from the worker-safety-vs-corporate-profits dept.
The Charleston [West Virginia] Gazette reports.
Don Blankenship, the longtime chief executive officer of Massey Energy, was indicted Thursday on charges that he orchestrated the routine violation of key federal mine safety rules at the company’s Upper Big Branch Mine prior to an April 2010 explosion that killed 29 miners.
A federal grand jury in Charleston charged Blankenship with conspiring to cause willful violations of ventilation requirements and coal-dust control rules — meant to prevent deadly mine blasts —during a 15-month period prior to the worst coal-mining disaster in a generation.
The four-count indictment, filed in U.S. District Court, also alleges that Blankenship led a conspiracy to cover up mine safety violations and hinder federal enforcement efforts by providing advance warning of government inspections.
“Blankenship knew that UBB was committing hundreds of safety-law violations every year and that he had the ability to prevent most of the violations that UBB was committing,” the indictment states. “Yet he fostered and participated in an understanding that perpetuated UBB’s practice of routine safety violations, in order to produce more coal, avoid the costs of following safety laws, and make more money.”
The indictment also alleges that, after the explosion, Blankenship made false statements to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the investing public about Massey’s safety practices before the explosion.
The three felonies and one misdemeanor carry a maximum combined penalty of 31 years imprisonment, U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin said in a prepared statement. He would not comment beyond the prepared statement.
Related Stories
The Center for American Progress reports
The former president of the company that contaminated drinking water for 300,000 West Virginians this past January has been arrested on criminal fraud charges, according to a Federal Bureau of Investigation complaint(PDF) unsealed Monday.
Former Freedom Industries president Gary Southern was charged with bankruptcy fraud, wire fraud, and lying under oath during the company's bankruptcy proceedings following the massive spill--a 10,000 gallon dump of a coal-cleaning chemical called crude MCHM into the Elk River. FBI Special Agent James F. Lafferty said in a sworn affidavit that Southern, in an attempt to protect his personal fortune of nearly $8 million and shield himself from lawsuits, developed a scheme to distance himself from the company and "deflect blame" to other parties.
Related:
Massey CEO Indicted for Acts Resulting in Coal Mine Explosion that Killed 29
The World Socialist Web Site reports
Former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship was released from prison [May 10] after serving a one year sentence in connection with the April 2010 explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia, which killed 29 coal miners. The Upper Big Branch blast was the worst US mine disaster in 40 years.
Blankenship served the first ten months of his sentence at the Taft Correctional Institution in Southern California. The facility, which houses many white collar criminals, boasts baseball diamonds and soccer fields along with tennis and racquetball courts. Blankenship was then moved to a halfway house for a month and spent the last month prior to his official release at his home in Las Vegas.
In tweets [that] Blankenship posted after his release, the millionaire coal boss showed no remorse for the deaths of 29 miners. He complained that at Taft he had to return to his room several times a day to be counted and could not choose what to watch on TV.
[...] In 2015, Blankenship was convicted on a single misdemeanor count of violating federal safety laws at the mine in Montcoal, West Virginia. The disaster occurred when a spark from a longwall machine ignited a pocket of methane gas, which, in turn, set off a massive coal dust explosion throughout the mine.
Multiple and grave safety violations occurred at the mine when Blankenship issued an order to "run coal", flouting regulations designed to prevent explosions. In an October 2005 memo to the company's deep mine superintendents, Blankenship outlined his priorities. "If any of you have been asked by your group presidents, your supervisors, engineers, or anyone else to do anything other than run coal (i.e., build overcasts, do construction jobs, or whatever), you need to ignore them and run coal", he wrote.
[...] Four investigations of the disaster found that bits on the longwall machine were broken and worn out, causing sparking. Water nozzles meant to keep the bits cool and prevent sparks were also broken. Proper ventilation to prevent the buildup of methane gas was lacking. Explosive coal dust was allowed to accumulate throughout the mine.
Previous: Massey CEO Indicted for Acts Resulting in Coal Mine Explosion that Killed 29
(Score: 2) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Saturday November 15 2014, @04:17PM
Who will die in his mansion.
You're betting on the pantomime horse...
