Officials: W. Va. (Massey Energy) Mine Operator Kept Two Sets Of Safety Records

[kpete]

Source: NPR

Officials: W. Va. Mine Operator Kept Two Sets Of Safety Records

07:46 am

June 29, 2011



by HOWARD BERKES

...........

— Mine owner Massey Energy kept two sets of records that chronicled safety problems. One internal set of production reports detailed those problems and how they delayed coal production. But the other records, which are reviewed by federal mine safety inspectors and required by federal law, failed to mention the same safety hazards. Some of the hazards that were not disclosed are identical to those believed to have contributed to the explosion.

— Portions of the Upper Big Branch mine hit by the explosion were not treated for excessive and explosive coal dust because the entryways or tunnels in those areas were too small to accommodate the machine used to spray the material that neutralizes coal dust.

— Gas readings taken shortly after the explosion showed too little methane to support Massey Energy's claim that a massive, naturally-occurring and unpredictable inundation of gas caused the disaster.

— The path of the fiery blast that accompanied the explosion traveled in more complicated and convoluted ways than reported earlier.

Read more: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/06/29/137493009/w-va-mine-operator-kept-two-sets-of-safety-records-investigators-say

[Brickbat]

1. Motherfucker...why is this man not in jail?

Miners, ORGANIZE!

[Blue_Tires]

3. Because he's bought off congresscritters, regulators and prosecutors...

He almost certainly bankrolled a part of Rand Paul's campaign and who knows how many others?

[RoryK]

12. It's the same everywhere sadly.

Down here the usually keep a dozen sets of ledgers.

[Kolesar]

6. blankenship fired

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=6&ved=0CDkQFjAF&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.treehugger.com%2Ffiles%2F2010%2F04%2Fmassey-energy-fire-don-blankenship.php&ei=xzQLTpKBIYLf0QH9u7hr&usg=AFQjCNFYADYAmD-9My6i-GE6go2HZFNe1w

[LiberalAndProud]

20. He resigned in December.

Which is a rather long stint after shareholders started calling for his resignation in April.

[starroute]

8. Because he spends millions to buy his own judges

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31168141/ns/politics-supreme_court/t/court-judges-must-avoid-appearance-bias/

6/8/2009

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that elected judges must step aside from cases when large campaign contributions from interested parties create the appearance of bias. . . .

The West Virginia case involved more than $3 million spent by the chief executive of Massey Energy Co. to help elect state Supreme Court Justice Brent Benjamin. At the same time, Massey was appealing a verdict, which now totals $82.7 million with interest, in a dispute with a local coal company. Benjamin refused to step aside from the case, despite repeated requests, and was part of a 3-2 decision to overturn the verdict. . . .

Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, David Souter and John Paul Stevens joined Kennedy's opinion. . . .

Massey rejected assertions that Benjamin owed a debt of gratitude to Blankenship or that Benjamin displayed any bias in his ruling. Benjamin has ruled against Massey at least four times, including in an unanimous refusal to hear the company's appeal of a $260 million judgment won in another contract dispute. . . . But, Kennedy said, the $3 million Blankenship spent to unseat the incumbent justice who was seeking re-election and replace him with Benjamin "had a significant and disproportionate influence in placing Justice Benjamin on the case."

[starroute]

9. The Chamber of Commerce has also been involved in WV for years

And their interests largely parallel Blankenship's. The first article quoted below is heavily pro-business -- so please forgive the bias -- but it makes the Chamber's investment in the matter clear. And the second shows not only that Blankenship was on the same page as the Chamber, but that this was the judicial election which wound him up before the Supreme Court.

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2003/0721/064_print.html

07.21.03

McRae's ouster <in Mississippi> is part of a secret war on judges now being waged by the chamber. It has spent $100 million since 2000 and will spend $50 million or more this year. The prime objective: to vote out judges supported by trial lawyers, labor unions and the Democratic Party and install new judges sympathetic to insurance companies, multinational corporations and the Republican Party. The chamber also is taking aim at state attorneys general, trial lawyers and state legislators. . . .

West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Warren McGraw will be among the targets. In five years McGraw has sided with the court majority in favoring workers in compensation claims 88% of the time. In one case the court ruled that a worker with bronchitis was eligible for workers' compensation. She went on to get "permanent total disability," which typically awards $400,000 over a lifetime. No wonder the fund for state workers' compensation now runs $3.6 billion in the red.

Judge McGraw also ruled, in a startling case in 1999, that workers could sue their employers if they feared a future accident--without having been injured at all. This gave rise to cases that lawyers describe as "No proof? No problem!" McGraw's son, lawyer Warren McGraw II, has brought more cases under this ruling than he can count. For moral support the judge can turn to his older brother, Darrell V. McGraw Jr., who sat on the state supreme court from 1977 to 1989. Darrell is now West Virginia's attorney general, and he has filed dozens of antitrust and consumer-protection cases against companies; his office has argued hundreds of cases before his brother's bench.

