Upper Big Branch Disaster: Concern About Intimidation By Massey Prompts Mine Safety Investigators To Solicit Anonymous Tips

Alarmed by reports that Massey Energy officials are intimidating miners and their families, the Department of Labor announced today that it is launching a "supplemental" investigation into last month's Upper Big Branch mine disaster -- in which witnesses can remain anonymous.

The department's Mine Safety and Health Administration said in a statement that "Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis called for this additional investigation group to provide a safe, confidential venue for the general public, family members of the victims and miners to speak freely to MSHA investigators about the mine explosion without fear of retaliation or the need to reveal their identity."

"We are clearly concerned about fear and intimidation by the company," an administration official told HuffPost.

Interviews in mine investigations are traditionally not open to the public -- but mine owners are nevertheless allowed to attend.

Chuck Nelson, a former Massey underground coal miner, told West Virginia Public Broadcasting last week that Massey intimidates its workers. "They can't go to the authorities or anything like that and I know there is a whistleblower law and all that but they have ways of getting back and people are so scared of losing their jobs that they're not going to speak out," Nelson said.

"We need to use every available tool to establish the cause of this tragedy that took 29 coal miners' lives," Joseph A. Main, assistant secretary of labor for mine safety said in the statement. "The work of this special team will be part of MSHA's investigative process, and it will give family members and others the opportunity to share information they might otherwise not feel comfortable passing along."

The new group will run an anonymous tip line that victims' relatives and members of the general public can use to convey relevant information. The phone number is 877-827-3966.

MSHA also announced it is creating an internal review team "to evaluate the actions of the agency prior to the explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine and to make recommendations for improvements where appropriate."

Previous reports on HuffPost have indicated that MSHA missed some key opportunities to crack down on safety issues, and that the agency kept secret key information.

Comments

[sealdadeal4me]

12:57 PM on 05/05/2010

I think the DOJ has alot of opening available. There is no way they have the personell to go after all these corrupt coporations for all the illegal activities they are doing right now not even thinking about the past decade. These companies are corrupt and will do anything in the name of the bottomline. We are a capitalist society and its the bottomline that drives the decisions so the heck with life of those workers and those to come unless someone grows a pair and start throwing the handcuffs on these guys. I had a doctor tell me that if the govt wants you they can get you and so if the MSHA wants to get Blankenship and the board they can but will they have the balls to do it. I think not.

[olivia]

11:07 AM on 05/05/2010

This guy needs to lose his company and spend the rest of his life in jail. Badly.

[2CLEVER]

09:22 AM on 05/05/2010

watch the harlan county wars on sundance

[yorbalindaa]

11:02 PM on 05/04/2010

O-b-s-t-r-u-c-t-i-o-n o-f J-u-s-t-i-c-e

If this is true, it is less a matter for the Department of Labor, than DOJ.

Sounds like obstruction of justice, or witness tampering.

The insinuation from the Labor Department statement is that is the case. Either it is or it isn't.

Business Week says they are already under investigation for bribery:

"Massey Energy Co., dealing with the death of 29 miners at one of its West Virginia coal mines, is being investigated by the FBI for possible bribery of state and federal inspectors, a person familiar with the probe said."

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-05-03/fbi-probe-of-massey-said-to-focus-on-possible-bribery-update1-.html

And this sums up the whole situation:

"Perhaps the most enervating element of the BP-Deepwater Horizon disaster is its eery familiarity -- the sheer, inexorable predictability of it all."

"Talk of lax regulatory standards already runs rampant through a wide array of media outlets. Righteous cries of 'I told you so'"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stuart-whatley/bp-spill-the-capitalist-h_b_561818.html

Change the names, change the industry, change the disaster, it is the same ol' same ol.

Goldman Sachs, Massey, BP, health insurance all the same.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/demons-and-demonization/

http://www.cjr.org/the_audit/reuters_is_excellent_in_diggin.php

[LastAngryWoman]

08:25 AM on 05/05/2010

Fanned and faved.

