The coal silo was used to fill railcars with coal sold after it was mined. There was coal dust in the air and on the school itself resulting in children breathing contaminated air.
August 9, 2018
By Ken Ward, Jr.
Morgantown, W.Va. (AP) — A Raleigh County judge (click here) will hold a hearing later this month on a medical monitoring lawsuit claiming hundreds of children were exposed to toxic coal dust from a Massey Energy Co. processing plant and silo next to Marsh Fork Elementary School.
Williamson attorney Kevin Thompson is suing Virginia-based Massey and three subsidiaries over alleged exposure from the silo that sits about 235 feet from the school near Sundial....
Now, Mr. Blankenship will state there was a jury that exonerated Massey Mining from financial liability. But, that does not erase the fact the children in that school were breathing foul air with a very dangerous coal slurry pond next to their school. As CEO of Massey Mining, Don Blankenship only cared about profits and not people. Massey Mining has a horrible safety record and has seen miners killed due to the lack of compliance with federal laws. Those children are going to have health issues the rest of their lives.
Make no mistake, the coal company Blankenship ran would pad his pockets when under attack by the public.
April 17, 2010
By Howard Burkes
Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship (click here) was paid $17.8 million last year even as some of the coal mines he supervised accumulated safety violations and injuries at rates that greatly exceed national rates.
That 2009 pay represents a $6.8 million raise over 2008 and almost double his compensation package in 2007.
Blankenship also has a deferred compensation package valued at $27.2 million at the end of last year.
What gets really scary is the attitude of which he is represented by counsel.
...The class-action lawsuit, (click here) which began five years ago, claimed that Virginia-based Massey and a subsidiary, Goals Coal Co., had created a public nuisance by building the silo 235 feet from the school. It also demanded a court-administered medical monitoring program.
Trains pull up to the silo to fill their cars, and the plaintiffs argued that creates dust that puts children at risk for asthma and other lung ailments. But Raleigh County Circuit Court jurors sided with Massey in rejecting those claims after a nine-day trial in Beckley.
General Counsel Shane Harvey blasted the lawyers involved in the case for attacking the coal industry, accusing them of trying to sway the public with hype and publicity....
That is always the defense by Blankenship; it is an attack on the coal industry. He was very well paid to make those arguments rather than protecting the health of children. The monies he was paid extra in 2008 could have built a new school in a safe place while closing the elementary school until which point there was no coal dust in the air.
Don Blankenship does not make good choices. He makes choices that endanger the public when he could have been their best friend. He is not a competent person to be elected to any office. He will never put people's health first and has seen incredible personal salaries to allow the danger he now wants others to believe he will prevent.
