“I didn’t break any laws,” former UBB president Blanchard tells jury

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Former Massey Energy coal group president Chris Blanchard told a federal criminal jury Friday afternoon he broke no laws in the operation of the Upper Big Branch mine.

Blanchard made the comment during cross-examination at the Don Blankenship trial. Blankenship, the former Massey CEO, allegedly skirted mine safety laws in favor of production at UBB in the months leading up to the April 2010 explosion that killed 29 miners.

Chris Blanchard, former Massey Marfork group & Performance Coal president
Chris Blanchard, former Massey Marfork group & Performance Coal president

Blanchard–who ran the mine–testified that while Blankenship was demanding when it came to production he never once told him to break safety laws at UBB and added he had committed no crimes.

“I didn’t break any laws, sir,” Blanchard told Blankenship’s lead defense attorney Bill Taylor.

Earlier in the day, while completing roughly seven hours of questioning from federal prosecutors that spanned parts of two days, two phone recordings Blankenship made in his office, without Blanchard’s knowledge, were played for the jury.

In a 15 minute call dated Nov. 2009, Blankenship can be heard chastising Blanchard for everything from how he speaks to the way he holds a phone. The bulk of the call, which begins with Blankenship saying he’s “real worried about UBB,” is focused on production at UBB.

He asked, “What do I need to do to get UBB fixed?”

“I don’t think you need to do anything,” Blanchard answered.

In the minutes that follow, Blankenship talks about how much more efficiently he could run UBB. “UBB needs to run and the pace has got to pick up,” he said.

At one point, Blankenship asks if there are condition issues at UBB. Blanchard’s answer was, “No, sir.”

After getting into specifics of how severance taxes were being calculated at UBB, Blankenship told Blanchard he needed to be “focused on dollars.”

Under cross-examination, Blanchard said that while Blankenship was very demanding and impatient at times he never ordered him to break violate mine safety regulations and said neither did he conspire with Blankenship to skirt the law.

“He ordered us to reduce citations,” Blanchard said.

Blanchard, who has not been charged with any crimes up to this point, told the jury he was testifying during the Blankenship trial as part of an agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Going forward, he cannot be prosecuted for anything he’s said during his lengthy testimony, unless he lies. He is not protected from all future prosecution.

He further explained the deal during cross-examination.

“They threatened to prosecute me sir,” he told Taylor. “I didn’t break any laws, sir.”

Blanchard agreed with Taylor that he was given an ultimatum by federal prosecutors last November. He said he was told if he didn’t cooperate he would be indicted.

“They were two bad choices, sir,” Blanchard said.

Blankenship was indicted two days after the agreement was signed.

The second phone call played Friday by prosecutors involved Blankenship, Blanchard and Chris Adkins, former Massey COO.

In it, Blankenship advises Blanchard to implement changes to benefits for health care coverage, requiring all Massey employees to pay more, as his own. “The worst thing you can do is say this is upper management or Don,” Blankenship advises.

Blanchard testified his practice was to represent anything that came from Massey, Performance Coal’s parent company, as Performance Coal initiatives. In his view, company decisions were company decisions on all fronts, he testified.

More than a dozen additional documents pulled from a white filing box and shown on video screens throughout the courtroom, many including handwritten notes from Blankenship to Blanchard and others, were introduced Friday

“I am on a mission to seek and destroy costs,” Blankenship wrote in a 2009 memo. Blanchard said the costs being targeted at that time were labor costs, especially among people not directly involved in production.

“Our sections were staffed more leanly,” Blanchard testified when asked about the number of people underground at UBB compared with competing mines. He said UBB usually had between 48 and 50 miners per section while other companies utilized 55 to 60. The additional workers, he said, were used for maintenance, safety and support work away from the mine face.

A capital expenditure request from Blanchard for an additional air shaft to ventilate UBB at an estimated cost of $1.8 million, requiring the approval of Blankenship, never got the green light.

Blanchard also said he first requested a new track duster for UBB as early as 2008. Initially included in the 2010 budget but later removed, the purchase of a new track duster, used to put down rock dust, had still not been approved as of Apr. 5, 2010 when 29 coal miners were killed in a massive explosion.

Earlier in the day, during questioning from Steve Ruby, assistant U.S. Attorney, Blanchard testified he had taken the 5th Amendment to protect himself against self-incrimination during the state investigation that followed the UBB Mine Disaster.

Through much of Blanchard’s testimony Friday, as he has done many times during the trial, Blankenship kept his head down and wrote on a legal pad.

Blanchard was the 21st witness for the prosecution. He is scheduled to be back on the stand under cross-examination when the trial resumes Monday.

Friday was the 12th day of testimony in the Blankenship trial that began at the Charleston Federal Courthouse on Oct. 1 with jury selection. Earlier this week, prosecutors said they anticipated resting their case by early next week.

 

 





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