Massey Energy: Groups Call On Beau Biden To Revoke Coal Company's Corporate Charter

WASHINGTON -- Two public interest organizations are calling on Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden to revoke the corporate charter of Massey Energy in the wake of a report on the company's Upper Big Branch mine disaster in West Virginia that killed 29 coal miners.

Free Speech For People and Appalachian Voices on Wednesday delivered a letter urging Vice President Joe Biden's son to open an investigation of Massey after findings that the explosion was largely due to the company's failure to adhere to safety laws and regulations.

"We request that you investigate and consider bringing proceedings to revoke the charter of the Massey Energy Company corporation and its Delaware corporate subsidiaries," the groups state in their letter.

Massey, which was until recently the country's fourth-largest coal company, is chartered in the state of Delaware.

"Massey cannot merge its way out of accountability for its corporate misconduct," Free Speech For People Co-Founder Jeff Clements said in a statement, referencing the company's recent purchase by Alpha Natural Resources.

"It is well established that the corporate charter is a privilege, not a right," he wrote. "Delaware, as with other states, reserves the right to revoke or forfeit state corporate charters when they are abused or misused, as in cases of repeated unlawful conduct. The Massey Energy Company presents a classic case of a corporation whose charter should be revoked."

Though Massey has claimed that the disaster was caused by an unpreventable buildup of gas, the report -- commissioned by Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin while he was still governor of West Virginia -- found Massey to be at fault for the explosion on April 5, 2010.

On June 3, former Massey Chairman Bobby Inman resumed the contention that last year's explosion at Upper Big Branch was a "natural disaster," distributing copies of a 169-page Massey report critical of government investigators.

Comments

[Counterglow]

11:11 PM on 06/12/2011

Massey Energy's board of directors should be in jail.

[ksmithspectrum]

02:07 PM on 06/10/2011

Funny, here in California we are thanking Massey for standing up for All Americans, Don't let the feeble few push you around. California is with you Mr. Massey.

[Bugweed]

07:27 AM on 06/10/2011

It will never happen in Korporate Amerika. The corporate fascists work too hard at insulating and insuring that corporations can operate anywhere, anytime without fear of the rule of law.

[Max Shelby]

03:25 AM on 06/10/2011

"Alpha Natural Resources did not commission or authorize the release of this report or the letter, and was not given the opportunity to review either this report or the letter before their public release."

"In Alpha's view, a view it had expressed to Massey prior to the consummation of their merger, it was not appropriate to release any report purporting to contain Massey's assessment of the cause of the Upper Big Branch explosion before Alpha had an opportunity to fully understand and assess the situation. Alpha will conduct its own review into the events at Massey's Upper Big Branch mine and intends to fully cooperate with pending government investigations."

Translation--We have to get our people on this because this report is damaging.
Y'think?

[Bon1042]

01:49 AM on 06/10/2011

Oh boy, well.... Daddy is the Vice President of the United States. He should revoke Massey Energy's charter but Jay Rockefeller will call the President and it'll never happen. Even Robert F. Kennedy, as an environmental lawyer, is powerless.

This is why I'm depressed all the time about the stark political realities. At least in the 1960's there was hope and optimism about people and planet.... "The possibility of possibilities." But corporate America and the corporate media managed to reduce the true spirit of the 1960's to Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll and gave the right wing the chance to sneer and laugh. And look where the Right in America is now, right on top, along with a DLC controlled soul-sold-to-Wall Street Democratic Party.

[Martin Privat]

01:18 AM on 06/10/2011

Massey Energy is why American's need strong unions to fight against Corporate greed. In this case Corporate greed has spelled the deaths of many miners for safety violations the company knew about. This was one of the reasons Unions in this country around the turn of the 20th century became so popular. Were they perfect, no! But they acted as a counterweight to corporate greed. Where the dollar means more then worker safety. But we have been led to believe that Unions(all ) are greedy and corrupt. When the the people who spread this fallacy know damn well that it is the Corporations who are greedy and corrupt.

[brokerallen]

12:23 AM on 06/10/2011

If he doesn't revoke the license it's a crime of it's own.

[KarlaElisa]

11:06 PM on 06/09/2011

oh sweet jesus...do it, do it , do it.

and then go after another corp....

[AlienC]

09:15 PM on 06/09/2011

Corporations are the zombies that will eventually eat our brains. They never die and there is no way any legislature will go against a corpoRATion these days, especially since the SCOTUS decision regarding campaign donations.

[Joel Goldstein]

07:40 PM on 06/09/2011

A small step in the right direction. Why haven't we seen criminal charges? Murder 2 sounds about right. Oh, yeah, Massey already bought the West Virginia Supreme Court.

[1LT]

07:34 PM on 06/09/2011

BP = disaster in Gulf
Massey = disaster in West Virginia
BP + Massey + Congressional donations by BP & Massey = Taxpayer cleanup mess and pays for it.

[baileywick]

08:56 PM on 06/09/2011

That about sums it up.
fanned

[IBEW1377]

10:20 PM on 06/09/2011

yep thats all ya need to know
fanned

[PhilipTaylor]

07:18 PM on 06/09/2011

PULL CHARTER:  This should be done TO ALL COMPANIES THAT IRRESPONSIBLY DAMAGE Americans!

[KarlaElisa]

11:07 PM on 06/09/2011

no mystery why you have so many fans

[the5thhorseman]

06:57 AM on 06/10/2011

Just to play devils advocate: what do we do to the companies that responsibly damage Americans?

[Candide33]

07:06 PM on 06/09/2011

"Massey cannot merge its way out of accountability for its corporate misconduct,"

That is what all corrupt corporations do, some times they merge or go bakrupt just to keep from paying pensions...... so they get to steal 20-30 years of pay from employees and get away with it scott free.

[G52]

07:11 PM on 06/09/2011

Skimming profits off the top.........rewarding their upper management, CEO's and Politicians while declaring bankruptcy or debt reorganization, (while hiding behind the Federal Government) is a common practice.

The only part left for them to do is blame unions or workers..........

[G52]

07:24 PM on 06/09/2011

Or nature, the government etc.

[Candide33]

07:41 PM on 06/09/2011

Exactly! And anyone who does not spend their days watching fox news knows this.

I bet most of us here know at least one person who was scammed out of their pension, hourly pay or benefits with lies of the company is broke while the CEO and upper management was collecting hundreds of millions of dollars.

I know at least 5 and one of those is my dad!

[jugglefire]

06:54 PM on 06/09/2011

Stopping the mining and burning of coal for energy should be the goal of every man, woman and child on Earth. Coal mining is an industry run amuck with greed and is the cause of one environmental disaster and human tragedy after another. Each year thousands of miners are killed on the job. The coal mining industry is flattening mountains and filling in rivers while the coal fired power plants continue to poison our atmosphere and contribute to global warming.

It's mind boggling that there's even a debate about this. Right here in the USA we have abundant resources for renewable clean energy. The winds of Texas and Oklahoma, the sunshine of California and the bio-mass of New England are all examples of unharnessed or under harnessed energy sources just waiting to be tapped.

[gjwarnock]

06:50 PM on 06/09/2011

Believe it when I see it!

The Fed Inspectors are not faultless either!

[G52]

06:58 PM on 06/09/2011

Except they are underfunded and understaffed with budget cuts from special GOP interests.

[gjwarnock]

07:04 PM on 06/09/2011

True,but the Dems are not squeaky clean either, Sad, Sad, SAD :>(