Family and friends of the 29 miners killed in the Upper Big Branch Mine explosion in 2010 gathered in front of the federal courthouse in Charleston Wednesday demanding answers from the Department of Justice.
“It’s been four years,” said Sheeren Adkins, who lost her son Jason in the blast. “If they were going to find something, they would have found it by now.”
Family members were protesting the recent release of a film funded by Don Blankenship, the former Massey Energy CEO. The film, “Upper Big Branch: Never Again,” claims the explosion was caused by an inundation of natural gas through a crack in the mine floor.
Four federal, state and independent investigations have blamed the accident on unsafe practices within the mine.
The family members are calling on the DOJ to arrest Blakenship and the more than dozen other top Massey executives who plead the Fifth Amendment during the investigation.