Federal prosecutors this week filed criminal charges against a Massey Energy executive in connection with illegal practices at mines owned by Massey Energy – the company that operated the Upper Big Branch (UBB) mine, site of the worst mining disaster in U.S. history.
A former Massey Energy security director was sentenced to 36 months in jail on Wednesday for making a false statement and obstructing a government investigation into the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster.
New rules adopted Wednesday by the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding the disclosure of company safety information will affect mine operators as well as the financial industry, according to an AFL-CIO blog post.
An advocacy group is charging that the $209 million settlement in the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster announced yesterday does not serve justice, and that the mine operator should instead face criminal prosecution for the deaths of 29 workers in an explosion on April 5, 2010.
As the trial of the former chief of security at the Upper Big Branch Mine gets underway this week, the United Mine Workers (UMW) are calling the 2010 fatal explosion at the mine an act of “industrial homicide.”