehicle.
“I miss my family. (Blankenship) hugged his”, Davis said. Joe Manchin III, who was governor at the time of the explosion.
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“Six years after the loss of 29 miners at Upper Big Branch, we continue to grieve with their families, friends and fellow miners”, Jenkins said in a prepared statement.
