During the 2014 Midterm Elections, most candidates for federal and state offices in Appalachia couldn’t get enough of coal — races, in essence, to see who could be the most pro-coal. Now, though, with criminal charges just announced against one of the coal barons, elected officials are running in the opposite direction.
Those living in West Virginia’s coal towns have long known of Don Blankenship, the former chief executive of Massey Energy that is now owned by Alpha Natural Resources ANR -6.9%. To shareholders, he had been a no-nonsense guy, increasing mining production while adding to Massey’s bottom line. To miners and regulators, however, he has been the ultimate hard-ass, caring nothing about the little guy.
Lacking sentimentality is not a crime. But ignoring established mine-safety laws while misleading shareholders about those priorities is illegal. That is what the U.S. District Court for Southern West Virginia is alleging in its four-count indictment against Blankenship, released late last week. If found guilty of all charges, the former CEO could face up to 31 years in prison.
“He could have talked himself into believing that he knew the industry and the risks better than the government. He could also have chosen to close his eyes to the risks and was driven purely by greed. He could also try to justify it by reasoning that if someone dies, then it is simply a function of being in a dangerous business,” says Jane Barrett, professor of law and director of the Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Maryland Law School, in an interview.
Although two of the charges relate to mine safety violations — notably, the combustion of coal dust and methane gas — the penalties for those are between one and five years of jail time, adds Barrett. That is why she says that there is a one-count securities fraud indictment, which carries a 20-year sentence.
In her view, the deaths of those 29 miners in April 2010 as a result of an unsafe workplace should be valued much more than the monetary losses.
Regarding the securities fraud, it is alleged that Blankenship lied to prop up the stock price that had fallen nearly 17 percent after the “Upper Big Branch” mining accident. UBB, as it is known, comprised 14 percent of Massey’s $2.3 billion in revenues, which had been more than any other mine in the company.
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