MASSEY PAYS $4.2 MIL OVER SAFETY VIOLATION DEATHS - "Largest Coal Financial Settlement Ever"

(12/24/2008)

A Massey coal subsidiary has agreed to pay $4.2 million in connection with the 2006 Logan County mine fire that killed two coal miners. The company agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges of willfully violating mandatory safety standards, leading to the deaths of the two miners. It is the largest financial settlement in the coal industry's history. The widows of Don Bragg and Elvis Hatfield were on hand as U.S. Attorney Chuck Miller announced the plea agreement with Aracoma Coal on Tuesday morning in Charleston. Miller said, "Coal mining is an inherently dangerous business but, when companies ignore safety standards, it becomes more than inherently dangerous, it becomes imminently dangerous." The company lied about non-existent training and did not follow safety standards. The company will pay $1.7 million in a civil settlement for citations issued to the Aracoma mine for violations of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act. "We hope that this prosecution and the significant fines associated with the resolution of this case will tell other coal operators that similar conduct will not be tolerated and, if we discover violations such as this, we'll prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law," said Miller. Massey has been fined millions of dollars for pollution violations, and until recently, most have been reduced, litigated or ignored.

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