(Score: 1) by Whoever on Saturday November 15 2014, @05:25PM
Yeah, mysteriously, the prosecutors will fumble the ball and he will either be found not guilty or get an endless series of mistrials.
(Score: 2) by fadrian on Saturday November 15 2014, @04:43PM
Good.
That is all.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 15 2014, @05:00PM
How is this tech-related?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 15 2014, @05:10PM
It isn't. It shouldn't even have been submitted.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 15 2014, @09:09PM
You shouldn't even have been conceived.
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Monday November 17 2014, @06:28PM
Please read the SoylentNews FAQ.
SoylentNews is not, and never has been, exclusively focused on tech news. THIS. ISN'T. SLASHDOT.
Pretty sure the editors know what kind of article is supposed to be here. If you don't like how this site operates, perhaps you'd prefer to go elsewhere.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Sunday November 16 2014, @04:12PM
Why does it have to be? If you don't like a story, just don't read it.
It's relevant because in the US, rich people don't go to jail. The only way a rich and powerful man goes to jail is if a richer and more powerful man wants him there. Maybe he pissed off Bill Gates, maybe he made a homophobic slur and Mr. Tim got pissed off about it.
You want a tech angle? Here you go: why was nobody from Sony even brought to trial for rooting and vandalizing their paying customers' computers with their XCP trojan? Simple: Warren Buffet didn't get infected. If he had, Sony's CEO would have gone to prison.
We live in a plutocracy, and may have always been a plutocracy.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 2, Interesting) by BK on Saturday November 15 2014, @05:26PM
No matter how bad the submissions, this story should have never been OK'd. I can't see that it fits any of our themes. At the closest, this is a political story... but it's not a very good political story since it's gonna be a one-sided one. Even the people who like the coal industry will choose a different fight. And we aren't about politics... at least not primarily.
It's really incumbent on the editor, or maybe the submitter to tell us why we should care more about this.
I know that being an editor isn't all sunshine and rainbows. I know that if I wan't better stories, I should damn well submit them. But sometimes it's better to have no new story right now than for the story itself to be OT.
...but you HAVE heard of me.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 15 2014, @05:30PM
It's a fine line. Corruption stories are always popular with a wide range of folks, and this site does provide a cozy forum for discussion.
But yeah.
-different AC
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 15 2014, @05:39PM
An increase in the number of purely political stories is part of what destroyed Slashdot.
Here we should be discussing stuff like systemd and how it's destroying Debian. We should be discussing stuff like how Mozilla is screwing up Firefox, and wasting resources with stupid projects like Firefox OS and Persona. Those are issues that really matter.
It's irrelevant if a thug in Ferguson attacked a police officer who had to then defend himself by using deadly force against the thug. It really doesn't matter at all.
Editors, please listen to us! We desire fewer political stories, and more stories about technology, science, mathematics, and great stuff like that!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 15 2014, @10:15PM
Can somebody please fix up the incorrect moderating of the parent? It's obvious not a troll.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 16 2014, @08:46AM
First, that should be "obviously", you know, the adverb?
Second, ACs get what they deserve. They have no standing.
Third, we have video of this particular AC acting like a thug.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 16 2014, @01:09PM
Please don't use the word "thug". It's extremely racist. gewg_ will tell you all about how racist it is.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 16 2014, @03:14AM
a thug in Ferguson
Correctly described, that was an 18 year old kid with a clean police record.
In a town that is 65 percent black and has a police force that is 94 percent white and is deeply racist, the kid managed to avoid even a Walking While Black violation until that day.
...but then, you know that.
attacked a police officer
Every witness (besides the lying cop) says that the white cop started the violence and the cop escalated at every point.
- The cop used the door of his cruiser as a weapon against someone who was simply walking along the street.
- The cop then pulled the kid into the car through the window.
- The cop's claim that a shot was fired in the car was shown to be a lie by a lack of gunpowder residue on the kid's corpse.
- The cop then tried multiple times to shoot the kid in the back. (Besides being a violent racist, the cop is a lousy shot.)
- The cop emptied his 10-round magazine shooting at the UNARMED kid.
...but then, you know all of that.
