Probe of Massey coal mine disaster widens

WASHINGTON — A former coal company executive was charged with conspiracy to violate federal mining safety laws, and federal authorities said he is expected to plead guilty in a widening criminal probe that began after a 2010 explosion in West Virginia that killed 29 miners.

David Hughart, former president of Massey Energy’s Green Valley Resource Group, was charged Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Beckley, W.Va., with a felony for allegedly tipping off mine officials in advance of federal safety inspections.

He was also charged with a misdemeanor for allegedly conspiring with other “directors, officers and agents” of the company’s coal mining operations to ignore federal safety regulations in order to increase coal production.

Though Hughart was not charged in the explosion and left the company weeks before the disaster at the Upper Big Branch Mine, the charges and his apparent willingness to cooperate with federal law enforcement agents make him the most senior Massey official to be prosecuted since the explosion and signals that prosecutors are turning their attention to higher targets within the company.

“Miners deserve a safe place to earn a living,” said Booth Goodwin, the U.S. attorney in Charleston, W.Va. “Somemine officials, unfortunately, seem to believe health and safety laws are optional. That attitude has no place in the mining industry or any industry.”

He added, “Today’s charges reinforce that urgent message.”