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Act of Vengeance: Don Blankenship says, ‘If they put me behind bars … it will...
Back in February, when one-time Massey Energy official David C. Hughart alleged that former CEO Don Blankenship was part of a conspiracy to cover up mine safety violations, Blankenship’s lawyer made...
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Coal miner killed in Alabama
The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration reports today that there’s been a coal miner killed in Alabama, at the Jim Walter Resources No. 7 Mine near Brookwood. Here’s what was reported by the...
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4th Circuit shoots down delay tactics in Aracoma case
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this morning gave the widows of coal miners Don Bragg and Elvis Hatfield another small victory on their way to getting their day in court against the federal Mine...
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Illinois miner is nation’s 10th coal death of 2013
SNL Financial has the sad news: A 35-year-old coal miner was killed July 2 at Peabody Energy Corp.‘s Wildcat Hills underground mine in southern Illinois, according to a company spokeswoman. The name...
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Remembering the cost of coal
As part of its continuing series, Fifty Years of Night, the Lexington Herald-Leader over the weekend provided an important reminder of the true cost of coal to our society. The first story, headlined...
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‘What’s going on?’
Yesterday’s release of the West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training report on the November 2012 death of CONSOL Energy miner Markel Koon in a coal-slurry impoundment offered some...
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How coal miners die on the job
The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration has issued the report of its investigation into the Nov. 17, 2012, death of Chad Meyers, a 30-year-old continuous mining machine operator killed at...
View ArticleCoal company drops case against Ky. miner
Jessica Lilly over at West Virginia Public Broadcasting is reporting this afternoon: Muhlenberg County Court says Armstrong has dropped the suit against former surface miner, Reuben Shemwell. A judge...
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MSHA offers mid-year ‘mine fatality update’
This is today’s announcement from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration: During the first half of 2013, 18 miners died in work-related accidents at the nation’s mines, one less than in the...
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Another coal miner dies on the job
Here’s some sad news from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration: On July 31, 2013, at approximately 7:00 a.m., a twenty-eight year old mechanic, employee of Amerikohl Mining, was fatally...
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Will President Obama act on mine health and safety?
President Barack Obama speaks during a memorial for the victims of the Upper Branch Mine explosion at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center in Beckley, W.Va., Sunday, April 25, 2010. (AP...
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UMWA echoes Rockefeller’s call for mine safety rules
Here’s the statement just issued by the United Mine Workers of America and union President Cecil Roberts: In the wake of a strongly-worded letter sent by U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W. Va.) to...
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1 dead, 2 hurt in Kentucky coalfields
Here’s the sad news out of Kentucky, via WFP’s Erica Peterson: Fifty-six year old Lenny D. Gilliam of Appalachia, Virginia died this afternoon at the Huff Creek Mine in Harlan County. The mine is...
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Another coal miner dies on the job
Here’s today’s bad news from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, out of Wyoming’s Powder River Basin: Thursday night, Thunder Basin Coal’s Black Thunder Mine reportedly experienced a...
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More inaction on Gov. Tomblin’s mine safety law
Here’s the latest on inaction by West Virginia officials on coal-mine safety, from today’s Gazette: A regulation to implement a key portion of Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s year-old mine safety legislation...
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Still more inaction on mine safety in W.Va.
It was pretty interesting last week listening to one of West Virginia’s mine safety inspectors lament the lack of any state regulations that would have allowed him to require life-saving equipment be...
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Why coal miners die on the job
Today, the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration made public the report of its investigation into the Feb. 7 death of a miner at Metinvest Group’s Affinity Mine in Raleigh County, W.Va. MSHA...
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Report: Budget cuts threaten mine safety
A new report out today from the Center for Effective Government describes concerns that continued cuts in the federal budget threaten the agencies that are supposed to protect worker health and safety...
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What’s next in the Upper Big Branch criminal probe?
When U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin stood before the local media Tuesday afternoon for a brief press conference following the sentencing of former Massey official David C. Hughart, the first question was...
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Remembering the Jim Walter Mine Disaster
UMWA miner Ricky Rose, who survived the 2001 disaster, showed me his truck — decorated to honor his fellow miners who were killed — during a visit to Brookwood, Ala., a few years ago. Twelve years ago...
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