As residents in West Virginia's coal country grapple with the biggest mining disaster since at least 1984, a pattern of safety violations and hazards at the Upper Big Branch Mine and its parent company are coming to light.
The mine, operated by a subsidiary of Richmond-based Massey Energy Co., has been cited for 124 violations so far this year, with $188,769 in proposed penalties.
Among the hazards are infractions related to air quality; development of a mine ventilation plan; equipment testing; and accumulation of combustible materials, such as coal dust, according to U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration records.
As production at the mine has increased, so, too, have the violations.
In 2008, the mine produced 363,923 tons of coal and received 197 citations. Last year, it produced 1.2 million tons of coal and racked up 515 violations, the highest amount of violations in the past decade. The proposed fines for those violations amount to nearly $900,000.
By comparison, West Virginia's Robinson Run No. 95 mine produced 5.5 million tons of coal and received 158 citations in 2009.
It is not unusual for big underground mines to see hundreds of violations within a year. But Upper Big Branch has at least 50 citations charging the company with "unwarrantable failure" to adhere to safety guidelines.
"I've never seen that many for one mine in a year," said Ellen Smith, editor of Mine Safety & Health News. "If you look at other mines that are the same size or bigger, they do not have the sheer number of 'unwarrantable' citations that this mine has."
Massey mines have been cited this year with 2,315 violations that amount to proposed penalties of more than $1.2 million.
Last year, the company was cited with 10,653 violations, amounting to proposed penalties of nearly $13 million. Massey is contesting nearly 75 percent of the penalties levied against it.
Terry Holstein, who worked at Upper Big Branch until 2006, left because he didn't like the way Massey operated the mine, he said. "It was like they wanted production more than they wanted safety, myself, you know what I mean?" he said. "They speak safety first, but production's really first for them."
At its largest operation in Virginia, Massey has had eight serious injuries but no fatalities since 1999 at its mine and coal preparation plant in Tazewell County, according to Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy.
State regulators have issued 820 violations since 1999, the year after Massey acquired the operation that is part of its Knox Creek Coal Corp. subsidiary.
Mike Abbott, a spokesman for the state agency, noted that the Tazewell operation is large and complex and runs essentially around the clock. "There are plenty of opportunities for things to go amiss in an operation like that," he said.
Contact Emily C. Dooley at (804) 649-6016 or edooley@timesdispatch.com.
Staff writer John Reid Blackwell and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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