CHARLESTON, W.Va. —Alpha Natural Resources unveiling last week of its $23 million Running Right Leadership Academy is just the beginning of safety requirements the company must meet as part of its agreement with the federal government following the Upper Big Branch mine tragedy.
U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin says the next step comes Oct. 1 when the Alpha Foundation chooses the first winners of mine safety grants.
“There are a lot of things and a lot of areas where mine safety and health can be advanced,” the federal prosecutor Goodwin told MetroNews. “And from what I understand they’re getting very innovative proposals to do that.”
The foundation’s board of directors could choose about a dozen or so projects for funding totaling $10 million.
“The 48-million dollar foundation is really set up to advance the state-of-the-art in mine safety and health research,” Goodwin said. “The goal is to innovate. I don’t believe there’s ever been a fund larger to do that.”
Upper Big Branch was owned by Massey Energy when an explosion rocked the Raleigh County mine in April 2010. Twenty-nine miners lost their lives. Alpha later purchased Massey mines and agreed to settle the federal case for $210 million. Goodwin’s office is continuing its criminal investigation.
The federal prosecutor said he’s impressed with Alpha’s Running Right Academy in Julian.
“We’re really glad to see this center open because we owe our coal miners the very best training they can possibly get and this is a remarkable facility to allow them to do that,” Goodwin said.
Alpha must also spend money to enhance safety at legacy Massey operations and Alpha in general according to Goodwin.
“We want to do everything we possibly can to make sure another Upper Big Branch mine disaster never occurs again,” Goodwin said.