Jay Dee's Post

By Jeff Biggers Forget the dogs days of August. Amid the ruins of the clean energy and climate change legislation, one statewide election has emerged as a bellwether for the green and climate justice movements: Ken Hechler’s campaign against Gov. Joe Manchin to fill the late US Sen. Robert Byrd’s pivotal seat in Congress. From [...]

by Ken Ward Jr. Federal and state agency officials today completed their fourth day of closed-door interviews in the investigation of the Massey Energy Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster. While the interviews continued, U.S. District Judge Irene Berger has yet to schedule a hearing on a request from the United Mine Workers of America and [...]

by Ken Ward Jr. Federal investigators have determined that a page was removed from the “fireboss book” at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch Mine, where 29 workers were killed a month ago in the worst U.S. coal-mining disaster in 40 years. That’s according to a new court filing by lawyers for the families of two [...]

By Scott Beveridge U.S. Sen. Bob Casey is calling on state mining regulators to place a hold on any applications from Massey Energy to begin mining in Washington County, a day after the company purchased area coal reserves in bankruptcy court. Casey said he wants any permits stalled until the company’s safety issues are resolved [...]

by Stephanie Pistello, Ben Evans, and Jeff Biggers, co-founders of the Coal Free Future Project. In the wake of the worst coal mining disaster in 40 years, compromise and political machinations this spring have resulted in a regulatory crisis of failure; workplace safety in the mines, including the black lung scandal, has emerged as a [...]

WASHINGTON, April 23 (UPI) — Handwritten notes indicate federal safety inspectors found negligence at a West Virginia mine months before an explosion killed 29 miners in early April. Federal safety officials who inspected Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch coal mine in January said senior managers displayed “reckless disregard” for worker safety by telling a foreman [...]

As the first funerals for the worst mining disaster in 40 years took place last weekend in West Virginia, President Obama quoted a fallen coal miner’s mother: “It is just West Virginia. When something bad happens, we come together.” The President added: “‘When something bad happens, we come together.’ Through tragedy and heartache, that’s the [...]

by Ken Ward Jr. The news is in, and what’s everybody in West Virginia and across the coalfields was hoping it would not be … The four other Massey Energy miners were found dead deep inside the Upper Big Branch Mine in Raleigh County. None of the miners made it to the rescue chambers, and [...]

Emergency vehicles leave the entrance to Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch Coal Mine Monday, April 5, 2010 in Montcoal, W.Va. after an explosion at the underground coal mine. (AP Photo/Jeff Gentner) by Ken Ward Jr. Here’s the terrible news from Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship: “It is with a heavy heart that Massey Energy confirms [...]

By Ken Ward Jr. CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A large number of West Virginia coal miners are feared dead or missing this evening following an explosion this afternoon at a Massey Energy underground mine in Raleigh County. Emergency crews are still responding this evening to the incident, which initial reports indicate occurred at about 3 p.m. [...]