You keep posting your ignorant racist tirades hoping that ignorant uninformed people will accept them as fact.
We desire fewer political stories
Well, YOU (and your ilk) keep trying to kick dirt onto stories that don't rubber stamp your racist authoritarian worldview.
You are in the minority.
These stories get a lot of comments here (including the comments calling to censor them).
-- gewg_
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 16 2014, @04:22AM
It is surprising how you totally ignore the convenience store security camera footage that was released. Oh, wait, it's not surprising at all! You ignore it because it totally disproves everything you just babbled on about.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 16 2014, @05:06AM
- The store clerk was an idiot.
Trying to withhold something that was already paid for was just stupid.
- The cop wasn't aware of any of that event.
He is simply a racist--the same as you.
-- gewg_
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 16 2014, @05:23AM
Sorry, I have to go with the GP on this one.
You've given us lots of unsubstantiated speculation.
The GP, on the other hand, refers us to video evidence that indisputably shows the young man minutes before his death acting in a manner that's well described as 'thuggery'.
When facing very clear evidence such as that, you'll need to do better than speculation if you want to convince us that your take on the matter is correct.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Monday November 17 2014, @07:12PM
Here we should be discussing stuff like systemd and how it's destroying Debian.
Oh, please god, no more!
(Score: 2, Insightful) by fadrian on Saturday November 15 2014, @06:11PM
Because our governments and the world economy is the largest system ever constructed and maintained in history? Because it is being engineered (but not perhaps in the way we like it) by those around us? Because the results of this engineering (in this case called "writing laws" and "interpreting legislation" instead of "coding") impact all of us? Because in this case, despite how carefully the laws around this area of the system to govern this particular activity, it failed spectacularly? Because we see that in this case, failure lead to death, which is tragic, especially as with better engineered systems of controls (in this case laws, regulations, and the enforcement of the same), this kind of disaster could be avoided?
In this case, you seem to think that your government and economy is not a man-made artifact, whose function is designed by the artifice of mankind to achieve the purpose of making the world a safer, more efficient and convenient place, hopefully to improve the comfort and longevity of all our lives. Because they actually are, you are incorrect and this kind of story is relevant. The question really is whether or not you want to participate in a fruitful discussion vis a vis government as an engineered system or whether you just want to bitch because talking about these things makes you feel sad or something...
That is all.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 15 2014, @07:21PM
Those complaining are likely shills that contribute to the corrupt failure our system has become. They don't want any news sources discussing how corrupt our system is, they own the mainstream media so that they control whether or not it gets out through there and how it gets spun. In essence these people are sociopaths and when there is something that goes against the worldview they would like everyone else to hold their response is to scream that it's not fair they can't defend their a fictitious worldview against criticisms.
These issues are relevant and newsworthy on smaller outlets because
A: They often don't get covered nearly enough on mainstream media outlets
B: When they do get covered they often get spun
C: Often times the only position to take is a one sided position (that if this executive was responsible he should be seriously punished and if he's not sufficiently punished and his punishment doesn't meet the same punishment some 'nobody' would receive for doing something relatively minor that's a complete failure of our system).
With respect to part C this is why it's arguably not so much a 'political issue'. Certain political issues are controversial and the position to take is not so clear cut (ie: more government vs less government in any given situation). Here the discussion revolves more around if this CEO is responsible for these deaths due to willful negligence and he isn't punished as much as he should be (as much as a 'nobody' who does something not nearly as bad) or if he gets away with it that's a failure of our system. That's a bipartisan issue. It's not so much a 'political' issue in the sense that there is enough controversy to warrant screaming and name calling and mud slinging on both sides of the debate. It's an issue where failure to punish this guy is definitively a systematic failure that needs to be addressed and our system hasn't addressed it. So the discussion and controversy around here should revolve more around how do we address this issue. What can we do to get the government to act in the public interest. Not so much is this acceptable and because it's not acceptable it shouldn't be posted. If this guy gets away with his crimes then clearly the rest of the system (ie: mainstream media, law enforcement, courts, etc...) has failed so why not give us the opportunity to be informed about it to perhaps make the effort to fix it. Or perhaps adjust our behavior accordingly (ie: perhaps someone here works at a mine or knows someone that does and may decide not to work there because of this because it's too dangerous). We should discuss what went wrong and why and what can be done to fix it to ensure this guy is punished next time. Perhaps the blog following the issue can even help ensure the system works properly.
