The news is in, and what’s everybody in West Virginia and across the coalfields was hoping it would not be … The four other Massey Energy miners were found dead deep inside the Upper Big Branch Mine in Raleigh County.
None of the miners made it to the rescue chambers, and none of them had a chance to deploy their emergency breathing devices, officials just said at a briefing for the media.
Gov. Joe Manchin said:
We did not receive the miracle we prayed for.
We’ve got more in a story on the Gazette Web site.
Updated:
Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship said in a statement:
We remained hopeful the four missing miners would have been found alive. I personally met with many of the families throughout the week and share their grief at this very painful time.
Kevin Stricklin, coal administrator for the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, said rescue teams would immediately begin the work of recovering the miners’ bodies, and then MSHA would turn its attention to figuring out what happened and how to prevent it from happening again.
“I can assure you that no stone will be left unturned,” Stricklin said. “We will find the cause of it.”
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This ending is another tragedy for all the people of West Virginia who want and need to make their living by mining coal.
I feel sorry for the families who face the long road ahead of grief and loss. I feel sorry for the families who face the long road ahead of legal battles up against a cold, “profit first” coal company.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/09/AR2010040905117_Comments.html
Don Blankenship’s lawyers ‘played’ the Mine Safety Administration system and won the ‘short money’ prize thinking they could beat the odds forever. Massey Energy had a twenty-year run in the old coal game buying the blessing of every politician they could along the way.
West Virginia government has a shameful history of over one hundred years surrounding coal and the abuse of West Virginia natives. These natives have few choices, they hang on and try and survive what has often been a bitter existence. This is their land, of course it was not theirs to begin with, but that is another story. Ronald Reagan told us to vote with our feet and move if we did not like our leaders. Ironically that’s what most native West Virginians ancestors did when they left England and Europe in the seventeenth-century. Enter, greed.
All 29 of the miners were murdered by the attitude, actions and arrogance of Don Blankenship and his colleagues. The lives of twenty nine families have been needlessly destroyed. Blankenship’s refusal to accept any validity in the global warming theories hardened his heart towards methane emissions. Being a trained accountant the bottom line is all that matters. Born in the region, Blankenship knows the locals have no way out and virtually no other choice of employment if they want to remain in their ancestral Appalachian homes. It appears to me that Blankenship pimped his own kin amassing millions of dollars for himself while doing do. In China a guy like Don Blankenship could end up getting executed for negligence and misfeasance of this magnitude.
Apparently Massey has not participated in the US EPA Coalbed Methane Outreach Program CMOP. This US government run program assists businesses capture methane for resale on the open market. The system is like welfare for businesses, a government hand out with the intention of helping protect our environment and making profits for corporations.
A greenhouse gas, methane is a known contributor to global warming and because it also has energy value it can be reasonably, scientifically managed for profit. The 2010 world conference on methane management in coal mines, etc. opens in Beijing on April 13 http://www.world-ctl2010.com Massey Energy is not on the list of attendees for the Coal to Liquid conference 2009 or 2010. The University of West Virginia is a listed attendee however.
Don Blankenship has proven himself to be a shortsighted narrow-minded demon that should be hastily exorcised from Massey Energy and the coal industry. All Massey Energy mines should be held under strict scrutiny for the duration. The FBI should seize all Massey Energy mining records immediately.
Yesterday April 9, Massey Energy announced to shareholders that they would immediately move operations to other dormant mines to replace the lost output from Big Branch. Investors and lenders to Massey Energy should rethink their position on supporting such derelict leadership.
The activities at Massey Energy resemble the whoremasters and street drug dealers from New York City, etc. Good riddance Don Blankenship and company, take your bad act somewhere else. By the way, I’ve not noticed any press about the tragedy from friends of Big Coal spokespersons Sean Hannity, Hank Williams Jr., Ted Nugent, etc. Where are you guys when the little people really need you? I know Don Blankenship paid you guys bucks for your blessing at ‘friends of coal’ last year, maybe its time for a refund or kind words for the real losers in this game.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/09/AR2010040905117.html
It appears that the W.Va. mine disaster could have been averted
Saturday, April 10, 2010; A16
AS RESCUERS continue to try to find the four remaining miners trapped after the Upper Big Branch coal mine exploded on Monday, we’re finding out plenty about Massey Energy chief executive Don L. Blankenship and the operations of that doomed facility. None of it is good. What’s been revealed is a distressing effort to render ineffective the mining regulations that were strengthened in 2006 to bring a measure of safety to a very dangerous job.
As The Post reported Friday, safety violations have caused the evacuation of portions of that coal mine 64 times since the beginning of 2009. According to Mine Safety and Health News, in that year, 48 serious violations were recorded. That doesn’t compare well with other mines of similar size. For instance, the Deer Creek mine in Utah has had only one serious violation in the past 15 years. Poor ventilation, high accumulation of combustible materials and inadequate protections from roof falls were the most oft-cited violations. Just last month, a test showed that the Upper Big Branch mine’s ventilation system was circulating less than half the amount of air needed to keep methane and other combustible materials at safe levels. The massive explosion that claimed 25 lives in the Montcoal, W.Va., mine is believed to have been caused by a build-up of methane gas.
Mr. Blankenship has been able to get around the tougher regulations implemented by the 2006 MINER Act by aggressively challenging safety violation citations. Unresolved challenges were part of the reason the Upper Big Branch mine was removed from the “potential pattern of violation” list in 2007. Had this not happened, the Mine Safety and Health Administration would have had the power to shut down the mine until the problems were fixed.
President Obama has asked Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and Joseph A. Main, head of MSHA, for a preliminary report next week on what happened and how to prevent it from happening again. “It’s a profession that’s not without risks and danger, and the workers and their families know that,” Mr. Obama said of the coal industry Friday. “But their government and their employers know that they owe it to these families to do everything possible to ensure their safety when they go to work each day.” A good place to start would be to ensure that the regulations on the books are vigorously enforced.
This tragic accident will be a drop in the bucket for Massey. He will pay a few million to each family member and the issue will be forgotten.
We pray for the comfort of your families and friends. I say hold the inspectors, the goverment liable and Mr. I M RIch Massey for not shutting the mine down the same day it happened, if not sooner. I am not a engineer but if a air vent is on backwards all they were doing was pushing the bad air and GAS back further in the mines and of course it built up and bam. WV is tough but lets be smart. It is not just Massey but we can change the laws, How about getting the violatiions posted on the paper and what action was taken, and what fees the company had to pay, and i bet no where in that law does it say to SHUT DOWN the mine and air it out for a week and then retest the air. I pray these men knew Jesus because we can all go at anytime, and be sure your loved ones know they are loved as love is for those left behind too. May God comfort you, thank you to the miners for the risks you take for us, KEEP THE LIGHTS ON
Our hearts and prayers go out to the families and the community. You will be in thoughts and prayers for a long, long time.
My sorrow for the familys of the deceased miners.
Coal mining remains a hazardous occupation ; If a miner escapes explosions, roof falls,etc, he can expect Black Lung disease to take him out later. This is another good reason to try to seek alternative energy.
No one can suppress the truth and get away with it! Wars had been fought and millions of American soldiers were killed fighting against world tyrants determined to trample on truth. And now Coal Tattoo is suppressing the truth again, in fear of offending the refuse of society comprised of filthy sodomites, socialists, abortionists, atheists, pedophiles, and euthanasia providers. After your life is over, God will judge you, and condemn you for siding with evil, and you will be thrown into hell where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. The excuse “I didn’t know” will not work with God, because it is your duty as a human being to seek after truth, and apply it. Think about that, and think hard! Before you are doomed, for eternity.