Tag: Don Blankenship

12 Years Later, Upper Big Branch Families Remember The 29 Miners Lost

A ceremony was held at noon at the memorial in Raleigh County to the 29 mine workers who lost their lives on April 5, 2010.

The families of the miners killed in the Upper Big Branch disaster marked its 12th anniversary on Tuesday.

A ceremony was held at noon at the memorial in Raleigh County to the 29 mine workers who lost their lives on April 5, 2010.

Investigators found that a buildup of methane and coal dust contributed to the fatal explosion.

Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship was convicted in 2015 of violating federal mine safety law. He was sentenced to a year in prison and paid a $250,000 fine. In December, a federal appeals court denied Blankenship’s bid to have his conviction overturned.

In 2011, Alpha Natural Resources, which acquired Massey, paid a $210 million settlement that included compensation for the miners’ families, fines and safety upgrades.

Coal mine fatalities have declined sharply in recent years with a decline in coal production.

Five mine workers have been killed on the job this year, according to the Mine Safety and Health Administration, following 10 fatalities in 2021 and five in 2020.

Supreme Court Justice Evan Jenkins To Resign

West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Evan Jenkins announced his resignation this afternoon.

Jenkins told Gov. Jim Justice in a letter Friday that he’s stepping down from the court as of Sunday. Jenkins told the governor he’s returning to private practice.

Justice appointed Jenkins to the Court in 2018, and he was elected to a full term that expires in 2024.

The Judicial Vacancy Advisory Commission will fill the vacancy, and voters will have the chance to elect a new justice.

Jenkins was previously a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from West Virginia and also served in both the state Senate and House of Delegates.

Jenkins, of Huntington, was West Virginia’s chief justice in 2021.

Before his appointment to the court in 2018, Jenkins ran in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate. Attorney General Patrick Morrisey beat Jenkins and former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship.

April 5, 2010: Explosions Rock the Upper Big Branch Mine

On April 5, 2010, the day after Easter, a series of explosions rocked the Upper Big Branch mine near Montcoal in Raleigh County.

Twenty-nine men died, making it West Virginia’s worst mining disaster since 78 miners were killed at Farmington in 1968.

After the Upper Big Branch explosion, an independent investigation determined that sparks from a longwall miner had ignited a pocket of methane, setting off a chain of explosions that surged more than two miles through the mine.

The panel concluded that the explosions could have been prevented and that systems designed to protect the miners had failed. The report found that the mine’s owner, Massey Energy, had operated its mines in a “profoundly reckless manner.” The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration reached similar conclusions, blaming the deaths on an “intentional and aggressive” effort by Massey to ignore safety rules.

The criticism of Massey eventually led to the resignation of company president, Don Blankenship. In 2016, Blankenship was sentenced to one year in prison for conspiring to willfully violate mine safety standards, largely in connection with the Upper Big Branch Disaster.

Ex-Massey Energy CEO Draws Thousands of Votes For President In Closely Contested States

Former coal executive Don Blankenship, who went to prison for his role in the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster in West Virginia, drew about 55,000 votes Tuesday as a third-party candidate for president, including thousands of votes in closely contested states.

While not a significant amount in comparison to the more than 140 million Americans who cast a ballot in Tuesday’s record-breaking election, the Constitution Party nominee drew thousands of votes in Michigan and Wisconsin, two swing states that have been called for Democrat Joe Biden with razor thin margins.

In Michigan, Blankenship drew 7,301 votes, according to the New York Times. Just over 5,200 Wisconsinites cast their ballot for Blankenship. Biden won Wisconsin by roughly 20,000 votes.

The coal baron did not appear on the ballot in West Virginia, Kentucky or Ohio. However, according to the Constitution Party website, Blankenship was on the ballot in 21 states including some with tight races, such as Nevada, North Carolina and Florida.

Blankenship pitched himself as an alternative to the country’s two-party system. His platform billed him as a “third way.”

This was not Blankenship’s first foray into politics. In 2018, he lost a three-way Republican primary for a U.S. Senate seat in West Virginia.

Twenty-nine men died in the Upper Big Branch Mine explosion in April, 2010. Blankenship served a one-year prison sentence for conspiring to violate federal mine safety standards.

Earlier this year a federal judge denied his request to overturn the conviction.

Judge Denies Ex-Coal CEO Blankenship’s Request To Overturn Conviction

A federal judge has denied a request by former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship to overturn his criminal conviction for his role in the 2010 Upper Big Branch Mine disaster. 

In a ruling issued Wednesday, U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of West Virginia Irene Berger denied Blankenship’s request to set asside his conviction for his role in the Upper Big Branch Mine explosion be set aside.

Blankenship served a one-year prison sentence for a misdemeanor charge for conspiring to violate federal mine safety standards. The April 5, 2010 explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in Montcoal, West Virginia killed 29 men.

Blankenship was seeking the reversal of his conviction because attorneys for the U.S. government failed to hand over documents, including emails and records related to federal Mine Health and Safety Administration, or MSHA, employees. His attorneys argued that could have exonerated the former CEO. 

In August, Magistrate Judge Omar Aboulhosn agreed with Blankenship’s arguments and recommended his conviction be reversed. 

Berger disagreed. In her 37-page ruling, she wrote that she agreed that federal prosecutors erred when they failed to turn over documents prior to Blankenship’s trial.

“The sheer number of undisclosed documents is troubling,” Berger said. 

But, she said, ultimately that was not enough to reverse his conviction, writing “there is clear precedent that guides the analysis and dictates the ultimate resolution in this matter.”

Blankenship can appeal the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. A request for comment was not immediately returned.

Blankenship Announces He'll Seek Constitution Party Nomination For President In 2020

Former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship has announced he is running for President. Blankenship served a year in federal prison and made a failed bid for the U.S. Senate in 2018.

In a statement posted online, Blankenship says he is seeking the Constitution Party’s nomination for president in 2020.  Federal Election Commission records show he filed paperwork in October.

Blankenship served a year in federal prison for conspiring to violate mine safety standards following an April 2010 explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine, where 29 men died. 

Following that sentence, Blankenship ran for U.S. Senate as a Republican, but lost in the primary.  

He tried to run in the general election as a Constitution Party candidate, but was denied ballot access because of West Virginia’s sore loser law. 

That law prohibits failed major party candidates from running for the same seat. 

Citing a smear campaign against him during the 2018 election cycle, Blankenship sued the National Republican Senatorial Committee, various news media organizations, and Donald Trump, Jr. for defamation — saying they incorrectly called him a felon. The trial is set for October next year.

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