and if there is a reasonable argument to be made that this executive didn't do anything wrong, as the facts come out, that can be discussed as well.
and I think part of the potential fears with Slashdot being bought by a big megacorp is that they may end up censoring issues like this and issues that make corporations and corporate maleficence look bad. If this blog is independent they can hopefully feel freer to discuss these issues without upsetting certain corporate interests that have a vested interest in propagating a particular worldview of themselves.
So Kudos to Soylentnews for bringing this up. and don't let the shills convince you otherwise. You attempted to branch off of Slashdot as an independent blog exactly so that you can have the freedom to discuss whatever you want regardless of who it may upset.
(Score: 2) by redneckmother on Saturday November 15 2014, @07:35PM
Insightful.
Informative.
Interesting.
Wish I had points!
Mas cerveza por favor.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 15 2014, @08:41PM
How many workers have to die before this becomes relevant?
It seems to me that everyone reading this site is Working Class.
Everyone here has (or had) a workplace.
It just boggles my mind how many people will advocate against their own best interests.
Those people will dismiss 29 unnecessary deaths as unimportant; they will readily accept Right to work for less laws; [google.com] they will claim that it is damaging that every worker receive a living wage. [15now.org].
Do these people they think they are immune from abuse? [wikipedia.org]
I've never seen anything good "trickle down"; IME, the trickle-down thing only applies to bad stuff.
When events like this are allowed to pass without punishment and even without comment, it sends a signal to all corporations (and, indeed, to the other nations that take their cues from USA) that they too can treat their workers as expendable "human resources".
I just don't understand the motivations of these people who claim irrelevance--unless they are paid corporate shills.
...and, as I have to remind people from time to time,
Life is politics; if you don't engage, you lose by forfeit.
.
What you wrote was indeed insightful.
Had you broken that long paragraph into 2 or 3, it would have been easier to read by folks with aged eyes or short attention spans.
-- gewg_
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Sunday November 16 2014, @04:25PM
It seems to me that everyone reading this site is Working Class.
Based on what criteria? For all I know, you're Bill Gates. For all I know, you could be living in a homeless shelter.
As to why they're voting against their own best interests, remember that half the population has a two digit IQ and are easily fooled into thinking the laws against them are actually for them.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 15 2014, @08:45PM
Also the name of the blog is soylentnews. IE: It's supposed to keep you well rounded. So discussing these issues and informing you about a wide array of issues helps meet that goal.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 15 2014, @10:31PM
You've just violated Cockfoster's Law: "When confronted with intelligent discussion, an idiot who disagrees with it will allege, without substantiation, that his opponent is a 'shill'."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 15 2014, @09:12PM
nobody forced you to read it
when the submission queue got down to 2 yesterday did you chip in to help find some good stories?
yet you're happy to spend the time whining about someone else's effort
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 15 2014, @09:17PM
yet you're happy to spend the time whining about someone else's effort
Sounds a lot like the systemd haters.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by edIII on Saturday November 15 2014, @09:32PM
It's a story about corruption and malfeasance. Those are my thoughts at least.
In one sense, you are entirely correct. This place is more about technical news mostly. However, this is Soylent. "News for nerds" is not our theme. "SoylentNews is people" is our theme, which I think gives us license to expand a little more.
One other thing to consider is that corruption and malfeasance at this point in our society is endemic, and intellectually we now recognize it for what it is: Our greatest toxin that we need to remove to survive. Literally. Without removing it we will kill this planet within 200 years. I think that's an absolute guarantee. Now before, you start trying to get science out, please take into consideration how things will advance quickly when the stresses become too great. So the first 75 years might be relatively easy street to the last 25. It's difficult to figure out what might happen in 200 years at our current rates, but it's safe to assume we are not making positive progress at all towards healing. Whether it's the environment or our dark human nature, either of them will take us out soon.
