560
edits
Changes
SW: →May 2011: Independent study faults Massey: minor rewrite
The report also noted that most of the miners killed had [[black lung]] disease, or coal workers’ pneumoconiosis (CWP). The report stated: "Of the 29 victims, five did not have sufficient lung tissue available to make a determination relating to CWP: two due to massive injury and three due to autolysis. The remaining 24 victims had sufficient tissue for examination. Seventeen of the 24 victims’ autopsies (or 71 percent) had CWP. This compares with the national prevalence rate for CWP among active underground miners in the U.S. of 3.2 percent, and the rate in West Virginia of 7.6 percent."<ref>Ken Ward Jr., [http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2011/05/20/mcateer-report-ubb-black-lung-findings-alarming/ "McAteer report: UBB black lung findings ‘alarming’"] Coal Tattoo, May 20, 2011.</ref>
Eighteen current and former Massey officials, including Don Blankenship, former chair and CEO, invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when subpoenaed by investigators. A nineteenth UBB Massey official and , chief of security at the mine, Hughie Elbert Stover, is charged with three felonies that allege he lied to federal officials, destroyed records <ref>Ken Ward Jr., [http://www.wvgazette.com/News/montcoal/201102280915/ UBB security chief charged with lying, destroying files] West Virginia Gazette, Feb. 28, 2011. </ref> and tried to divert government agents investigating whether Massey officials tried to warn mining operations in advance of impending federal inspections.<ref>Ken Ward Jr., [http://wvgazette.com/News/201105171037 New charges filed against Massey Energy security chief] West Virginia Gazette, May 17, 2011. </ref>
==History of Safety Violations at the mine==