Tag: Massey Energy

Don Blankenship, Now A Democrat, Files To Run For U.S. Senate

Blankenship, the former CEO of Massey Energy, was convicted of violating federal mine safety law in a 2016 trial. Twenty-nine miners at Massey’s Upper Big Branch mine were killed in 2010.

Convicted coal executive Don Blankenship has filed to run for U.S. Senate – as a Democrat.

The filing appeared Friday on the West Virginia Secretary of State’s website.

Blankenship, the former CEO of Massey Energy, was convicted of violating federal mine safety law in a 2015 trial. Twenty-nine miners at Massey’s Upper Big Branch mine were killed in 2010.

Blankenship tried unsuccessfully to appeal his conviction. He served a year in prison. He ran for U.S. Senate as a Republican in 2018 and for president in 2020 on the Constitution Party ticket.

Two other Democrats have filed to run this year to succeed U.S. Sen Joe Manchin, who’s not seeking re-election. They are Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott and Marine Corps veteran Zach Shrewsbury.

The winner will face either Republican Gov. Jim Justice or Republican Rep. Alex Mooney in November. 

Justice Hears From 2016 Rival In Lawsuit Against Carter Bank

Booth Goodwin, the former federal prosecutor and a Democrat who lost to Justice in the 2016 primary for governor, represents Carter.

The attorney defending a Virginia bank that was sued by Gov. Jim Justice is a familiar foe of the governor.

Last month, Justice sued one of his biggest creditors, Carter Bank, in federal court, seeking $1 billion in damages.

Carter’s attorney this week filed a motion to dismiss the case. That attorney is Booth Goodwin, the former federal prosecutor and a Democrat who lost to Justice in the 2016 primary for governor.

In the motion, Goodwin accuses Justice of engaging in a pattern of defaulting on his loans and filing frivolous lawsuits against his creditor. Goodwin calls Justice’s claim of economic duress “laughable” and refers to the governor as “a one-time billionaire.”

Goodwin says Justice owes Carter hundreds of millions of dollars and the bank has worked “repeatedly and cooperatively” to restructure and extend the loans over the years.

Justice, his wife, Cathy, his son, Jay, and the Greenbrier Hotel are among the plaintiffs in the suit.

Justice filed a similar lawsuit against Carter Bank in 2021 but later dropped it.

Justice beat Goodwin in the 2016 primary and was elected governor as a Democrat, but switched parties the following year. He was re-elected in 2020 as a Republican and is now a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate.

Goodwin, a former U.S. Attorney, prosecuted coal executive Don Blankenship. Blankenship was the former CEO of Massey Energy. An explosion at Massey’s Upper Big Branch mine in 2010 killed 29 workers.

In 2015, a jury found Blankenship guilty of conspiracy to violate federal mine safety and health laws. He was sentenced to a year in prison and ordered to pay a $250,000 fine. Blankenship has tried, unsuccessfully, to appeal his conviction.

Goodwin returned to private practice in Charleston in 2016.

April 5 Marks 13th Anniversary Of Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster

Wednesday, April 5, marked the 13th anniversary of the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster. 

It was thirteen years ago when an explosion 1,000 feet underground killed 29 miners at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch coal mine in Raleigh County.

The explosion was caused by a buildup of methane and coal dust.

On Wednesday, wreaths were placed at a memorial in Whitesville in honor of the miners who died in the explosion.

In 2010, 48 coal miners were killed on the job nationwide, according to the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), including the 29 at Upper Big Branch.

MSHA faulted Massey Energy for the UBB disaster and issued the company 369 citations and $10.8 million in penalties.

Five years later, federal prosecutors charged former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship with conspiring to willfully violate safety standards. 

He served one year in prison and paid $250,000 in fines.

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.

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.

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