Once-jailed CEO has a request for Trump
He wants to halt possible law punishing coal executives
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Former Massey CEO Don Blankenship asked President Donald Trump on Tuesday to resist attempts in Congress to enhance criminal penalties for coal executives who violate mine safety and health standards.
Blankenship, who recently was freed from federal prison, also asked the president in a letter to re-examine a federal investigation into the nation’s worst coal mining disaster in four decades.
Blankenship served a year in prison for a misdemeanor conviction of conspiring to violate federal mine safety standards at Massey’s Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia, where 29 workers died in a 2010 explosion.
Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and others have tried without success to pass legislation to stiffen penalties on mine safety crimes. The Robert C. Byrd Mine Safety Protection Act was reintroduced last month. The legislation, initially offered following the 2010 explosion, also would give the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration more enforcement authority, strengthen whistleblower protections and require independent accident investigations.
Blankenship said mine safety will greatly improve if technology-related legislation is passed to “allow America’s coal miners to mine coal at less risk to themselves.”
In a reply to a question about Blankenship’s letter, the White House said Trump is “committed to his promise to the American people to rid government of wasteful regulations.”
United Mine Workers President Cecil Roberts said before Trump considers any changes, “I would strongly suggest he talk to the families of the 29 miners killed … and then determine if he needs to act.”
A Manchin spokesman said that out of respect for the families, the Democrat “is not going to comment about this anymore.” After Blankenship’s release last week, Manchin said he hoped he would “disappear from the public eye.”
Federal investigators said Massey had made “systematic, intentional and aggressive efforts” to hide problems and throw off inspectors, even falsifying safety records. Managers also alerted miners when inspectors arrived, allowing time to disguise dangerous conditions.