Massey Mine safety director convicted of obstructing federal investigation

The real villains in this tragedy are the shareholders and the executives running the company but this is a good start. Massey Energy security chief Hughie Stover faces up to 25 years in prison.

A jury took only six hours to reject arguments made by the defense portraying the former sheriff’s deputy and Marine as a scapegoat. The conviction does not implicate Stover in the disaster at the Upper Big Branch Mine, which was the nation’s worst mine blast in four decades.

Stover was indicted in February on charges that he lied to the FBI about instructing guards at the UBB to warn miners whenever federal inspectors from the Mine Safety and Health Administration made a visit. According to prosecutors, he also ordered the disposal of thousands of pages of documents related to the security at the mine.

Massey, which was acquired by Alpha Natural Resources after the blast, did not release a statement on the conviction. Early this year, the company said in response to Stover’s indictment that it had taken “immediate steps to recover documents and turn them over” to authorities.

This is the second such verdict on a Massey employee. In April, Thomas Harrah, a mine worker, pleaded guilty to making false statements on a federal mine safety form and lying to investigators. He admitted to taking on a foreman’s role while employed at the UBB before the explosion despite having failed the mine foreman’s examination.

Twenty-nine workers died in the blast at the UBB on April 5, 2010. A report this May from an independent panel led by former Mine Safety and Health Administration head Davitt McAteer put the blame squarely on Massey.

According to the report, the blast was caused by coal dust combining with methane, which ignited as a longwall shearer with faulty water sprays dug into the sandstone roof of the mine.

“The company broke faith with its workers by frequently and knowingly violating the law and blatantly disregarding known safety practices while creating a public perception that its operations exceeded industry safety standards,” the panel had concluded.