Massey To Idle Freedom Energy Mine After Pressure From Labor Department, MSHA Over Safety Violations

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Massey Energy Co. plans to idle an eastern Kentucky mine that federal regulators want closed over claims that it is a serial violator of safety laws.

The troubled Richmond, Va.-based coal company announced the decision Wednesday. Massey said the Freedom Energy Mine, is simply too old and large to maintain after decades of mining.

"Even though Massey continues to believe the mine is safe, it has been mined for several decades and has extensive underground works that present particular challenges to maintain," the company said.

The U.S. Department of Labor portrayed the Pike County, Ky., operation as a disaster waiting to happen in a lawsuit filed Nov. 3. The unprecedented legal action is the agency's first attempt to obtain a court order closing a mine for repeated safety violations.

Separately, the Labor Department's Mine Safety and Health Administration warned Freedom on Nov. 19 to improve its safety performance or face stricter enforcement. The mine was one of 13 in seven states to receive the warning.

MSHA said the court case will continue.

"We will continue to seek a court order to ensure that miners who continue to work in any capacity at Freedom are safe," spokeswoman Amy Louviere said.

MSHA has been targeting mines with poor safety records since an explosion killed 29 miners at Massey's Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia on April 5. The blast was the deadliest at a U.S. coal mine in 40 years and has triggered criminal and civil investigations.

Labor Department solicitor Patricia Smith said when the lawsuit was filed that problems at Freedom run far deeper than failing to keep up with repairs.

"We actually compared this mine to two other mines of similar composition and size," she said during a Nov. 3 teleconference. "Those mines have much better safety records that this mine ... It's not just a maintenance issue."

Freedom had amassed more than 2,000 citations and orders closing sections of the mine since July 2008. They accused Freedom of violating critical safety standards covering ventilation, roof supports, fire hazards and mandatory safety inspections.

The lawsuit, which is still pending, seeks a court order requiring Massey to halt production until the company fixes violations and comes up with a way to prevent them in the future. It also seeks to have Massey pay the mine's 170 workers while the operation is offline.

Massey said some Freedom workers will stay to remove equipment, but most will shift to other mines.

Massey employees about 7,000 people and operates dozens of underground and surface coal mines and processing plants in West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia.

Comments

[Longtimeliberal]

06:16 PM on 12/03/2010

This guy is a known cruel so-called employer or slave master. He should be in jail with Cheney.

[b525]

10:27 AM on 12/03/2010

Mine tailing and mining wastes in general are one of the largest sources of river pollution on earth.

Mine tailings (waste rocks left over from mining operations) are often bulldozed into creek, stream and river valleys where they bleed off massive amounts of toxic heavy metals and mining chemicals into river water, killing fish and then washing out to coastal areas, killing coastal ocean marine life.

This type of rock/mining waste dumping has had very little government oversight until recently.

[Longtimeliberal]

06:16 PM on 12/03/2010

There was no oversight of anyone before President Obama came to office.

[montn2]

05:13 PM on 12/02/2010

Blankenship considers the miners the same as disposable diapers. What a disgusting, repugnant person.

[motoGpifupleez]

05:05 PM on 12/02/2010

Wonderful story about Blankenship in the new issue of 'Rolling Stone'.

[bigdaveh]

04:39 PM on 12/02/2010

You can't close it because we're already going to close it. So neener neener neener. And when the next adminstration comes in we'll open 'er up all over again. And there won't be any of those darn violations and fines to worry about.

[TheFabOne]

04:37 PM on 12/02/2010

You know how to make mines safer?

Make the OWNERS and the CEOs go on the daily trips with the miners as well. That way, you can bet, changes would be made overnight!!

[montn2]

05:14 PM on 12/02/2010

Fabone: BRILLIANT! Please send the agency your thought. faved.

[JoeBoy254]

04:27 PM on 12/02/2010

It is about time. Now the Feds better go down the rest of the list and start doing their job. There should not be another miner die in any mine in the US that has ongoing safety violations. The violations must be taken care of immediately.

[bolivare]

04:24 PM on 12/02/2010

Guy looks like the prosecutor from Pink Floyd The Wall.

[GregCoyote]

04:20 PM on 12/02/2010

And who gets hurt, miners and their families. There should be real jail time for these mine owners when they rape the environment and/or short sheet the regulations designed to produce a safer working environment. Sentence should be carried out in the unsafest mine the owner operates.

[Doosmom]

04:10 PM on 12/02/2010

So is this like an employer strike? Like what they hated when the miners did it? These guys are cold blooded. I say if he will go down into the mine day after day with the miners than it is probably safe. But he won't and he thinks the miners are disposable. Disgusting.

[Fredday]

04:09 PM on 12/02/2010

"idle the mine". Translated that means - "We're gonna stop until this goes away then we're gonna fire it right back up."

[M Cubed]

03:56 PM on 12/02/2010

There are people who want to run mines--who put money and effort into safe work places and care about their employees and the environment. Those people seem to be too few and far between.

Then there are those people who just want to make money. I wish they would just go speculate on Wall Street. Their efforts to run mines tend to get employees hurt or killed.

[repugnicansfearme]

03:44 PM on 12/02/2010

Don't let the door hit you on the way out, creepo.

[Realbluesky]

03:42 PM on 12/02/2010

Has anybody noticed how much this Blankenship character looks like a pedophile?

[quidam56]

03:40 PM on 12/02/2010

My concern here is Massey will say it's safer to surface mine now and the good Lord knows Appalachia can't stand anymore of that progress and prosperity, not to mention the toxins in our air, land and water. We already live in the unhealthiest region in America with the worst access to health care. Where's Lisa Jackson ? Come to Appalachia and see what we are living in.
http://www.wisecountyissues.com/?p=138