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Dozens more Massey mines cited as unsafe
The federal investigators readying their probe into the massive explosion that killed at least 25 West Virginia coal miners this week might take note: The dozens of other active tunnel mines owned by the same energy company have run up thousands of safety violations this year alone, according to a review of federal records by TWI. Hundreds of those citations target the same problems with ventilation and methane buildup that many suspect sparked the West Virginia disaster.
Massey Energy–the Virginia-based coal giant that owns the Upper Big Branch mine, the site of Monday's tragedy–also controls 41 other underground coal mines currently active in Appalachia. Investigators have cited those projects for 2,074 violations since the start of the year, according to federal documents. The citations run a spectrum, but hundreds charge mine operators with failing to maintain air quality detectors, failing to ensure proper ventilation, allowing combustible material to accumulate, and a host of other infractions related to miner safety.
At the Upper Big Branch–where rescue teams were still searching Wednesday night for four missing miners–investigators had cited 124 similar safety violations this year. More than 50 of them were issued in March alone.
On Wednesday, the Mine Safety and Health Administration, a branch of the Labor Department, sent a team to Upper Big Branch to begin investigating whether the conditions cited in those violations sparked the explosion.
"The very best way we can honor [the miners] is to do our job," Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said in a statement announcing the team.
But as those officials prepare to look backwards in search of what went wrong at Upper Big Branch, a growing chorus of voices is urging policymakers to examine also the corporate culture that, they say, has led companies like Massey to disregard worker safety in the name of profit-making.