An independent investigator for the state of West Virginia is expected to release a report as early as tomorrow detailing the causes of the April 2010 disaster that killed 29 coal miners at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia. The report is expected to hit the company hard and question the No. 2 coal-producing state's relationship with the industry, Manuel Quinones of Environment & Energy News reports.
"We kind of hit hard on West Virginia as a state that is a big proponent of coal," said Celeste Monforton, an occupational health expert and former Mine Safety and Health Administration official who worked with former MSHA boss Davitt McAteer on the investigation. "We challenge the state to look introspectively at its relationship with industry."
The report is "expected to include previously unreleased information from numerous witnesses," Quinones writes, and to have "hard hitting" chapters on Massey. The report, which will be made available online, is about 120 pages and details everything from the rescue and recovery efforts to local political support for the industry, Quinones reports.
McAteer's report, unlike those by MSHA and the state Office of Miners Health, Safety and Training, takes a broader look at Massey's safety practices and also "state and federal oversight failures that could have played a role in the disaster," Ken Ward of the Charleston Gazette reports.
"We kind of hit hard on West Virginia as a state that is a big proponent of coal," said Celeste Monforton, an occupational health expert and former Mine Safety and Health Administration official who worked with former MSHA boss Davitt McAteer on the investigation. "We challenge the state to look introspectively at its relationship with industry."
The report is "expected to include previously unreleased information from numerous witnesses," Quinones writes, and to have "hard hitting" chapters on Massey. The report, which will be made available online, is about 120 pages and details everything from the rescue and recovery efforts to local political support for the industry, Quinones reports.
McAteer's report, unlike those by MSHA and the state Office of Miners Health, Safety and Training, takes a broader look at Massey's safety practices and also "state and federal oversight failures that could have played a role in the disaster," Ken Ward of the Charleston Gazette reports.
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