CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Bill Ross wondered why Don Blankenship had called him to a lunch meeting in the summer of 2009. What was said at that meeting could prove key in what a 12-member jury decides to do with criminal charges against Blankenship.
Ross had been with Massey Energy for about a year when he was asked to go to Blankenship’s office. Ross, the 32-year federal mine safety veteran, had already made himself known since his 2008 hiring in several conversations about how safety needed to be improved at Massey mines. His opinions were critical and he had made several recommendations.
Ross testified Wednesday he was prepared to be fired at that meeting and even told Blankenship when he got there he would be okay with it, but that didn’t happen and the meeting took place as scheduled.
Ross told Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Ruby he told Blankenship some of the company’s safety problems could be solved by hiring an extra miner per mining section. He said Blankenship then proceeded to quiz him on how much that would cost–as much as $65,000 per worker. Ruby pointed out Massey’s profit at the time was $609 million.
There was an exchange between Ross and Blankenship at the end of their meeting. Ross recounted it with tears in his eyes while taking deep breaths.
“When the meeting was over and I was ready to leave I said, ‘One thing you can’t afford to happen, sir, is a disaster–because most mines can’t survive a disaster,'” Ross told the jury.
Less than a year later the Upper Big Branch mine in Raleigh County exploded killing 29 miners.
That’s when the federal investigation began which has resulted in criminal charges against Blankenship alleging he conspired to break safety laws at UBB leading up to the April 5, 2010 disaster. Prosecutors allege it was production over safety.
Under cross examination Wednesday afternoon, Ross told Blankenship’s attorney Bill Taylor there was more said in that 2009 lunch meeting. Ross said Blankenship asked him to write a script for a safety video, which he did.
Ross also testified that in early 2010 Blankenship sent him two MSHA citations with a handwritten note.
“Tell me in writing about these violations,” Blankenship wrote. Ross said Blankenship wanted to know who was responsible for them and how they could be prevented.
“Those not getting the message should get the message,” Blankenship said.
In morning testimony Wednesday, Ross read from one of his emails about safety.
“I’m so thrilled about a new Massey Energy Corporation,” Ross wrote to Stephanie Ojeda, Massey’s senior corporate counsel, in June 2009 soon after a meeting in which he detailed the many problems with training, staffing and regulatory compliance he found during a review of Massey’s operations.
“Let’s hope and pray that new and better things are going to happen.”
Ross paused to collect himself on the witness stand, “This company will be pleased at the results and I’ll be relieved.”
The e-mail was written less than a year before the UBB disaster.
Several family members of those who died cried quietly in the front row of the gallery in U.S. District Judge Irene Berger’s courtroom as Ross talked about his warnings of excessive problems at UBB and throughout Massey’s mines with ventilation, roof control, clean up and electrical matters.
While Blankenship is not accused of causing the deadly blast, he is charged with conspiring to violate mandatory mine safety regulations prior to the UBB Disaster and lying about those practices to securities officials and shareholders after the explosion.
In June 2009, Ross said he was optimistic. “I thought good things were going to happen,” he testified Wednesday, the 19th day for testimony in Blankenship’s trial. He said he thought Massey “would take serious steps” to address the rampant issues compiled in what is now called the Ross memo.
No Massey executives, Ross said, questioned his findings.
“I was happy about this,” he told the jury about the possibility of improvements. Adding, “I thought it would be better all around for the miners and the company.”
Ross testified that if any of his suggested reforms to enhance training within Massey, add to personnel and improve relations with MSHA were implemented on a large scale, he did not know about it.
The Ross memo, which federal investigators only discovered earlier this year during a separate case involving Blankenship’s legal fees, was labeled “confidential.” Knowledge of its contents was limited to a select group of high-ranking Massey executives, including Blankenship.
“I thought it would be shared with everybody in Massey so that we could get a handle on this,” Ross testified when asked about the confidentiality mandate.
During his time at Massey, Ross played a role in developing the ventilation plan for UBB’s longwall that used belt air. In late 2009, he said he and others unsuccessfully tried to reverse the direction of the belt air to comply with MSHA directives. “It would be virtually impossible to do that,” Ross said.
After that failed attempt, Ross testified other officials at UBB “didn’t seem like they wanted my services anymore.” Despite his ventilation experience, he testified he was not involved with work on UBB’s ventilation plan going forward and, even today, said he could not confirm which direction the belt air was moving on Apr. 5, 2010 — the day of the UBB Disaster.
Ross is the prosecution’s 24th witness in the case that began with jury selection on Oct. 1.
Ross is scheduled to be back on the stand Thursday morning.