Upper Big Branch mine News

Judge Won’t Dismiss Massey Shareholder Suit Over Safety

A federal judge refused Wednesday to dismiss a lawsuit by former Massey Energy shareholders who say they were deliberately misled about the company’s safety record before the Upper Big Branch mine disaster in West Virginia killed 29 men in 2010. …

Ex-Security Chief at West Virginia Mine Gets 3 Years in Jail

A U.S. judge sentenced the former security chief at a West Virginia mine to three years in prison after being convicted of two felonies related to a federal probe into the worst U.S. coal mining disaster in 40 years, in …

Massey Mine Superintendent Charged with Conspiracy in West Virginia Blast

The former superintendent of the West Virginia coal mine where 29 workers died in a 2010 explosion was charged on Wednesday with felony conspiracy by tipping off mine operators to safety inspections, allowing them to conceal dangerous violations, authorities said. …

West Virginia Lawmakers’ Personal Tragedies Spur Mine Safety Bill

For two West Virginia lawmakers who lost fathers in coal mining accidents, preventing disasters like the 2010 Upper Big Branch explosion has taken a personal turn with Monday’s introduction of a bipartisan safety proposal. House Speaker Rick Thompson was not …

Settlements Reported in West Virginia Mine Blast That Killed 29

Coal company Alpha Natural Resources has reached settlements with all the families of the miners killed in the worst U.S. mining disaster in four decades, a lawyer for two of the families said on Wednesday. Mark Moreland told Reuters the …

Questions Raised About Federal Probe of West Virginia Mine Blast

Newly disclosed records show U.S. Labor Department officials stopped independent investigators from questioning how federal regulators handled methane leaks from the floor of the Upper Big Branch mine several times before last year’s disaster. In April 2010, 29 men died …

Firm to Pay $209M Over West Virginia Blast That Killed 29

Coal miner Alpha Natural Resources has agreed to pay $1.5 million to each of the families of 29 miners killed in an explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia last year. The payments – part of a …

Alpha Says Safety Improving at Massey Mines

The number of mine injuries has been cut in the five months since Alpha Natural Resources bought Massey Energy, which had owned the coal mine where 29 men died in a blast last year, Alpha’s CEO said Thursday. “The year-to-date …

Ex-Mine Official Convicted in Deadly West Virginia Disaster

The former security chief at a West Virginia coal mine where 29 miners died last year was convicted of two felonies Wednesday, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. Hughie Elbert Stover, 60, was convicted by a federal jury of making false …