A settlement has been reached in the lawsuit over the Upper Big Branch coal mine disaster that killed 29 miners last April in West Virginia. Alpha Natural Resources, which acquired the mine from Massey Energy when it bought the company this June, has agreed to a $200 million dollar deal in which it promises to implement safety improvements in all its underground mines, pay tens of millions of dollars of government fines and pay restitution to families of the miners.
The settlement requires Alpha to spend $80 million to improve safety over the next two years, including upgrading equipment, training and increasing staffing at all former Massey underground mines. Digital air-flow, methane and coal dust monitors will be installed, reports Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette. The company "must also perform a study to determine if its mines have adequate staffing to clean up accumulations of explosive coal dust, accelerate research on new ways to control dust accumulations, and install new emergency oxygen equipment for miners. The company will build a new state-of-the art training center at its regional office in Julian and set up an aggressive new schedule of worker and supervisor training programs." Alpha will also create a $48 million trust funding mine-safety research at academic institutions, and pay $35 million to resolve civil penalties of all former Massey mines.It will pay $46.5 million to families of the victims.
Ward reports neither Alpha or its subsidiary that operates the Upper Big Branch mine are pleading guilty to any criminal charges. In exchange for Alpha following through on the details of the settlement, the government has agreed to not bring charges against the companies. However, Ward reports that key to this deal is that the U.S. Justice Department hasn't promised to not bring charges against individual executives, officers and employees of Massey or Performance. On his blog, Coal Tattoo, Ward writes that U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin told him: "We’re not limiting the focus of our investigation at all. We are not slowing down at all. If anything, certain aspects of our investigation are going into high gear."
After the Justice Department announcement about the settlement, the Mine Safety and Health Administration released a report about its investigation of the disaster. Ward reports it "largely mirrors previously released findings" from independent investigator David McAteer and another from United Mine Workers safety experts. "All three investigations agree that the explosion involved an ignition of a small amount of methane gas that transitioned into a massive coal-dust explosion because of Massey's poor safety practices," Ward reports. MSHA investigators concluded that Massey "did not follow its agency-approved ventilation and roof control plans, short-circuiting fresh-air flow deep in the mine, contributing to the methane buildup and ignition." (Read more)
The settlement requires Alpha to spend $80 million to improve safety over the next two years, including upgrading equipment, training and increasing staffing at all former Massey underground mines. Digital air-flow, methane and coal dust monitors will be installed, reports Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette. The company "must also perform a study to determine if its mines have adequate staffing to clean up accumulations of explosive coal dust, accelerate research on new ways to control dust accumulations, and install new emergency oxygen equipment for miners. The company will build a new state-of-the art training center at its regional office in Julian and set up an aggressive new schedule of worker and supervisor training programs." Alpha will also create a $48 million trust funding mine-safety research at academic institutions, and pay $35 million to resolve civil penalties of all former Massey mines.It will pay $46.5 million to families of the victims.
Ward reports neither Alpha or its subsidiary that operates the Upper Big Branch mine are pleading guilty to any criminal charges. In exchange for Alpha following through on the details of the settlement, the government has agreed to not bring charges against the companies. However, Ward reports that key to this deal is that the U.S. Justice Department hasn't promised to not bring charges against individual executives, officers and employees of Massey or Performance. On his blog, Coal Tattoo, Ward writes that U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin told him: "We’re not limiting the focus of our investigation at all. We are not slowing down at all. If anything, certain aspects of our investigation are going into high gear."
After the Justice Department announcement about the settlement, the Mine Safety and Health Administration released a report about its investigation of the disaster. Ward reports it "largely mirrors previously released findings" from independent investigator David McAteer and another from United Mine Workers safety experts. "All three investigations agree that the explosion involved an ignition of a small amount of methane gas that transitioned into a massive coal-dust explosion because of Massey's poor safety practices," Ward reports. MSHA investigators concluded that Massey "did not follow its agency-approved ventilation and roof control plans, short-circuiting fresh-air flow deep in the mine, contributing to the methane buildup and ignition." (Read more)
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