CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A former Massey Energy coal group president testified Monday in the trial of his former boss Don Blankenship that some coal miners don’t like to be told what to do.
Chris Blanchard, who ran the coal group that oversaw the operation of the Upper Big Branch mine in Raleigh County, agreed with Blankenship’s lead defense attorney Bill Taylor, who suggested some coal miners don’t follow directions well and some believe “they know how to do it better than the boss.”
Blanchard, a key prosecution witness, has been on the stand now for parts of three days and nearly 17 hours. His cross-examination is scheduled to continue Tuesday morning. His former boss, Blankenship, is on trial for allegedly conspiring to break federal mine safety laws at UBB in favor of production. Twenty-nine miners died in an April 5, 2010 explosion there. Blankenship is not charged with causing the explosion.
Much of Blanchard’s testimony Monday afternoon focused on the company’s disciplining of nearly two dozen miners at UBB in the summer and fall of 2009. Some of the men were suspended without pay while others were fired for things like improper roof-bolting, failure to shovel excess coal and failure to install ventilation curtains.
The defense maintains Blankenship was an innovator in mine safety and wasn’t involved in a conspiracy to skirt the law.
Taylor spent much of Monday morning showing Blanchard more than a dozen Massey memos, e-mails and other documents Steve Ruby, assistant U.S. attorney, had previously questioned Blanchard about during direct examination.
Over and over again, Taylor asked Blanchard if he ever concluded, based on the handwritten notes from Blankenship on those documents, that compliance with federal and state regulations was optional. “No, sir,” Blanchard answered each time.
“Do you agree that it’s not an acceptable business practice to ignore safety in a coal mine?””asked Taylor.
“I would agree,” Blanchard testified.
He could point to no instances in the documents that are now considered evidence where Blankenship told him to violate regulations from the Mine Safety and Health Administration.
Taylor later asked, “The fact that a coal mine gets citations does not mean there is a conspiracy?”
“That’s correct,” Blanchard answered.
“All mines get citations,” Taylor said.
“That’s correct,” Blanchard answered again.
A recurring theme from the defense has been that it is not illegal to attempt to run a company effectively as they claim Blankenship was doing and, during his questioning of Blanchard, Taylor attempted to make that point to the Blankenship jury.
“Isn’t that what a CEO is supposed to do?” Taylor asked of one memo addressing expenditures. Blanchard answered in the affirmative.
Before the lunch break Monday, Blanchard was working through a binder of nine introduced documents from the defense that included citations from MSHA along with handwritten notes from Chris Adkins, Massey COO, to Blanchard asking for the specifics of what lead to those violations. Blanchard’s responses were also shown to the jury.
Answering a question from Taylor, Blanchard said he was under pressure from “above,” meaning from Adkins and Blankenship, his bosses, to explain violations and correct them.
“They wanted hazards eliminated and violations reduced,” he testified.
Blanchard, who signed a limited immunity deal with federal prosecutors in exchange for his testimony, is scheduled to be back on the witness stand Tuesday morning answering more questions from defense attorneys. Prosecutors will then likely take several more hours to question him under redirect.
Monday was the 13th day of testimony for the trial that began on Oct. 1 with jury selection in front of U.S. District Judge Irene Berger. Jurors were initially told to prepare to serve until Thanksgiving, if necessary.