Massey To Resume Operations In Virginia Mine Despite Deaths

Montcoal, VA, United States (AHN) – Massey Energy plans to resume operations in the Virginia mine where dozens of workers died earlier this year. The company, which lost millions in income following the tragedy, is cooperating with the investigation of the explosion.

Richmond-based Massey said it is looking into tapping coal inside the Upper Big Branch Mine, where an explosion on April 5 killed 29 miners.

The company conducted its 35th re-entry into the mine this week together with federal and state regulators to gather evidence and map areas that were affected by the blast.

“A possible date for re-opening the mine is unknown but is not expected during 2010,” Massey said in a statement that also revealed $88.7 million in losses in income for the second quarter.

“One alternative being considered is the development of a new mine entry in the same reserve block. Massey may also seek authorization to recommence operations in the continuous miner sections that appear to be unaffected by the explosion as investigatory work in that area is concluded,” the company added.

The explosion was the nation’s worst mine accident in four decades, and it brought intense scrutiny to Massey’s safety record as well as the nation’s mining laws.

For days after the tragedy, families and the whole nation held hope that four missing miners had survived the blast in a safety chamber with food supply. “We are praying for a miracle,” President Barack Obama had said in a somber message.

Toxic gas had impeded recovery of the dead just as it had slowed rescuers in their search for survivors. Rescue efforts involved the installation of an exhaust fan and bore holes drilled 1,100 feet deep into the mine to vent deadly gas. The victims included 62-year-old Benny Willingham, who had paid for a cruise he planned to take after his retirement in May.

Attention has focused on Massey’s violations related to ventilation systems to keep methane, a highly combustible gas, from accumulating. The company sued the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration in June for “its improper use of regulatory authority to control the design of ventilation systems and to limit the use of scrubbers in underground mines.”

Scrubbers are used on mining machines to reduce coal dust in the air and to help dilute methane in mines. Massey says the MSHA arbitrarily imposes a ventilation plan without accepting responsibility for the effectiveness of the plans.

Documents released by the MSHA at the time of the explosion showed the Upper Big Branch Mine with 124 citations and a total of $188,769 in civil penalties. Last year, Massey was cited for 515 violations, more than twice the number of citations it received in 2008.

Massey Chairman and CEO Don Blankenship has called its safety record “about average” in testimony before Congress. The House Committee on Education and Labor has pointed out that the blast was the second disaster in four years at Massey mines.

The investigation of the blast is not expected to be completed any time soon. It takes more than two years for the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission to adjudicate a case and a considerable number of appeals have accumulated since the Bush administration.

The House on Wednesday approved $22 million for the MSHA and the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission to address the backlog of appeals.

Massey said last week methane data taken after the blast showed an “unexpected release of methane gas into the UBB mine [that] was intense and overwhelming to the normal safety systems.” It also revealed that a crack in the mine floor had been found.

The Charleston Gazette quotes Blankenship telling the National Press Club the same day, “I’m a realist… The politicians will tell you we’re going to do something so this never happens again. You won’t hear that from me because I believe that the physics of natural law and God trump whatever Man tries to do.”

The statements from the company were received critically by observers who said Massey was suggesting an “Act of God” had caused the explosion.

“The tragedy at Upper Big Branch and the ensuing, contentious investigation overshadowed our day to day operations,” Blankenship said in a statement on the company’s second quarter results. “We remain intensely focused on the safety of all our mines and members even as the investigation to determine the cause of the explosion at UBB continues.”

“We are also continuing our efforts to mitigate the lost production from UBB in order to serve our customers as best we can,” Blankenship added. “These efforts have been disruptive to operations as we move crews and equipment to different locations.”

Massey announced only days after the blast that it was expanding operations in Pike County, KY, and Buchanan County, VA. The expansions are expected to produce 300,000 tons of metallurgical quality coal through the remainder of the year.

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