U.S. District Court Judge Irene Berger has made it clear several times already in the early going of the criminal trial of Don Blankenship that the former Massey Energy CEO is not charged with causing the 2010 Upper Big Branch Mine explosion that killed 29 miners.
Blankenship is charged with violating safety laws at the mine before the accident and then lying about the company’s safety practices to the Securities and Exchange Commission and Massey investors after the accident.
But the specter of the UBB disaster throughout this trial will be unavoidable. That was evident during opening statements by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Ruby, who said the government will show that Blankenship was responsible for creating an environment at UBB where “breaking safety laws was not just permitted, but expected.”
Ruby didn’t mention the word “greed,” but it is evident that federal prosecutors will attempt to paint the former coal executive as a hardened boss who put profits before people. “When Massey made money, the defendant made money,” Ruby told the jury.
To win their case, federal prosecutors need to make a direct connection between Blankenship and the intentional sidestepping of mine safety regulations and faked dust samples at UBB, and they believe they have plenty of evidence to demonstrate that.
Ruby mentioned a number of times in his opening that the jury would hear Blankenship’s directives “in his own words.” Those will come in the form of Blankenship’s memos and recorded phone conversations.
Prosecutors also have a “whistleblower” witness, former Massey employee Bill Ross. The former federal Mine Safety and Health Administration official who went to work for Massey is expected to testify for the federal government about a 2009 memo where he raised concerns about Massey’s many mine violations.
“Sooner or later, we will pay the price, especially if there is a serious injury or fatality,” Ross warned.
The defense is willing to concede that Blankenship was an intense, hard-driving boss who is now viewed through the prism of UBB. “He wouldn’t win any popularity contests in West Virginia,” lead defense attorney Bill Taylor told the jury. However, he said Blankenship is not the robber baron as portrayed by the government.
“Mr. Blankenship did not believe that the way to make money in the coal industry was to run coal roughshod over regulations,” said Taylor.
And there is the crux of the case; what kind of boss was Don Blankenship? While he is not charged with the deaths of those 29 miners, the case may still rest on whether he was ultimately responsible for what happened at UBB.