Wednesday, June 29, 2011
False records for the inspectors
No wonder Bloody Don Blankenship "retired" and Massey Energy sold itself for what it could get.
Coal company managers pressured miners to generate a second set of reports omitting chronic safety problems to mislead inspectors before an underground explosion killed 29 men last year, federal regulators said Tuesday.False reports cost 29 miners their real lives. Somebody important needs to be in jail.
Kevin Stricklin, coal administrator for the Mine Safety and Health Administration, said top management at the Upper Big Branch mine was required to countersign safety inspection books that collect miners' daily reports on conditions. The mine was owned by Massey Energy until Alpha Natural Resources bought its rival this month.
"The investigation team concluded that the managers were aware that chronic hazardous conditions were not recorded," he said during a briefing on the federal investigation. Testimony from some of the 266 witnesses MSHA has interviewed also "indicated that management pressured examiners to not record hazards in the books."
Federal investigators first revealed they had found two sets of books — one focused on safety, the other on production — during a private meeting with the victims' families Tuesday night.
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