Don Blankenship, the steely-eyed executive once dubbed "The Dark Lord of Coal Country," yesterday became the highest-ranking coal official to face federal charges in the nation's deadliest mine disaster in 40 years.
A federal grand jury indicted former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship Thursday on numerous counts of conspiracy, making him the highest-ranking executive charged in the April 2010 underground explosion that killed 29 men at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia.
The 43-page indictment said Blankenship "knew that UBB was committing hundreds of safety-law violations every year and that he had the ability to prevent most of the violations that UBB was committing. Yet he fostered and participated in an understanding that perpetuated UBB's practice of routine safety violations, in order to produce more coal, avoid the costs of following safety laws, and make more money."
His attorney, William W. Taylor III, said in a statement that Blankenship "is entirely innocent of these charges. He will fight them and he will be acquitted."
Earlier this year, Blankenship sponsored and appeared in a 50-minute documentary titled "Upper Big Branch - Never Again." In it, he argued that regulators never got to the truth about what happened underground.
But US Attorney Booth Goodwin said the truth is contained in the indictment.
In February 2013, a former longtime subordinate, David Hughart, testified that Blankenship ordered the widespread corporate practice of warning coal miners about surprise federal inspections.
The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration said the root cause of the blast was Massey's "systematic, intentional and aggressive efforts" to conceal life-threatening problems.
MSHA said managers even maintained two sets of pre-shift inspection books - an accurate one for themselves, and a sanitized one for regulators.
The explosion prompted federal officials to begin monthly "impact" inspections at problem mines throughout the Appalachian coal region in addition to routine state and federal visits. MSHA said last month that it has conducted 823 "impact" inspections sites and issued more than 13,000 citations since the explosion.
