A Massey Energy Co. subsidary agreed last week to pay $2.5 million in fines and $1.7 million in civil penalties for violations that caused a fire that killed two West Virginia coal miners in 2006. "Combined, the $4.2 million in criminal and civil fines appear to amount to the largest government penalty ever in a coal-mining death case," reported The Charleston Gazette.
Aracoma Coal Co. also agreed to plead guilty to 10 criminal violations, including one felony. The violations included "not providing a proper escape tunnel out of the underground mine, to not conducting required evacuation drills, and to faking a record book so it appeared the drills had been done," Ken Ward Jr. and Andrew Clevenger wrote.
The deal with federal prosecutors disposes of more than 1,300 health and safety violations at the Alma No. 1 mine, where the fire occured, and the nearby Henshaw mine. Last month, Massey settled a wrongful-death lawsuit by the two widows. The chief administrative law judge of the federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission wrote that he approved the settlement "reluctantly," because the $1.7 million penalty is 61 percent of the amount the federal government initially sought, while Massey CEO Don Blankenship got a raise of more than 35 percent last year, to "a compensation package that probably exceeded $23 million." (Read more)
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