GUILTY WV - 29 miners killed in coal dust explosion at Upper Big Branch, 5 April 2010

[Elphaba]

First chamber was checked... nothing... no one was in there. They have fire down there, so the rescue personnel has been brought back out.

 

[MrsG728]

I am so angry reading about how much time and energy and money is being spent on apologizing and rescuing and digging-

If the damn mining companies would think about safety, security and backup plans/measures in the first place, maybe these accidents could have been avoided. I don't feel sorry for the mining company profits or bosses at all, and in the end, I hope they lose their shirts over this.

too many of these mining men risk their lives every day just to put food on the table for their families, and does anyone realize how little they get paid???? Something has to be done.... legislators have to step up regulation legislation before more men die. I cried when I learned about many of their lives and families today

 

[fhc]

http://www.wsaz.com/newswestvirginia/headlines/89943497.html
Governor announced the four missing miners were found dead.

 

[Openmind]

Bless these men and their families at this time of sorrow.

 

[angelmom]

So sorry for all of the families and friends of the dead.

What a nightmare.

 

[drew]

I am so angry reading about how much time and energy and money is being spent on apologizing and rescuing and digging-

If the damn mining companies would think about safety, security and backup plans/measures in the first place, maybe these accidents could have been avoided. I don't feel sorry for the mining company profits or bosses at all, and in the end, I hope they lose their shirts over this.

too many of these mining men risk their lives every day just to put food on the table for their families, and does anyone realize how little they get paid???? Something has to be done.... legislators have to step up regulation legislation before more men die. I cried when I learned about many of their lives and families today

These miners are not making pennies. An average West Virginia coal miner probably makes 70 to 75 thousand dollars a year. In the little mining towns where these mines are located that is ALOT of money. I'd say the average worker in WV is making 25 thousand a year IF that. To some of you that live in states such as NY or CA that may not seem like a good living but for a state like WV or PA it is. The cost of living is way less there.
If you research you will see that the miners are working the mines because of the money they make and the health benefits they receive. Is it a dangerous job? Yes and they are generational miners and understand that.
What alot of people don't seem to understand is they like their jobs. They don't want to leave the hollows and small towns where they live.
These mines are already regulated by the US government. What do you think MSHA is? If the mine was too dangerous to operate MSHA would have shut it down! They have the power to do that. Did they have violations? Sure they did. MSHA and the DEP love to hand out violations like parking tickets.
Many many of those violations were for minor things. As an example a burned out light bulb in an outdoor maintance building on the same mine sight. That's just one example.
This is a tragic accident that happened in a dangerous field of work.
RIP miners

 

[MrsG728]

hi Drew
I am sorry if my post was either too vague or seemed misleading or without a basis. A former college roommate and I were discussing her late FIL's job as a coal miner, and this is where I had gotten my information.

She mentioned that without, his yearly salary had been around $50,000 at the time of his passing (he was 56) As a child, her family (3 children 2 parents) struggled to make ends meet. Only after his children were married did he live a more comfortable life as his salary increased with time in.

He often told stories of dangers that could have and should have been corrected- things that people on the surface could not see. He also talked to his wife about how much had been covered up.

Unfortunately, he died an early death due to Pulmonary Sarcoidosis, which the family believes was caused by his work in the mines. However, this was not compensated for, and the family had a difficult time with funeral costs and post-funeral living expenses. Her MIL was forced to sell the home.

 

[tezi]

This makes my heart hurt. My father was a miner (underground) and my husband was an above ground miner. My dad was in three different cave-in's in the late 1960s. I remember the fear that I felt that he wouldn't be alive. But, by the grace of God, he was each time.

I do feel the Federal Inspectors need to be given more power. Like arresting owners who won't put safety first.

JMO

 

[MrsG728]

thank you to those who do this arduous and dangerous work-
and thank you all for teaching us about this topic. there is a lot I don't know and a lot to learn.

 

[fran]

I think that so many of us live in big cities, ie L.A., NYC, DC, and on and on, that we sometimes forget there's a whole country that many live up 'river roads,' small towns that thrive on tourists, 'up river,' in the 'hollers' (sp?)....anyway...............

