Federal investigators have now taken a step up the ladder in assessing criminal responsibility for the 2010 disaster at the Upper Big Branch mine that killed 29 miners.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the southern district of West Virginia accuses former UBB mine superintendent Gary May of conspiracy to obstruct federal mine safety inspectors.
May’s alleged offenses are linked to the causes of the disaster.
For example, according to the federal complaint:
–May and others used "code phrases" to give advance notice of mine inspections so violations at the mine could be covered up. Mine Safety and Health Administration investigators found that the early warnings were a contributing cause of the disaster.
–May altered ventilation paths at the mine when inspectors arrived in order to "direct additional air to the area where the inspection was taking place."
–May ordered the mine examination books falsified by omitting a hazardous condition at the mine.
–May ordered the rewiring of a methane monitoring device on a continuous mining machine so the machine would operate even if methane levels exceeded the point where the machine would normally shut down automatically.
The allegations don’t say that May was responsible for the explosion, but they clearly illustrate a pattern of behavior that created conditions that contributed to the methane ignition and massive coal dust explosion.
There are several interesting aspects to the federal charges against May.
The filing is called an "information," suggesting that May has agreed to plead guilty to charges and is cooperating with the ongoing investigation.
Additionally, the information makes repeated references to "known and unknown" persons as being part of a conspiracy at UBB. That means there are other people the feds believe participated with May in the willful violation of federal mine safety standards.
Who are these "known and unknown" people?
It’s impossible to know what May is telling investigators, but if he has copped a plea deal then he’s likely telling them that someone above his pay grade was calling the shots on the illegal activity at UBB.
May was one of two superintendents who worked at UBB. Performance Coal, which operated UBB as a subsidiary of Massey Energy, had a president and a general manager.
And, of course, at the top of the pyramid was Massey’s former chairman and CEO Don Blankenship.
Earlier, former UBB security chief Hughie Stover was convicted of lying to federal investigators and destroying evidence. At the time, U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin was quoted as saying, "It’s premature to say we haven’t brought justice or we haven’t gone after the real villains."
Gary May is clearly not the end game for Goodwin and his staff. The larger question is where will May’s cooperation lead.