Tagged: coal mine safety

A former mine company executive in West Virginia pleaded guilty today to federal charges stemming from the 2010 disaster at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch Mine. David Hughart was the Massey division president overseeing the mine when it exploded, killing 29 coal miners.

From U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin's office:

The Mine Safety and Health Administration has released its preliminary fatality data for last year.

Thirty-six miners died on the job last year—19 of them in coal mines. The federal government has been keeping records for more than a century, and 2012 was the second-lowest year for fatalities on record. The only year that was lower was 2009, when 35 miners died.

Federal prosecutors in West Virginia are moving further up Massey Energy’s chain of command in their investigation into a 2010 mine disaster that killed 29 coal miners.

Another Massey Energy executive has been charged in connection with the federal criminal investigation into the 2010 explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine. David Hughart didn’t work at the mine, but last week agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to violate federal mine safety laws.

The federal government has given four mines—including one in Kentucky—a warning that if they don’t make strides in health and safety, they could be put on a “pattern of violations” status.

Once a mine is marked as having a pattern of violations, any significant and substantial violations that are found by regulators would require that section of the mine to be temporarily shut down.