Yesterday, the MSHA released its preliminary report on what it believes caused the Upper Big Branch explosion. In both the report (viewable here and a media briefing, the MSHA pointed the finger squarely at Massey Energy.
NPR reports that a key piece of machinery was severely out of maintenance.
Take the longwall mining machine itself, a behemoth more than three football fields long: Its cutting tool, a monstrous drum with carbide-tipped teeth, was so poorly maintained that some of the teeth were worn to steel nubbins.
That led to excessive sparking, investigators said, as the cutting tool, which is called a shearer, cut into a sandstone layer in the coal. Normally, water sprayers shower the shearer and the area in front of the coal seam. The spray controls coal dust and sparks but the water sprayers weren't fully functional on April 5.
MSHA chief Joe Main said bluntly that these problems should have all been caught by Massey during routine operations. In other words, Massey was grossly negligent--criminally so, in my book.
Massey maintains that the explosion was caused by a sudden and natural buildup of methane. However, according to the AP's writeup, the government largely shot this theory down with the help of Massey's own records which showed maintenance problems. It also reports that Massey hasn't exactly been cooperative--back in November, the MSHA cited Massey after a mine employee refused to supply water to help test the sprayers.
The MSHA also revealed excessive coal dust throughout the area of the blast. A mine map showing where samples of coal dust were taken is covered with black dots indicating more coal dust than regulations permitted.
The NYT reports that several miners reported finding excessive dust buildup on belts and machinery that hadn't been properly cleaned. That's a pretty significant maintenance lapse, considering Upper Big Branch was one of the gassiest mines in this part of the country.
It'll be another few months before culpability is formally determined by a criminal investigation. Still, if I'm Don Blankenship, a member of Massey's board, or a member of the Upper Big Branch management team, I'd have a lawyer on speed dial. There's enough in this report for, at the very least, one whopper of a civil suit. I've said before and I'll say again--when a company is as cavalier about safety as Massey was, it needs to be driven out of business. Let's hope Massey gets the same treatment as Peanut Corporation of America, which was driven into Chapter 7 bankruptcy after being blamed for the 2008-09 salmonella outbreak.