CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Ruby tried to regain ground Thursday lost during the past week of cross-examination of former Upper Big Branch mine president Chris Blanchard.
Ruby–who has former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship on trial for allegedly conspiring to break mine safety laws at UBB in favor of production–got his chance to redirect Blanchard Thursday after Blankenship’s attorney Bill Taylor questioned him for parts of five days.
Ruby went right to Blanchard’s grand jury testimony that focused on Blankenship’s demands for production while at the same time having many safety problems at UBB. Ruby then focused on on UBB’s production and profits from 2008 and 2009–asking Blanchard each time, “Was that enough profit (to break mine safety laws)?”
Ruby then took Blanchard through a number of MSHA citations at UBB in 2009 alleging Blankenship received the daily reports of the citations but did nothing about them. Blanchard said the citations could have been avoided with more workers and more non-production time. Under cross-examination Blanchard testified some UBB miners were fired for bad safety practices.
Earlier Thursday afternoon, Blanchard testified he didn’t tell Blankenship everything that impacted production at UBB.
“Sometimes I didn’t want to justify why I was doing it. On occasion, I didn’t feel like having that conversation,” Blanchard said.
During the days long cross-examination, Blanchard told the jury there was no conspiracy between Blankenship and himself to break mine safety laws. Blanchard also told jury he had done nothing wrong.
The redirect of Blanchard began at around 11:35 a.m Thursday.
“Mr. Blanchard, we have a lot to talk about,” Ruby said.
During the next 25 minutes, before jurors recessed for lunch, Ruby rapidly fired questions at Blanchard, who the prosecution called as its own witness last Thursday, beginning with references to Blanchard’s grand jury testimony in Nov. 2014 which contradicted what he’d testified to under questioning from Taylor just a few minutes earlier.
According to what Blanchard told a federal grand jury last year, prior to Blankenship’s indictment, there was an understanding at Massey that it was cheaper to pay fines for safety violations than to address problems, that Blankenship thought such fines were the cost of doing business and that Blankenship rarely, if ever, spoke with Blanchard about safety violations at the mines he ran as part of Massey’s Marfork Coal Group, including Upper Big Branch.
Blanchard answered, “Yes, sir,” when Ruby asked him over and over again Thursday if those portions of the grand jury testimony that he was asked to read aloud were truthful.
The defense had tried to prove otherwise during cross examination.
Ruby moved quickly to challenge Blanchard’s previous testimony that he operated UBB and other mines in compliance with the law by pointing out the hundreds of safety violations recorded at UBB, under his watch, the year before the explosion that killed 29 coal miners.
Blanchard answered carefully, acknowledging that he was aware of the violations but had worked with other managers to correct the problems.
During early redirect, Ruby asked Blanchard if he understood the definitions of words like “coal operator,” which Blanchard was, “conspiracy,” which Blankenship is accused of and perjury.
After initially denying that he prepared for this week’s marathon cross examination from Taylor using information from Taylor and Blankenship’s other attorneys, Blanchard later — under repeated questioning from Ruby — admitted he had reviewed potential questions and documents the defense provided to his own lawyers.
When Ruby asked who was currently paying his legal bills, Blanchard said “no one.” Initially, Massey Energy and then Alpha Natural Resources, the company that bought Massey, had been covering the costs, Blanchard testified.
Earlier Thursday morning, the ventilation plan at UBB in late 2009 and early 2010 dominated the final hours of Blanchard’s cross examination. Blanchard testified that the Mine Safety and Health Administration eliminated belt air from Massey’s plan to ventilate UBB’s longwall, reducing the air crossing it by more than half.
He said MSHA officials wanted the belt air reversed, but Blanchard testified the mine was “not set up to reverse belt air.”
In addition to the conspiracy charge, Blankenship is accused of lying to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and securities fraud. He is not charged with causing the deadly explosion at UBB.
After the UBB Disaster, Blanchard testified his total compensation rose when he went to work at Massey Coal Services as a vice president for development. Blanchard, who has not been charged with any crimes, previously indicated his testimony in Blankenship’s trial was part of an agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Taylor asked again Thursday morning of that agreement, “Did you tell the government that you believed you had not committed a crime?”
“Yes, sir,” answered Blanchard, before again denying the existence of a plot with Blankenship to violate mine safety laws.
Blanchard will be back on the stand Friday morning. U.S. District Judge Irene Berger announced Thursday there would be no trial Monday.