Massey Energy Co. has a history of disregarding safety

The eyes of the nation are upon West Virginia at this moment – glaring at us, disapprovingly, distrustfully, as usual – as the most serious American mining disaster in 26 years took place Monday in the backyard of our capital city.

At least 25 miners are dead, more are injured, and of course, the governor was on vacation.

How perfect.

I am not comfortable with the idea of using the unnecessary, avoidable deaths of so many innocent people to make a political point, so I won't do it. This is in a realm somewhere far, far distant from partisan politics.

The vacationing Friend-of-Coal governor is a moderate Democrat, the post-modern coal baron CEO of the corporation that owns the exploded mine a staunch, unapologetic conservative Republican.

I am interested neither in their party registration nor in anyone else's right now. I'm interested in serious, brutal honesty, and here it is:

The Upper Big Creek mine, owned by Richmond, Va.-based Massey Energy, incurred an astonishing 1,342 safety citations in the past five years, worth $1.89 million in fines. It received 50 violations in the last month alone, including 12 serious violations for failure to properly vent explosive methane gas.

Three workers died at Upper Big Creek in various other incidents between 1998 and Monday's explosion.

As Kevin Stricklin, coal administrator for the federal Mine Safety & Health Administration said, "The operator (Massey) "was aware of some of these conditions."

In January 2006, two miners died in a fire at the Aracoma mine in Logan County, W. Va., a mine operated by a Massey subsidiary.

The company racked up $1.5 million in federal fines for that incident, at the time the largest fine ever levied by MSHA. (That number is likely to be exceeded by a factor of several once the fine for the Upper Big Branch incident is tallied.)

For good measure, the subsidiary pled guilty to 10 criminal charges in connection with the Aracoma mine disaster in 2006.

Not that Massey only racks up records for putting miners at risk – the company doesn't much care about the rest of us either. In 2008, Massey was hit with the largest penalty ever issued by the Environmental Protection Agency for its stream-dumping practices. The company ultimately agreed to pay the government more than $30 million.

No problem for Massey. The multi-state conglomerate reported net profits of over $100 million in 2009.

Don Blankenship, the aforementioned CEO, paid for the successful 2004 campaign of state Supreme Court Justice Brent Benjamin, who then promptly cast the deciding vote in Massey's favor in a standing civil action involving a competing mine operation.

This fight went all the way to U.S. Supreme Court, with the justices issuing a decision forcing Benjamin to recuse himself from a re-hearing of the case.

Massey has further managed to remove the United Mine Workers of America from every single one of its mining operations, both underground and surface, although a lone processing plant remains a union shop.

Massey has lost at least two civil suits brought by the UMWA in attempts to force the company to hire union miners. The company has chosen to pay heavy penalties rather than allow any of its mines to unionize.

Meanwhile, Blankenship argued this week his operation has an above-average safety record. That's interesting: A 2008 study found that Massey had racked up more safety violations than every other West Virginia mining corporation combined.

Well played, gentlemen. You've assembled some of the most unsafe working conditions in all of American mining and thoroughly broken the union that has for a century successfully fought for dramatic improvements in worker safety.

Along the way, you've paid record fines, built a massive slurry impoundment above an elementary school, and even managed to buy a judge.

I hope it's worth the blood on your hands.

West Virginia Rep. Nick Rahal, chairman of the House Committee on National Resources, said: "I want to know why this tragedy happened. We will seek answers about the cause of this disaster."

If the congressman is serious, I suggest he begin his quest at Massey headquarters in Richmond.