Don Blankenship

The Dark Lord of Coal Country could (finally) spend time behind bars

Don Blankenship, the former CEO of Massey Energy, has been indicted on charges that could land him in jail for 30 years.

Top 10 green stories of 2010

From California to China, Bill Clinton to Jonathan Franzen, Monsanto to BP, denial to death, here are the stories that mattered most this year.

Safety ‘#1 priority,’ coal chief Blankenship assures Congress

Poor Don Blankenship. The Massey Energy CEO had to sit quietly through a Senate hearing yesterday while the head of the United Mine Workers called his company’s safety performance “deplorable,” and West Virginia’s finger-wagging, Democratic senator, Robert Byrd cried “shame” on Massey’s “alarming record.” But in his first appearance before Congress since 29 Massey miners […]

Obama blandly invokes ‘American Dream’ in tribute to miners who were denied it

This weekend there was a memorial service for the 29 miners killed in the explosion at Massey’s Upper Big Branch mine. President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin (D) all spoke. I found Obama’s address infuriating. Look, obviously, it’s a memorial service. The focus was on the miners and […]

Massey denies time off for workers to attend funerals of mine victims

The coal and oil industries are really trying to outdo each other these days. Massey Energy, the criminally unsafe coal mining and intimidation company, refuses to give workers time off to attend the funerals of friends who died in Massey’s Upper Big Branch Mine, the Washington Independent reports: Massey Energy, the Virginia-based coal giant that […]

Mining industry invests in politicans; stopped mine safety laws

A bill to help rescue miners in emergencies and protect miners’ safety was defeated in Congress three years ago. After passing the House, the bill, called the S-MINER Act, died in a Senate committee. Mining interests, who were opposed to this bill, gave twice as much money in campaign contributions to House members who voted […]

Don Blankenship called safety regulators ‘as silly as global warming’

Cross-posted from the Wonk Room. The death toll from Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch mine explosion last week has reached a total of 29 miners, the worst coal disaster in 40 years. When the disaster occurred, Massey was contesting millions of dollars in major safety violations levied against the mine. At his Labor Day anti-union […]

Grist: hating on Don Blankenship before hating on Don Blankenship was cool

Rachel Maddow absolutely nailed the Massey mine story, with some help from Jeff Goodell: The tragedy at the Upper Big Branch Mine has prompted lots of folks in the national media to take a close look at Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship for the first time, but I wrote my first post on Blankenship (“Massey […]

What does coal mining have to do with geoengineering?

The other day, an MSNBC producer asked me, “What is the connection between this coal-mine disaster in West Virginia and geoengineering the planet?” The question is not as strange as it sounds. A few years ago, I wrote a book called Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America’s Energy Future. Among other things, I spent […]