{"id":577851,"date":"2010-05-25T12:00:10","date_gmt":"2010-05-25T16:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/?p=85650"},"modified":"2010-05-25T12:00:10","modified_gmt":"2010-05-25T16:00:10","slug":"massey-miner-%e2%80%98i-felt-like-i-was-working-for-the-gestapo%e2%80%99","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/577851","title":{"rendered":"Massey Miner: \u2018I Felt Like I Was Working for the Gestapo\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_85651\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"width: 490px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/goose.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-85651\" title=\"Goose Stewart\" src=\"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/goose-480x326.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"326\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stanley &quot;Goose&quot; Stewart, right, testifies alongside relatives of victims of the Upper Big Branch explosion before the House Education and Labor Committee in Beckley, W.Va., on Monday. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette\/ZUMApress.com)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>A coal miner working at Massey\u2019s Upper Big Branch mine when it exploded  last month, killing 29 colleagues, described the operation this week as  &#8220;a ticking time bomb,&#8221; where the management valued production over  safety and workers didn&#8217;t protest for fear of being fired.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The  ventilation system they had didn&#8217;t work,&#8221; <a href=\"http:\/\/edlabor.house.gov\/documents\/111\/pdf\/testimony\/20100524StanleyStewartTestimony.pdf\">said<\/a> Stanley &#8220;Goose&#8221; Stewart, a 15-year veteran of the UBB mine who was 300  feet underground when the blast occurred. &#8220;With no air moving it gave me  the feeling that area was a ticking time bomb.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><div id=\"attachment_3032\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"width: 145px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3032\" title=\"environment\" src=\"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/environment.jpg\" alt=\"Image by: Matt Mahurin\" width=\"130\" height=\"130\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image by: Matt Mahurin<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"floatButtons\">\n<div style=\"float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/digg.com\/tools\/diggthis.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div style=\"float: left; margin-bottom: 10px;\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\"\n\tsrc=\"http:\/\/d.yimg.com\/ds\/badge2.js\"\n\tbadgetype=\"square\">\n\t<?php the_permalink(); ?><\/script><\/div>\n<div style=\"float: left; margin-right: 10px;\">\n\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\ntweetmeme_source = \"TWI_news\";\ntweetmeme_service = \"bit.ly\";\n<\/script> <script src=\"http:\/\/tweetmeme.com\/i\/scripts\/button.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"float: left;\"><a name=\"fb_share\" type=\"box_count\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php\">Share<\/a><script src=\"http:\/\/static.ak.fbcdn.net\/connect.php\/js\/FB.Share\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> There  was plenty of warning that the conditions in the UBB mine were  dangerous, Stewart told House lawmakers. The mine had experienced &#8220;at  least two fireballs&#8221; prior to the April 5 blast, he said, suggesting not  only that the vent systems were faulty, but that there were also  problems with the mine&#8217;s methane sensors.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;How could  methane build up to that point where a fireball could start?&#8221; he asked  during <a href=\"http:\/\/edlabor.house.gov\/hearings\/2010\/05\/the-upper-big-branch-mine-trag.shtml\">a  field hearing<\/a> of the House Education and Labor Committee in  Beckley, W.Va., near the site of the UBB blast.<\/p>\n<p>The  allegations &#8212; which are strikingly similar to those made by a growing  number of Massey workers, both <a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/83289\/massey-vet-blasts-blankenship-companys-safety-practices\">veterans<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/templates\/story\/story.php?storyId=126884971&amp;live=1\">active  miners<\/a> &#8212; arrive just four days after Don Blankenship, Massey&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/video\/playerIndex?id=4574774\">bellicose<\/a> CEO, told Senate Democrats that miner safety is the company\u2019s top  priority.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Massey does not place profits over  safety,&#8221; Blankenship <a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/85397\/massey-ceo-pushes-blame-for-deadly-blast-on-government\">testified<\/a> before the Senate Appropriations Labor Subcommittee last Thursday. &#8220;We  never have and we never will. Period.