Former coal executive says company took safety shortcuts under ex-CEO
Source: Associated Press
Former coal executive says company took safety shortcuts under ex-CEO
Associated Press in Charleston, West Virginia
Friday 16 October 2015 21.00 BST
A former coal executive who was dealt a prison sentence for mine violations testified on Friday that his company sometimes took shortcuts to produce coal under his top boss, ex-Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship.
Taking the stand in Blankenship’s criminal trial, former Massey subsidiary president David Hughart said that under Blankenship and former COO Chris Adkins, the company was more concerned about having to pay fines than actually keeping mines safe. He said his mines would sometimes be short-handed and still producing coal.
“It was just always a push for production,” said Hughart, who testified on Thursday and Friday in Charleston federal court under a plea deal with the government.
In 2013, Hughart was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for conspiring in an illegal scheme to warn miners and other subsidiaries of surprise safety inspections. Hughart implicated Blankenship in the conspiracy during his plea hearing.
Hughart’s conviction stemmed from a wide probe into a 2010 explosion at Massey’s Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia, which killed 29 men. The same investigation led prosecutors up the corporate ladder to Blankenship.
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/oct/16/former-coal-executive-testifies-company-took-shortcuts
