The West Virginia coal mine that exploded this week and killed 25 workers has a less than pleasing legal back story. Upper Big Branch mine, operated by the Performance Coal Company, is a subsidiary of Massey Energy. That should ring a bell for lawyers and academics as the company owned by Don Blankenship, who was at the heart of the recent Supreme Court ruling in Caperton v. Massey — a case involving Blakenship’s alleged control of the West Virginia bench through massive campaign contributions.
Blankenship is widely viewed as a corrupting influence in West Virginia where he uses his considerable wealth to place judges and legislators in key positions. As if to fulfill his reputation as the Mr. Montgomery Burns of West Virginia, he is quoted by ABC as saying if you take photos, “you’re liable to get shot.” (here).
The mine involved in the recent explosion has had a history of safety infractions and citations. Since 1984, it has amassed a huge number of such citations, including 57 infractions just last month for violations that included repeatedly failing to develop and follow a ventilation plan.
Blankenship is often accused of skirting safety regulations and fighting such fines. One of his subsidiaries agreed to pay $4.2 million in criminal and civil fines just last year. He seems, however, all too willing to give money to West Virginia politicians and judges.
In the 2009 decision, Justice Kennedy wrote for a 5-4 majority that Blakenship’s massive contributions to Judge Brent Benjamin required the judge to recuse himself from cases involving Massey due to the “serious risk of actual bias.” The Due Process Clause required the recusal of Judge Brent Benjamin, according to the majority.
For the full story, click here.
Red States Feed at Federal Trough, Blue States Supply the Feed
WVa is sixth. Fifth as of 2005.
They have the highest number of Federal Dollars per resident than any other state.
Recalled from memory or would you like to link it.
Rescuers race to reach 32 trapped in China mine
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jtv5g3SogRCpX-mQE8lqlqDkRVYQD9ETMAF00
Maybe mother earth just has a really bad gas problem right now.
Bdaman,
They do already. They have the highest number of Federal Dollars per resident than any other state.
Maybe they are fearful that they will close the mine and then have no work prospects.
Don’t they know the government will take care of them. Food Stamps, Welfare, Medicare, Schooling.
600 violations in 18 months. At that rate the inspectors were at risk each time they noted a violation.
Did I miss the part about the only employment other than government work in West Virginia is mining? Maybe somebody has died because they have reported the conditions. Maybe they are fearful that they will close the mine and then have no work prospects. Maybe this is not a maybe. They have tried to Unionize all mine workers but Pinkerton is busy helping Wall Street loot the tax payers at this time to worry about silly mine owners so they hire other goons to do the work that they once did….
I thought this guys name sounded familiar. So, when will Blankenship finally be held criminally accountable? How many more miners must die before he is held responsible? Will the WVa U.S. Attorneys Office finally wake up?
Byron both are to blame along with the government.
I’m sure the miners have the ability to strike and refuse for a safer working environment. Many of these families have worked these mines for generations.
Woosty if your local Mickey D’s was continually sited for health violations and you knew it, but you decided to continue to eat there and then you became deathly ill, who’s fault is it.
Woosty:
you are misreading what Bdaman said. He is not blaming the victim, he is saying the exact opposite.
“It’s like the miners accept the poor safety conditions.”
I doubt it. Looks to me more like they have no choice. Miners and their families have been ignored over and over again. Economic pressure is a horrible crime and yet it appears to be more effective than any organized attempt to create better working conditions for those who must work.
Your statement sounds like victim blaming.
I also understand that was a major communication failure of informing families when this first happened.
“According to a report in Wednesday’s New York Times, “The most serious of these citations are 16 ‘unwarrantable failure orders,’ which are problems that an operator knows exist but fails to correct. Thirteen of these orders were issued in the past six months, federal records show.”
The Times article continued: “‘Under the Bush administration, the citing of unwarrantable failures has gone down dramatically,’ said Tony Oppegard, a top federal mine official in the Clinton administration and a former prosecutor of mine-safety violations in Kentucky. ‘So to see a rash of unwarrantable failures under this administration is a telling sign of a mine with serious safety problems.’”
On Wednesday, President Bush took a few seconds to make perfunctory remarks about the Sago Mine disaster, saying the nation’s “prayers were with those whose hearts are broken.” In fact, the Bush administration has overseen the systematic gutting of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and fostered a general deterioration of safety conditions in the mines.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/jan2006/sago-j05.shtml
Buddha:
Ok I see your point. But I hope you see mine as well, OSHA and federal government regulation was ineffective. If this story is true then this guy is a scumbag and should be held criminally responsible for the deaths of these miners. But this guy is a fascist by virtue of his buying favors from the state. Actually buying the legal and political system of the state. What this guy practices is not capitalism, at least in my definition, it is apparently thuggery.
Side Note:
For the first time, Gallup is reporting that a majority of Americans prioritize energy production over environmental protection. In 2007, there was a 24 point gap (58% to 34%) in favor of protection, but the latest numbers show a 31 point swing.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/127220/Americans-Prioritize-Energy-Environment-First-Time.aspx
Given the ongoing safety violations there, and that some of these fines remain unpaid, couldn’t the US Attorney for West Virginia pursue a criminal contempt citation against Blankenship?
I bet if you put him in jail for a week, those fines would miraculously get paid, and the safety violations would be well on their way to being fixed.
It’s like the miners accept the poor safety conditions.
If a restaurant continues to receive bad health dept. report the restaurant will either get it’s act together or be closed due to health safety reasons. Why has the government not shut these mines down until all safety concerns have been addressed.
Are these companies immune from liability? Are West Virginia juries soft on mining companies? It would seem that the risk of liability damages would make their business model, of paying fines instead of improving safety, untenable.
You are kidding in they the fact that they had a minority? I guess they would not know what a conflict is to begin with. I guess they work for the one that pays them the best……