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Although the  UBB mine had been cited for safety violations <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/content\/article\/2010\/04\/05\/AR2010040503877.html\">more  than 600 times<\/a> since the start of 2009, Blankenship argued that the  mine&#8217;s safety history is irrelevant because &#8220;abatement [of hazards] is  mandatory.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;At Massey, we always fix the problem,&#8221;  he said, &#8220;even if we disagree with the penalty.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>But  Stewart, along with a number of relatives of UBB victims, had a  dramatically different story, telling lawmakers that Massey managers  frequently cut corners to maximize production, even when it came at the  expense of the workers&#8217; safety.<\/p>\n<p>Steve Morgan, for  instance, father of 21-year-old Adam Morgan, who was killed during the  blast, testified that it was common for workers in UBB to pull down the  ventilation curtains &#8212; the plastic sheets that direct the flow of fresh  air and prevent methane gas from accumulating &#8212; because they can get  in the way of heavy equipment, slowing down production.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Ventilation  was so bad he was sent home early several times, including once about a  week before the explosion because they weren\u2019t getting enough air,&#8221; <a href=\"http:\/\/edlabor.house.gov\/documents\/111\/pdf\/testimony\/20100524SteveMorganTestimony.pdf\">Morgan  said<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Gary Quarles, a Massey miner whose son,  Gary Wayne, was also a victim of the UBB disaster, told lawmakers that  Massey foremen in the mines are warned when inspectors arrive on the  site &#8212; a system lending workers some time to get the place cleaned up  before the inspectors get underground. &#8220;When the word goes out,&#8221; <a href=\"http:\/\/edlabor.house.gov\/documents\/111\/pdf\/testimony\/20100524GaryQuarlesTestimony.pdf\">Quarles  said<\/a>, &#8220;all effort is made to correct any deficiencies or direct the  inspector\u2019s attention away from any deficiencies.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>And  Stewart said that his crew was once asked to switch out a ventilation  system without evacuating the affected section of the mine, as required  by law. &#8220;I&#8217;m not sure MSHA was aware of the whole situation,&#8221; he said,  referring to the Mine Safety and Health Administration.<\/p>\n<p>Workers  didn&#8217;t complain, Stewart said, because &#8220;we knew that we&#8217;d be marked men  and the management would look for ways to fire us&#8221; &#8212; a message echoed  by most of the other witnesses to Monday&#8217;s hearing.<\/p>\n<p>As  a sign of how highly Massey values efficiency, UBB miners were denied  vacation last summer after they failed to meet production targets,  Stewart said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I felt like I was working for the Gestapo  at times,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We did some things right, but were forced to do  some things wrong.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>If the allegations were  isolated, they might be easy to ignore. But there&#8217;s a pattern emerging  from all the scrutiny of Massey that&#8217;s followed last month&#8217;s disaster.  Chuck Nelson, another former Massey miner who spoke with TWI from his  West Virginia home last month, said the trends are hardly limited to the  UBB mine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI worked at six different Massey mines and every  single one of \u2018em operated the same way,&#8221; <a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/82833\/former-miner-details-dangers-of-massey-mines\">said  Nelson<\/a>, who now volunteers for the Ohio Valley Environmental  Coalition.<\/p>\n<p>Massey, which was quick to issue <a href=\"http:\/\/phx.corporate-ir.net\/preview\/phoenix.zhtml?c=102864&amp;p=irol-newsArticle&amp;ID=1429704&amp;highlight=\">a  statement<\/a> following last week&#8217;s Senate hearing, has so far been  silent in the face of the more recent allegations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stanley &quot;Goose&quot; Stewart, right, testifies alongside relatives of victims of the Upper Big Branch explosion before the House Education and Labor Committee in Beckley, W.Va., on Monday. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette\/ZUMApress.com) A coal miner working at Massey\u2019s Upper Big Branch mine when it exploded last month, killing 29 colleagues, described the operation this week as &#8220;a ticking [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4315,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-577851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4315"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=577851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577851\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}