In a follow-up to revelations that an electrician at Upper Big Branch was ordered to disable a methane monitor so they could keep running coal (diaried here), this morning we learn that methane monitors were disabled on a regular basis.
Clay Mullins was a maintenance foreman at Upper Big Branch for eight years and left four years ago. He describes a widespread belief about mining machines that are left inoperable by malfunctioning methane monitors.
"It does say in the law that if you get a methane monitor malfunction, you can bridge it out and you can run the machine for 24 hours," Mullins explains. "But the operator has to carry a [hand-held] methane detector and he has to take checks."
The problem? It's not legal. And if this really was a common practice, it could open the door for Massey Energy to be RICO'd out of existence.
Listen to the full story here:
When Edward Clair, the former chief attorney at MSHA, heard about this, he was stunned.
"Given the context of a gassy mine or any mine that liberates a significant amount of methane, this is inconceivable that it would be permitted either by MSHA or by responsible mine management," Clair says. "The risks are simply too great."
According to Badge Humphries, who is representing several shareholders suing Massey boss Don Blankenship and several other Massey directors and officers, this policy was instituted by Upper Big Branch management. Whether it was passed on in turn from Massey higher-ups in Richmond isn't known at this point.
The significance of this is astronomical. As we recall, rescue efforts after the Upper Big Branch explosion were suspended TWICE due to high methane levels. The amount of methane was so high in there that even veteran miners were scared to death of going down there. And even if a "malfunctioning" methane detector didn't directly cause those 29 miners to die, this is a searing indictment of Massey's approach--or lack thereof--to protecting its workers.
A larger question, however, remains unasked by NPR? Did Upper Big Branch management lie to the MSHA about whether the detectors were actually defective? If it did on more than one occasion, this might open the door for Massey to get RICO'd. Banks won't extend credit to a company indicted under RICO, so a RICO indictment would likely put Massey out of business. In other words--if Massey lied to the MSHA about those detectors, a case can be made to RICO it out of business even without the fact it's guilty at the very least of 29 counts of manslaughter.