CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A former Massey Energy coal group president testified Wednesday that when coal production dipped from projections in 2009 he was not disciplined in any way.
The testimony came from Chris Blanchard who has now been on for the stand for parts of five consecutive days in the Don Blankenship criminal trial.
Blankenship, 65, allegedly conspired to break mine safety laws at the Upper Big Branch mine in Raleigh County in favor of production. Twenty-nine men died at the mine in a 2010 explosion. Blankenship is not charged with causing the explosion.
Blanchard oversaw UBB and with the exception of about two hours of testimony last Thursday, his testimony has all been under cross-examination.
Blankenship’s lead attorney Bill Taylor focused his questions Wednesday afternoon on UBB production plans from 2008 and 2009.
While answering questions from federal prosecutors last week, Blanchard said he was never disciplined for the many safety violations at UBB. He said Wednesday he was never disciplined for missing coal production projections by nearly 400,000 tons in 2008 and 700,000 tons in 2009.
Taylor also produced UBB staffing reports that showed more workers on the coal mining belts when production was up and fewer workers when production was down.
In the upwards of one dozen additional Massey documents dating back to 2006 introduced Wednesday morning, Blankenship and other Massey executives, including Blanchard’s other boss, former Massey COO Chris Adkins, appear concerned about and engaged in details of safety at Massey’s mines, including Upper Big Branch.
“Obviously, we have to do better,” Blankenship wrote on a 2009 memo from an executive who’d reviewed a full report on the company’s safety practices. Many statements in other documents the jury saw Wednesday were attributed to Adkins who, like Blanchard, has not been charged with any crimes.
Blanchard repeatedly denied the existence of any plot with Blankenship or anyone else to skirt mine safety regulations to advance coal production, denied that he instructed anyone to fake dust samples and maintained that no one had told him, during his time running UBB and other mines, to violate laws.
He agreed with Taylor when the attorney said, “Don Blankenship is not tolerant of mine safety violations.”
In addition to serving as president of Performance Coal, Blanchard also was the president of Massey’s Marfork Coal Group. According to notes he took during a conference call for group presidents, 2009 was the safest on record for Massey and the goal was to reduce the number of mine and prep plant accidents to zero in 2010.
“Hope is not a plan,” he wrote in his notes from that meeting.
Blankenship is charged with conspiracy to violate mandatory mine safety and health standards, making false statements to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and securities fraud.
He is not charged with causing the Apr. 2010 explosion at UBB that killed 29 coal miners. Many family members of those coal miners have been sitting in the front row throughout the trial.
Before testimony resumed on Wednesday morning, U.S. District Judge Irene Berger ruled inadmissible a video from an Aug. 2009 meeting at Scott High School in Boone County that included hundreds of high-ranking Massey officials like Blanchard and Adkins, but not Blankenship.
The defense wanted to play the video during Blanchard’s testimony to show that Massey was serious about safety and that pronouncements about mandatory compliance were not made “with a wink and a nod.”
After reviewing the video, Berger said she found it to be “riddled with puffery and opinions,” so the jury will not see it. Eric Delinsky, a Blankenship attorney, indicated an edited video may be submitted for further review.
Blanchard, the prosecution’s 21st witness, has accounted for about a third of the total trial testimony thus far. He’ll be back on the stand Thursday morning. After Blanchard, there are indications the U.S. Attorney’s Office will call at least two more witnesses before resting the government’s case.
Wednesday was the 15th day for testimony in the trial that began on Oct. 1 with jury selection.