Changes

On January 28, 2011, Massey Energy publicly rejected nearly every part of the federal government's theory on what caused the explosion. Vice President and General Counsel Shane Harvey said Massey doesn't believe that worn shearer bits, broken water sprayers or an excessive buildup of coal dust contributed to the blast. Instead, the company continues to argue there was a sudden inundation of natural gases from a crack in the floor that overwhelmed what it insists were good air flow and other controls that should have contained the blast. Harvey acknowledged the shearing machine that cuts the coal may somehow have ignited the gas, but said the company's own investigators haven't determined how. Massey won't issue its own report on the explosion until after state and federal investigators release theirs.<ref>Vicki Smith, [http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=12786831 "Massey Disputes Key MSHA Findings on W.Va. Blast"] ABC News, Jan. 28, 2011.</ref>

During a private April 26, 2011 meeting between families of some of the Upper Big Branch miners and the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, MSHA officials revealed that in late 2009 the agency approved a reduction in the amount of air flow Massey was required to provide to ventilate the working face of the mine’s longwall mining section. The change was made when Massey’s Performance Coal Co. brought the longwall machine back to Upper Big Branch (it had been moved to another mine a few years earlier) in August 2009. When Upper Big Branch used the longwall previously, MSHA required the company to be sure to have air volume of 60,000 cubic feet per minute flowing toward the longwall face. Under the new plan, approved in August 2009, Massey proposed — and MSHA approved — required air flow of 40,000 cubic feet per minute. The familes wanted answers for why the agency approved a reduction in the ventilation required for the longwall at UBB. Kevin Stricklin, MSHA’s coal administrator, said an internal review is looking at to find out why.<ref>Ken Ward Jr., [http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2011/04/27/msha-approved-plan-for-reduced-longwall-air-flow-at-upper-big-branch-mine-prior-to-explosion/ "MSHA approved plan for reduced longwall air flow at Upper Big Branch Mine prior to explosion"] Coal Tattoo, April 27, 2011.</ref>