Feds: Mine operator could have prevented 2010 W.Va. explosion

The operator of a West Virginia coal mine that exploded last year, leading to the death of 29 men, systematically violated federal safety standards and could have prevented the disaster, federal regulators said Tuesday in announcing that they imposed $10.8 million in penalties on the company.

Massey Energy and its subsidiary, which operated the Upper Big Branch mine, “promoted and enforced a workplace culture that valued production over safety, including practices calculated to allow it to conduct mining operations in violation of the law,” the Labor Department’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) said in its final report on the April 5, 2010, disaster.

{mosads}MSHA imposed $10.8 million in civil penalties on Massey Energy, the largest fines in the agency’s history, officials said. Regulators issued Massey and its subsidiary 369 citations, according to the agecy, including 21 “flagrant violations,” which carry the largest civil penalties.

Massey has since merged with Alpha Natural Resources Inc., one of the country’s largest mining companies. The Justice Department announced in a statement Tuesday that Alpha agreed to pay $209 million in connection with the disaster, absolving it from further liability in the case, but it leaves open the possibility that former Massey executives could be brought up on criminal charges.

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis praised the agreement Tuesday, but vowed to
continue working with the Justice Department to address criminal
wrongdoing by Massey executives.

“While this agreement covers corporate prosecution, my department will
continue to cooperate with the Department of Justice to address any
individual criminal wrongdoing uncovered by ongoing federal
investigations,” she said. “Anyone determined to have violated a
criminal statute in connection with Upper Big Branch should be brought
to justice.”

The MSHA investigation found examples of
“systematic, intentional, and aggressive” efforts by Massey and its
subsidiary “to avoid compliance with safety and health standards, and to
thwart detection of that non-compliance by federal and state
regulators.”

{mossecondads}The company kept two sets of books — the first was available for review by inspectors, but the second was kept private. The second set of books “noted some hazards … that it did not record in the required examination books,” the report said.

Meanwhile, the report said, the company used intimidation tactics to prevent miners from reporting safety violations.

“As a result, no safety or health complaints and no whistleblower disclosures were made to MSHA from miners working in the UBB mine in the approximately four years preceding the explosion,” the report says. “This is despite an extensive record of [company] safety and health violations at the [Upper Big Branch] mine during this period.”

MSHA’s findings echo those of a panel of independent experts that blamed Massey for the disaster in a report released earlier this year.

“Ultimately, the responsibility for the explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine lies with the management of Massey Energy,” said the report, which was written by J. Davitt McAteer, who served as the assistant secretary for MSHA during the Clinton administration.

“The company broke faith with its workers by frequently and knowingly violating the law and blatantly disregarding known safety practices while creating a public perception that its operations exceeded industry standards.”