I would propose that stories about corporate and government malfeasance are entirely appropriate to discuss here occasionally, although admittedly it's about all I talk about anymore. I would rather talk about other things, but we live in an abhorrent shitty world with evil disgusting people like this.
Just knowing this waste of skin, destined for the fires of Hell, was indited makes my Saturday a little bit more enjoyable. It feels like progress, and so it just might be a form of good news too.
The man murdered 29 people. This was not manslaughter or a little accident. This man knew the dangers rose very sharply because he knowingly and actively kept the dangers hidden from regulators trying to keep those 29 people from dying. 29 men died so this man's corporation could have a little more profit, that was actually far less profit than the 29 men would have provided over their careers. Only difference between this man, Hitler, Stalin, and serial killers, is a little math.
Justice can feel good, and justice should always be considered for submission around here. On that note, why is this man not up for the death penalty? We should hang him like Saddam.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday November 16 2014, @02:08AM
At least stagnation, involution probable - most of the time, it is a "status quo" which is sought by (and also favours) endemic corruption (what good is ill-gotten wealth if one can't enjoy it in "peace").
If you want a nowadays parallel, just look at what happens in countries that used to be provinces of the old Ottoman empire, in which bribe (google for peshkesh bribe or pashkesh bribe) was a socio-cultural reality of the everyday life.
To spare you of digging history [wikipedia.org], consider Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, former Yugoslavia, Romania, Moldavia in Europe and Iraq, Iran in Middle East; look at their economic status even after 150+ year since the decline of the Ottoman Empire.
Now, compare their economic status with Japan and Germany, after 60 years which started from a "thorough economic destruction" point.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by fliptop on Sunday November 16 2014, @02:36AM
Perhaps, but to me this story is important because I live in the Appalachian Mountains and have friends that work in the mines. I'm pretty sure Massey is non-union. Most of the people I know who work in the mines have told me they're looking to get out and work in the gas industry which is booming here right now. All of them can see the EPA's writing on the wall. Coal has been the lifeblood of this area of the country for so long it's difficult see how the gas industry can pick up all the slack should the mines eventually close. Losing steel hurt bad, I think losing coal too will be quite devastating.
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Sunday November 16 2014, @04:18PM
Damn it, I used all my mod points. Good thing, because I wouldn't know whether to mod you redundant or offtopic; the first post was an AC with the exact same offtopic comment.
So I will redundantly tell you what I told the AC -- if you don't like a story, don't read it. And an offtopic comment isn't the place to bitch about a story being submitted, make it a journal entry.
I find the subject fascinating and am glad they posted it. The guy should have been charged with negligent manslaughter. You want a tech angle? The mine blew up because safety technology broke down and the mine should have closed until it was repaired. Instead, they pulled a Microsoft. The difference is, Microsoft's products don't kill people when they fail.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 1) by BK on Sunday November 16 2014, @05:09PM
Then that should have been the story! It's all old news now anyway.
...but you HAVE heard of me.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Monday November 17 2014, @10:26PM
The explosion is old news but the guy being charged isn't.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 17 2014, @02:18AM
Not true in at least 1 giant case.
Transocean bought an alarm system that only worked under NT.
The combination of that system and MICROS~1's junk was so unstable that they often just had to turn it off.
That directly contributed to the death of 11 workers on that oil rig in the Gulf.
Deepwater Horizon+BSODs+... [google.com]
-- gewg_
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 17 2014, @04:14AM
So the software was likely junk, while the OS probably did its job just fine. But you have to take a cheap shot at M$...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 17 2014, @08:58PM
No shots at M$ are cheap! They cost human lives! And worse, souls.
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Monday November 17 2014, @06:37PM
What themes? Please show me where we have a list of themes which stories must adhere to. I'm pretty sure you won't find one. The problem is not this story, the problem is your assumption that SoylentNews is intended to be an exact replica of Slashdot. This is a different site with different goals. According to the FAQ, we want 70% tech stories, 30% absolutely anything else of interest to the community. Since someone submitted this and since several people have commented on it, it clearly is of interest to the community and fits in that other 30%.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Snotnose on Saturday November 15 2014, @08:50PM
Sounds like someone didn't make enough "campaign contributions" to the right people last month.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.