Massey Energy: Act of God caused coal mine explosion that killed 29 men

[mike r]

http://www.register-herald.com/todaysfrontpage/x871675181/Company-suggests-act-of-God-caused-UBB-explosion

July 23, 2010
Company suggests act of God caused UBB explosion
By Tim Huber AP Business Writer

CHARLESTON — A Massey Energy official said Thursday it is a “distinct possibility” that an unpreventable flood of methane gas caused the explosion that killed 29 men at the company’s Upper Big Branch coal mine.

Readings collected by federal investigators from the Raleigh County mine’s exhaust fan showed approximately twice as much methane as the roughly 1 million cubic feet a day the mine normally releases was present five-and-a-half hours after the blast, Massey said. The company suggested that a crack in the mine’s floor could have been the source of a sudden surge of the volatile gas.

Participants in the civil investigation of the blast largely dismissed Massey’s claims. The explosion also is the subject of a federal criminal investigation.

“The conditions after an explosion are entirely different. They’re night and day to what was going on beforehand,” said J. Davitt McAteer, appointed by Gov. Joe Manchin to conduct an independent investigation of the explosion. “To reach a conclusion based upon readings in the hours after an explosion is scientifically unsound and is not and doesn’t make any logical sense.”...

[hobbit709]

1. Oh yeah! "Act of God" absolves Massey of any responsibility.

[Brickbat]

2. An "act of God" may have caused the flood of gas, but an act of man -- Don Blankenship -- made sure

those 29 miners didn't have a chance.

[hobbit709]

4. +1000

[Octafish]

3. No. It was an act of gross criminal negligence by Massey Energy.

Unless, of course, they see themselves as Agents of God.

[Overseas]

7. +1. //nt

[joeybee12]

5. Dante needs a new level of hell for the scum at Massey Energy...nt

[sufrommich]

6. And by "act of God" they mean...

"We're lawyered up and ready to rumble".