Heartless corporate bastard-ism strikes again at the weak victims.

[Hubert Flottz]

Massey sale decision came amid internal push over safety
By Ken Ward Jr.
The Charleston Gazette

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Massey Energy executives moved toward a sale to Alpha Natural Resources as internal pressures grew for a broad-ranging examination of -- and potentially major reforms in -- the company's long-troubled safety practices, according to new court documents made public Tuesday.

In November, a committee from Massey's board of directors was prepared to recommend creation of a "blue-ribbon" panel of outside safety experts, similar to the Baker Panel created by BP after the deaths of 15 workers in a 2005 refinery explosion.

The board committee also had determined that a change in the top leadership at Massey -- including then-CEO Don Blankenship -- was needed to rebuild the company's reputation and to regain the confidence of shareholders, regulators and public officials, according to the court documents, filed by lawyers who are seeking to block the Massey-Alpha transaction.

"The board thus realized that Blankenship had to go," the lawyers, representing a group of Massey shareholders, said in a legal brief supporting their argument for a preliminary injunction to at least stall the merger. Read More...

http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201105240783

So the shoddy Massey safety program that the company operated under and profited from, killed 29 miners and now that company is trying to duck out on paying the families of the dead miners. Massey wants to get away with murder. All they ever cared about was maximum profit and breaking the UMWA.

[Hubert Flottz]

1. Upper Big Branch security chief pleads not guilty

http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201105240818