Massey Energy Receives Award For Mine Safety

Massey Energy, the Virginia-based coal company currently under federal investigation after an explosion at its Upper Branch coal mine in West Virginia killed 29 miners earlier in the year, has received a safety award from an industry group.

The award is from The Joseph A. Holmes Safety Association "a non-profit organization founded in 1918, annually recognizes outstanding safety performance in the mining industry."

The association's award highlights the company's safety records at nine of its operations.

Officers for the safety association are listed on the organization's website and include two employees of the Department of Labor's Mine Safety Health Administration which is also investigating Massey. The phone number listed for the association rings to an MSHA office in Virginia and the association appears to be affiliated with MSHA. 

The explosion on April 5, 2010 was the largest mine disaster in 40 years. According to MSHA records, the Upper Big Branch mine was cited 50 times in 2009 for "unwarrantable" failures.

In a press release, beleaguered Massey CEO Don Blankenship - who several years ago spent considerable sums of money getting a coal-friendly judge elected to the West Virginia Supreme Court - gloated, "All of these awards are well deserved recognition of how our members are committed to working safely and that Massey's safety culture is effective throughout the organization."

The safety culture Blankenship alludes to is quite elusive.  As the Washington Post reported last month:

And although the company says that its safety record is better than the industry average, Massey has frequently been cited for safety violations, including about 50 citations at the Upper Big Branch mine in March alone. Many of those 50 citations were for poor ventilation of dust and methane, failure to maintain proper escape ways, and the accumulation of combustible materials.

The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration cited the mine for 1,342 safety violations from 2005 through Monday for a total of $1.89 million in proposed fines, according to federal records. The company has contested 422 of those violations, totaling $742,830 in proposed penalties, according to federal officials.

Blankenship has called congressional Democrats seeking climate change legislation "greeniacs" and "all crazy." He's said, "I don't believe that climate change is real," and that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) "don't know what they're talking about." And in a video promoting a Labor Day music and political event last year, he said, "We're going to have Hank Williams and a very good time, but we're also going to learn how environmental extremists and corporate America are both trying to destroy your job."