I was born in LA, Calif and raised in a burb. I worked in offices, my parents did too. But when I was married with kids and in my 20's, we moved to Oregon, small town, tourist area,............besides tourism, the locals were loggers and fishermen......

When I lived in Calif, people went to work, came home. The only danger they had then was possible car accident. Of course since then it's multilplied into carjacking and such, but when you went to work, you weren't putting your life on the line, unless you were a fireman or policeman.

The few years we lived in that small town in Oregon, we knew more people that died during work than I ever knew could even happen. Trees falling the wrong way, storms sneaking up and ships lost......IMHO, this is the same as these miners faced, day in and day out. No matter how many safety precautions put in place, there's always SOMETHING unprepared for, or NOT expected, that can occur.

It's easy to play 20-20. But when it happens to you, it's just an accident.

Bless these families and their lost loved ones. No one would want to be in their place right now. They have my deepest sympathy and condolences.

sincerely,
fran
:rose:

 

[Reader]

http://www.centurylink.net/news/rea...ass&action=3&lang=en&_LT=UNLC_NKNWU00L3_UNEWS

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A former superintendent at a West Virginia mine where 29 miners died in a 2010 explosion has been sentenced to nearly two years in prison on a federal conspiracy charge.

Gary May received the sentence of 21 months and a $20,000 fine Thursday in federal court in Beckley. ..............

Hughart's [a co. executive] cooperation has been viewed as a sign that authorities may be gathering evidence to target officials further up the Massey hierarchy.............short article......

It's about time!

 

[MissJ]

Thank God.

 

[OkieGranny]

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news...cle_fe018fe1-aa79-54bf-b31d-682d9351f843.html

Jurors are heading into a holiday break without a verdict in the trial of ex-Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship...

Blankenship, 65, faces up to 30 years if convicted of conspiring to willfully violate mine safety regulations and lying to investors and federal securities regulators at West Virginia's Upper Big Branch Mine, and lying to financial regulators and investors about safety. The coal mine exploded in 2010, killing 29 men.

 

[OkieGranny]

From last month:

http://www.register-herald.com/news...cle_cc8bfd0d-2e6d-5bb8-937d-154329589515.html

Don Blankenship’s trial began Oct. 1, and just over two months later, a jury found him guilty of conspiring to willfully violate mine safety standards.

His conviction was only a misdemeanor; a jury found him not guilty of all felony counts of the indictment, including conspiracy to defraud the Mine Safety and Health Administration and lying to investors and federal securities regulators after the explosion.

The former CEO, who would have faced up to 30 years in prison had he been convicted of all counts, faces up to one year in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced April 6 at 10 a.m. in Charleston.

 

[Blondie in Spokane]

Coal company CEO's misdemeanor conviction after a disaster that killed 29 miners is a "perversion of justice," says victim's sister

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-massey-coal-don-blankenship-king-of-coal/

 

[OkieGranny]

From April:

http://www.wpxi.com/news/national/excoal-ceo-gets-1-year-in-prison-for-deadly-mine-blast/199651680

Twenty-nine men were killed in the former Massey Energy CEO's coal mine six years ago, but he contended in court Wednesday that he committed no crime.

"I just want to make the point that these men were proud coal miners. They've been doing it a long time. And they'd want the truth of what happened there to be known," Blankenship said, drifting closer toward mentioning his theory that an act of nature, not negligence, caused the deadly explosion in his mine.

The judge told him to stop talking about the explosion and handed down the stiffest sentence allowed for his misdemeanor conviction: one year in prison and a $250,000 fine.

One day after the sixth anniversary of the disaster, the sentencing both gave families closure and reopened wounds...

 

[adman]

http://www.wsaz.com/newswestvirginia/headlines/89943497.html
Governor announced the four missing miners were found dead.

Has anyone ever heard anything about bodies found in a mine near Colliers WV. Theory was they were hiding there to escape the civil war and the mine collapsed.