Source:
WBOYMassey Energy CEO Don Blankenship will travel to Washington, D.C., later this month to speak at the National Press Club about the need for more surface coal mining.
According to a news release from the National Press Club, Blankenship will speak during a luncheon July 22. The release said he will discuss the need to increase surface mining of coal to meet the nation’s energy requirements.
Massey Energy is the fourth largest coal company in America. Massey and its CEO have come under fire in recent months following the April 5 explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in Raleigh County that killed 29 miners. The explosion was the deadliest mine disaster in the United States in 40 years.
Following the incident, many people questioned Massey’s safety standards, while Blankenship lashed out at federal Mine Safety and Health Administration inspectors who he said required ventilation plans that Massey mining engineers worried would cause dangerous conditions. Blankenship has alleged those mandated ventilation plans contributed to methane gas accumulating in the mine, which then ignited.
Read more:
http://www.wboy.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=82786
Anyone got the latest news on the federal investigation into the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster?