Families demand prosecutions in W.Va. mine blast (It was an act of murder)

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By VICKI SMITH and LAWRENCE MESSINA

BEAVER, W.Va. (AP) - Money - even a lot of it - is cold comfort to some relatives of the 29 men who died in the worst mining disaster in decades. They want justice, the kind that comes with a courtroom and a prison cell.

The families listened in shock Tuesday as federal prosecutors announced the biggest settlement in a U.S. coal mining disaster with the new owners of the Upper Big Branch mine. The former owner, Massey Energy, had been accused of putting profits ahead of safety, so Alpha Natural Resources agreed to pay nearly $210 million, with checks of $500,000 headed to the grieving families before Christmas.

Federal regulators explained how the deal wiped the slate clean for some 370 safety violations related to the April 5, 2010, explosion, the worst U.S. mine disaster in four decades. Though the Mine Safety and Health Administration also pledged to review its own handling of the mine, the words failed to placate. No criminal charges were announced.

"It was an act of murder," declared an angry Clay Mullins, whose brother Rex was among those killed. "They murdered 29 men, and I'm not satisfied one bit."

Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20111207/D9RFKVAG0.html

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Kevin Stricklin, the Mine Safety and Health Administration's (MSHA) Coal Administrator, speaks during a public hearing Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2011 in Beaver, W.Va. The new owners of the West Virginia coal mine where 29 men were killed in an explosion agreed Tuesday to pay a record $210 million in penalties over what the government called an "entirely preventable" tragedy caused by the pursuit of profits ahead of safety. (AP Photo/Jeff Gentner)

[Tansy_Gold]

1. My conditions for supporting capital punishment

The corporation -- as a "person" -- responsible should be executed. The capital from that corporation should be liquidated by means of redistributing it to the workers and give the workers the rights and the means to control the mine. I don't care that the "corporation" was bought by someone else. "Persons" can't be bought and sold. I'm tired of this convoluted, self-contradicting rhetoric that does nothing but protect the non-human "corporation" as a device for enriching the rich and exploiting the workers who create the riches. That coal is WORTHLESS without a means of getting it out of the ground, and it's the miners who do that.

I agree with the families. The only thing that will stop this kind of criminal activity is to put the criminals behind bars.

[kristopher]

3. +1

[russspeakeasy]

4. Well said... I agree.

[Felinity]

6. +3

Piling on.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

2. Meanwhile, ABC reports that Massey CEO Don Blankenship is already back in the coal business

after leaving Massey with a $12 million dollar golden parachute, the Coalfield Don has set up shop with a new company in KY.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/massey-boss-mining-coal/story?id=15095868#.Tt9jWHZwdow

[riverbendviewgal]

5. I would like to see him in prison

he should not be a CEO of any other company. He caused those miners' deaths...

[MountainLaurel]

7. Especially poignant

Because yesterday was the anniversary of the Monongah Mine disaster, which led to the creation of MSHA.

http://www.wvculture.org/history/thisdayinwvhistory/1206.html

If I were among those families, I wouldn't rest until someone's head was on a platter.

[gratuitous]

8. The government called it entirely preventable caused by pursuit of profit ahead of safety

I don't see how that translates into the word "accident" as portrayed on the slide behind Mr. Stricklin. Accidents happen when a confluence of circumstances, foreseen and unforeseen converge in an unfortunate situation. This was entirely foreseeable, the government report calls it entirely preventable, and the cause was the pursuit of provits ahead of safety. It would have been a miracle if someone wasn't killed under these circumstances. As it is 29 men are dead, and the families are supposed to be comforted by $500,000? Is that what MSHA and the mine owners decided the families would think was "a lot of money"?