CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A former coal miner at the Upper Big Branch mine testified Wednesday that a president of a Massey Energy subsidiary would “hassle” miners for not running coal.
Former miner Brent Racer was called to the stand by federal prosecutors in the trial of former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship. Prosecutors allege production was favored over safety at the Massey Energy-owned mine in Raleigh County. Blankenship, 65, faces multiple counts.
Racer, who began working at UBB in 2007 until the April 2010 explosion that killed 29 miners, testified the president of Performance Coal, Chris Blanchard, would come to the area he was working and tell his boss to run more coal. In one instanced the area had been shut down because of air problems, Racer said.
“He (Blanchard) said, we didn’t need to worry about air, we need to be running (coal),” Racer testified.
It’s the closest so far in the trial that federal prosecutors have been able to link coal safety issues hurting production to a Massey official. Performance Coal was the Massey subsidiary that owned UBB.
Under cross-examination, Racer admitted he didn’t like Blanchard. He said he was “aggravating” and would “hassle” his crew.
Racer, who will be back on the stand Thursday morning, was one of three former UBB workers to testify Wednesday.
Thomas Gary Young was a contract employee who worked the midnight shift in the months before the 2010 explosion. He testified he didn’t have the proper equipment, help and time to rock dust. That’s a process that keeps explosive coal dust in check. Federal prosecutors asked Young if safety was important at UBB.
“They said it was important. I didn’t think it was,” he said.
Michael Smith testified codes were used underground when either mine inspectors or a higher-up from the company was coming underground. He said violating safety rules “seemed like it was common practice” and “pretty much a joke.”
Smith admitted under cross-examination that at one point UBB was closed for three days to fix air problems. He also said there were working methane detectors in the mine.
Earlier Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Irene Berger reversed a ruling from Tuesday and allowed 10 safety memos concerning Blankenship be introduced as evidence.
Less than six months before the 2010 explosion Blankenship told Chris Adkins, former Massey COO, he was “disappointed” with progress in addressing rampant mine safety violations.
Calling the efforts to reduce violations at Massey mines, up that point, “first grade,” Blankenship wrote in a memo dated late Oct. 2009, “We need to be very serious about these violations because they are going to come back to haunt us.”
He concluded, “Let’s get it done.”
Berger reversed her rulings on the documents, many of which included handwritten notes from Blankenship, after reviewing 11 federal cases the defense submitted dealing with how admissions from defendants were treated at trial.
In contrast to the case the federal government has been trying to build of a CEO who put production above safety, the newly-admitted defense documents painted Blankenship as a chief executive concerned about reducing mine safety violations at UBB and throughout all of Massey’s mine operations.
One of the documents submitted to the jury was a report card on mine safety violations at Massey that Blankenship called “very ugly” in a response dated Oct. 8, 2009. “Propose corrective action,” he instructed other Massey executives.
In a reply to an e-mail dated March 20, 2009 detailing Massey’s mine safety violation numbers in January and February of that year, Blankenship said he was “frustrated” and wrote, “The only thing more frightening to our future than the regulators is us.”
“You have to develop a plan to deal with this” and “Do your jobs” were his responses to an e-mail from Elizabeth Chamberlin, former Massey vice president of safety and training, to mine presidents and safety chiefs in May 2009 about respirable dust violations.
Also now part of evidence is an Oct. 2009 performance review of Adkins, the former Massey COO, who oversaw all of Massey’s underground mines and reported to Blankenship.
“As COO, he should desist from creating an atmosphere among group presidents that compliance with safety laws is unachievable, unwise and unnecessary,” part of that review read.
Blankenship’s Administrative Assistant Sandra Davis was called upon repeatedly to identify the handwriting on the documents, submitted as evidence, as Blankenship’s. The defense called the notes “angry,” “rude” and “tense,” and Davis agreed when asked if that was the Don Blankenship she knew and worked with for years.
Earlier on Wednesday morning, Davis confirmed she received reports about the operations of UBB’s longwall in Blankenship’s office every two hours and she, in turn, would provide them to the CEO.
Davis was dismissed as a witness in the case before 12 p.m. Wednesday after first taking the stand last Friday afternoon.
Wednesday was the 5th day for testimony in the trial that began on Oct. 1 with jury selection.