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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: 4, Insightful) by DannyB on Monday May 15 2017, @10:00PM (7 children)
Now that this guy is out of prison, and only 29 coal miners were killed, and the president is all for putting coal miners back to work, we need to get this guy back in charge of a coal mine. Coal is the future of energy. Not Solar. Not Wind. Once the skies are black with particulate smoke from coal, how would solar panels even work?
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bob_super on Monday May 15 2017, @10:07PM
He should be back in charge! He's a natural leader when it comes to rolling back the overreaching government regulations which were smothering coal's explosive potential.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Geezer on Monday May 15 2017, @10:09PM (2 children)
10-4, Eleanor! Shoes for industry!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 15 2017, @10:59PM (1 child)
Never heard of them, so... thanks!
(Score: 2) by Geezer on Tuesday May 16 2017, @01:26AM
Firesign Theater. "Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers!"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_Crush_That_Dwarf,_Hand_Me_the_Pliers [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by ilsa on Tuesday May 16 2017, @05:45PM
I've already started preparing for the future by playing Little Inferno. It's an excellent simulation of how to live when the sun has been blotted out by smog clouds and the land underneath has been enveloped to perpetual winter.
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Wednesday May 17 2017, @08:20AM (1 child)
You are TOTALLY off-message.
This is better:
Now that this guy is out of prison, and only 29 coal miners were killed, and the president is all for putting coal miners back to work, we need to get this guy back in charge of a coal mine. Clean Coal is the future of energy. Not Solar. Not Wind. Once the skies are black with particulate smoke from coal, how would solar panels even work?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday May 17 2017, @01:54PM
I'm getting too old. I had to diff that to see that you substituted Clean Coal where I had written Coal.
Clean Coal is redundant according to the ministry of truth.
If you are referring to the mythical "non clean" coal, then you should describe it that way. But be very careful how you use such terms in order to avoid thoughtcrime. :-)
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.