[jdrourke]

09:42 PM on 05/04/2010

Every single one of these "suits" should be hauled into court over this. These guys should spend a week doing their employees' work; maybe then they'll realize why safety is kind of important...

http://jdrourke.wordpress.com/2010/04/12/dear-toyota/

[DrewDaugherty]

08:48 PM on 05/04/2010

Murder charges for the mine owners and bribed federal officials!

[SuperRyan]

08:35 PM on 05/04/2010

Here's a simple solution to the intimidation.
Start investigating criminal charges against Massey, then if any Massey managers try to intimidate workers from speaking, immediately charge the managers with obstruction of justice.

[SilviaMaria]

08:35 PM on 05/04/2010

This is the "US free enterprise", according to the new Texas Board of Education, coercion and threats; the US free enterprise is allow to do as it pleases, but God forbid the miners decide to unionize and fight back ...

[HekmagaJuximakLives]

08:34 PM on 05/04/2010

Why doesn't the government take Massey over until it can sell the company?

[separatingwheatfromchaff]

10:49 PM on 05/14/2010

If they're run like all/almost all large companies,you can be certain there's a nice chunk of change spread through the political system.How else can you explain the backlog of cases(16,000?????WTF) and the complete and utter disregard of serious violations that they are charged with?In Illinois I can lose my driving privileges if I'm found guilty of three minor moving violations.These mine owners are charged with the equivalent of reckless driving on an almost daily basis.How do the mine regulators allow these dangerous conditions to go unchecked?Why aren't these mines closed with only one dangerous safety violation,let alone hundreds and thousands.There's plenty of blame to go around and I suspect our duly elected officials hands are pretty dirty too.

[MSaxe]

08:15 PM on 05/04/2010

Intimidation. Murder. Sounds like working in a South African diamond mine or for the Third Reich.

I hope Rommel's rebellion succeeds this time.

[Graywolf48]

07:54 PM on 05/04/2010

If the CEO of Massey Energy wants to really see evil he need only look in the mirror.

[jdrourke]

09:43 PM on 05/04/2010

Exactly right!

http://jdrourke.wordpress.com/2010/04/12/dear-toyota/

[edgarcaycedoc]

07:51 PM on 05/04/2010

So let's keep talking until the general public gets bored, and then relegate any action by MSHA to the back burner--at least until the next mining disaster.

[LastAngryWoman]

08:26 AM on 05/05/2010

I fear you see the future.

[cycle3man]

07:27 PM on 05/04/2010

THe massey SCOM BAGS

[lyingdognews]

07:24 PM on 05/04/2010

No great surprise here ..

"West Virginia Mine Owner Found Guilty of Not Being Human, Sentenced to 12 Months Hard Labor in Unsafe Mine"

Full story: http://lyingdognews.net/?p=1986

.... Or here ...

"BP, Goldman Sachs and Massey Energy Merge to Form New Company: Consolidated Screw-U"

Full story: http://lyingdognews.net/?p=2174

[zlohcuc]

07:08 PM on 05/04/2010

I'm going out on a limb and will contend this is not the first time threats and intimidation have been used by this or other mining companies. Also, I think he may have that evil dynamic reversed regarding his critics.

[jan4insight]

07:40 PM on 05/04/2010

I think that limb is pretty solid! Faved.

[Pennsylvanianne]

07:51 PM on 05/04/2010

I read somewhere that Blankenship gathered the miners together and told them that if they unionized, he would have the Upper Big Branch closed. Needless to say, they did not vote for a union to represent them to preserver their jobs. And you are right on the evil dynamic reversal.

[zlohcuc]

10:07 PM on 05/04/2010

Is there anything more obvious in play here than the human instinct to provide for your family and way of life at any cost? This behavior by Massey is the epitomy of passive agressive slavery,"you don't have to be here you know" we'll find someone else if you are not happy" Or close the mine. or whatever...ou get the idea. WV economy predicated on coal production and you had better be part of it or else.