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Another W.Va. coal miner dies on the job
The sad news came this morning from the West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training: The West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training (WVOMHS&T) confirms a serious...
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NPR investigation: Injuries and violations continue at coal mines that owe...
A personnel carrier that once carried miners underground was left crushed and twisted by a 2006 explosion at the Kentucky Darby mine, which left five workers dead. Department of Labor/MSHA Our friends...
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Don Blankenship indicted
If you haven’t heard the latest, here’s the big coal news today from West Virginia: Don Blankenship, the longtime chief executive officer of Massey Energy, was indicted Thursday on charges that he...
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The trial of Don Blankenship: Will West Virginians decide that coal companies...
Yesterday’s blockbuster news that U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin had obtained a grand jury indictment of longtime Massey CEO Don Blankenship had me thinking again about the discussions I used to have...
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5 more things about the Don Blankenship indictment
Gazette file photo by Chip Ellis There’s been a lot written already about the indictment of longtime Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship (see here, here, here and here for Gazette stories), but there...
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Media challenges Blankenship case gag order
For Coal Tattoo readers who have been asking if the local or national press would challenge the broad gag order issued by U.S. District Judge Irene Berger in the Don Blankenship criminal case, here’s...
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Remembering mine disasters
My friend Mike Gorrell, longtime coal reporter at the Salt Lake Tribune, has a story out this week marking Friday’s 30th anniversary of the Wilberg Mine Disater. In Remembering Wilberg, the lives...
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Another coal miner dies on the job
The sad news today came from the coalfields of Kentucky, via a Patriot Coal press release: Eli Eldridge, a 34-year-old employee of Highland Mining Company, LLC, was fatally injured today when he was...
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Is a record low for mining deaths enough?
In this file April 5, 2011, file photo, Jami Cash, daughter of dead coal miner Michael Elswick, attends a vigil following the Upper Big Branch Memorial Service in Whitesville, W.Va., for the 29 coal...
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Legislative intent: What are West Virginia lawmakers doing to the rights of...
As West Virginia lawmakers continue to push a variety of measures aimed at weakening worker safety standards and eroding new water quality protections, it’s important to pay attention to some of the...
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Protecting miners: Will lawmakers get the message?
As the centerpiece of the West Virginia Coal Association’s legislative agenda continues to make its way through the Legislature, United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts today ripped...
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More on WVU, Gordon Gee and Massey Energy
It’s WVU Day up at the statehouse, so I guess we’ll be treated to a lot of “selfies” of university President E. Gordon Gee. But there’s a timely report out from West Virginia Public Broadcasting, in...
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First W.Va. mining death of 2015 reported
The sad news overnight came from Marshall County, West Virginia. According to the state Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training: The West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training...
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Read all about the Don Blankenship case
As we’ve done more stories (see here and here) about the legal filings in the Don Blankenship criminal case — unsealed thanks for a coalition of media organizations and our lawyers — I’ve tried to...
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Shocked that Gov. Tomblin sided with coal lobby?
A funny thing happened as this year’s West Virginia legislative session comes to an end … Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin had a choice between siding with coal miners and coal operators, and he went with the...
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New York Times: ‘The People v. the Coal Baron’
Over the weekend, The New York Times published an interesting West Virginia Day offering: A lengthy story about former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship. The story dug deep into the archives of...
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Another miner killed on the job
The Associated Press has the bad weekend news from Pennsylvania: Authorities say a coal miner was killed over the weekend in an accident at a mine in southwestern Pennsylvania. The Greene County...
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Why doesn’t Don Blankenship want the jury to hear about the Upper Big Branch...
Late last Friday, the defense lawyers representing former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship filed a motion asking to keep the jury in Blankenship’s criminal trial from hearing any evidence about the...
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MSHA proposes additional proximity detection
Here’s the announcement, just out this morning from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration: Haulage machinery in underground coal mines – such as shuttle cars, ram cars and scoops – would have...
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IG: MSHA emergency phone list wrong
While I’ve been focused the last two weeks on the ongoing criminal trial of former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship, I also realized the other day that the 10th anniversary of the Sago Mine Disaster...
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