Massey Coal: No Friend to West Virginia

The annual Coal Show in Bluefield, WV played host this year to the Bluefield Coal Symposium sponsored by the Greater Bluefield Chamber of Commerce. The “main event” was an opening address by that paragon of virtue Don Blankenship, president and CEO of Massey Energy, a division of the 9th Circle of Hell.

He apparently made a series of weird, widely inappropriate statements that the local paper quoted, but refused to comment upon. The paper in question, the Bluefield Daily Telegraph, actually called him “the man who is arguably one of the state’s most non-political figures,” apparently forgetting that he is in fact just the opposite. From his Wikipedia entry:

“He is known for his participation in politics, particularly in West Virginia and Kentucky, where Massey has substantial holdings.

In 2004, he spent millions of his own dollars campaigning against the re-election of West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals justice Warren McGraw. One ad he sponsored criticized McGraw for joining in a decision that allowed a convicted sex offender to remain on probation and also keep employment as a school custodian. That ad and the unprecedented intensity of the campaign virtually ensured Brent Benjamin's win."

(See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Blankenship )


Commenting on measuring dust in coal mines, high levels of which lead to mine explosions, Blankenship said, “Dust measurement doesn’t solve problems, U.S. Technology is too busy taking dust samples and pushing wars to keep the oil flowing.”

Responding to a question about coal reserve estimates, Blankenship went way off the tracks saying it was “sad” that the nation is “willing to send children to Iraq to fight a war, but not willing to issue a (permit for) a valley fill.” (WTF?)

The article continued, "He then went on to give his opinion of the state’s political developments during the past 76 years and finished that off with his observation that West Virginia has “the lowest average income and the highest incidence of child abuse.” He said that with the state’s “gift” of abundant coal reserves, it ought to take advantage of that gift. “I don’t know how anyone can argue that we don’t need the change,” he said. "

Blankenship said the focus needs to be on “the people’s whole environment,” and not a single aspect of the environment. He said that the state government doesn’t realize that the customers of big coal companies are “the state’s customers too.”

Blankenship’s use of the Iraq war dead to further his selfish industrial goals is just mind-numbingly offensive. His compliant about the state of West Virginia’s government is ridiculous, as said government has been in the thrall of his industry; largely doing their bidding. Finally, the implication that it is “OK” to destroy the environment because the monetary benefits of the mining operation will make child abuse go away is so intellectually dishonest, that it would not pass muster in an introductory course in a junior college.

To read the full article see http://www.bdtonline.com/local/local_story_270222048.html