The judge declines comment; his brother, Darrell, says of the chamber's war, "It's reprehensible. It's dangerous to the American concept of self-governance and democracy." But the chamber's scrappy, driven president, Thomas Donohue, says business merely is trying to even the score with trial lawyers, who until now have dominated judicial elections and enjoyed a cozy, symbiotic relationship with jurists. "We led. We succeeded. Now the money is rolling in from drug companies, heavy manufacturers, large retailers, insurance companies, even banks," he declares.


http://www.wvcag.org/news/fair_use/2004/10_15a.htm

October 15, 2004

Don Blankenship, the chief executive officer of Massey Energy Co., said Thursday that he has given $1.7 million to a group that wants to oust state Supreme Court Justice Warren McGraw. . . .

In a written statement issued by the group, Blankenship said he is financing the group because “without a change in the Supreme Court, businesses will continue to avoid West Virginia” and the state’s “job shortage” will continue. . . .

McGraw’s campaign said Blankenship’s involvement with the group proves that out-of-state businesses are trying to manipulate the election and take control of the high court. “We have said all along that special interests are trying to buy this election in a bid to tell West Virginians how to vote and to deny them the right to elect their own judges,” McGraw campaign manager Andy Gallagher said in a written statement.

The campaign of McGraw’s Republican challenger, Brent Benjamin, said Blankenship’s huge contributions would not sway Benjamin’s decision if he were elected.

[shoreline]

17. What this story really says is...

...that Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, and Alito believe it's OK to sit in judgement of those who are responsible for one being in the position to do so. That is an outrageous belief, and extraordinarily dangerous.

[valerief]

22. This is the court that gave us Citizens United. nt

[Hubert Flottz]

10. These criminals operate the same way Al Capone did...

Buy off politicians, judges and law men and you can do as you please.

[sasquuatch55]

13. Don't forget Mitch McConnell and his wife Elaine Chao and their influence on mining deregulation!

nt

[vanbean]

18. Regulation doesn't help much when the miners cook the books.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

33. Mine owners cook the books. Miners just work for a paycheck.

And lose their health and lives doing it.

[valerief]

21. That only happens in a democracy. We live in a fascist state. nt

[CrossChris]

32. We just have to let go of our old ideas about justice. That world is gone.

We need to start looking at who owns what. In a private-interest driven world, ownership, and not our old world ideas about justice is going to determine what happens to people like Massey, and what happens to you and I.

[SpiralHawk]

2. Republicon Family Cesspool Values

as usual

[Blue_Tires]

4. I'm reminded about the story of that gas drilling company CEO

Who assigned his sexiest secretaries to assist regulators in locating and reviewing files...

[Demeter]

5. Why Keep Records At All?

Just make it up as needed, like the GOP

[BridgeTheGap]

7. PROSECUTE NOW!!! n.t

[plumbob]

11. Regular business methods in corporate America.

I never worked for a bank, an insurance company, or an oil company that wasn't this crooked. And I worked for 11 of them over time.

[chervilant]

16. Hear, hear!

Having been a Branch Manager of a bank, and a mortgage loan officer (glorified salesperson), I can confirm that the vast majority of the 'minions' with whom I worked hold the same opinion, although most will not admit this publicly. Nor will they act on their accurate assessments of the Powers Than BE, since this would require that they risk their own livelihoods (homes, cars, income, future employability, etc).

Thus do the Corporate Megalomaniacs keep us bent over, hands braced on our knees.

[dbackjon]

14. Massey needs to be nationalized, former leaders in jail for life

[Kingofalldems]

15. It's his word against himself--we will never know the truth

and we shouldn't even ask about it----:sarcasm:

[RamboLiberal]

19. There were 2 men assigned to do rock dusting

Many days they were called away to do other jobs or the equipment was broken/clogged. That mine was lucky if it got dusted once a week. Something that should've been done every day if not every shift. Venilation as well was bad.

All the Massey officials ought to be tried for murder or manslaughter. The miners were scared in that mine but more afraid of losing their jobs being nonunion.

[Taverner]

25. And this is the dream Assholes like Bachmann want

words fail me - well, they don't, its just that DU would rather us be nice than honest

[RamboLiberal]

34. One of the miners worked to keep his health insurance cause his kid

had a chronic disease. So you go to work each day knowing you're working inside a ticking time bomb.

[Corruption Winz]

23. He's not in jail....

I wonder what would have if I kept to different files on my taxes. But, of course, I sent in the favorable one.

Just a thought....

[lark]

30. There is very little justice in America

mainly we get corrupt verdicts that favor the rich & their companies. America as we knew it is just about dead.

[SoapBox]

24. I'll add another of my DITTO's!

...exactly why is he not in jail and that company taken over?

[on point]

26. So wen does he get charged with murder?

[Citizen Worker]

27. Two sets of safety records certainly seem to point to pre-meditation. That means 29 counts of

murder in the first degree. Since mine safety comes under federal jurisdiction prosecution is up to the US Department of Justice. Eric Holder, are you listening? Will you prosecute or will you negotiate a slap on the wrist in the form of a nominal fine? Anyone care to place a wager on the outcome of this matter?

[Grrrfun]

28. steal BIG or stay home I guess

2 sets of books.

2 tiered justice system.

perfect balance achieved.

[greiner3]

29. "Kept Two Sets Of Safety Records"

Duh!

[ileus]

31. Their motto used to be S1P2....I suppose this was actually P1S28

[rhett o rick]

35. So? Will the Obama admin do anything? nm