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- [00:00]
Zach Goldbaum
Audible subscribers can listen to all episodes of Lawless Planet ad free right now. Join Audible today by downloading the Audible app. It's October 11, 2000, in Martin County, Kentucky. Local news reporter Lily Atkins is sitting in the downstairs offices of the Martin county sun when she starts getting these phone calls.
- [00:29]
Don Blankenship
People were telling me there's something in the creek. It's bad, it's black. Well, after about 11 phone calls, I was really growing concerned about what I was going to see.
- [00:42]
Zach Goldbaum
As soon as she can get away, Lily leaves the office and makes her way to the creek. She later described what she found there in a documentary called Sludge.
- [00:51]
Don Blankenship
What I saw was, was this black, thick mixture.
- [00:57]
Zach Goldbaum
It was in people's yards.
- [00:59]
Don Blankenship
It was blocking roads. It was bad. 10, 11ft deep.
- [01:05]
Zach Goldbaum
That black stuff in the water, it's coal slurry, a byproduct of coal mining that's produced when coal is washed in a series of chemical baths to remove impurities. Slurry is full of hazardous chemicals, including arsenic, lead and mercury. Lily knows that there's a 72 acre coal slurry pond in Martin county not far from where she lives. But what she doesn't know is that around 2am the bottom of the pond failed, causing more than 300 million gallons of the toxic sludge to make its way down into local waterways, including into the creek Lily is checking up on. The spill is massive, more than 20 times the size of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. It pollutes more than 100 miles of streams. It's in people's backyards, and in some places, the slurry piles 7ft thick. One resident compares the slurry to a dense chocolate milkshake. And locals have no idea what this means for their health.
- [02:04]
Don Blankenship
Somebody tell us something. Can we drink our water or is it going to kill us 10 years from now? Are we going to have cancer and die from this?
- [02:18]
Zach Goldbaum
The company that owns the pond is Massey Energy, then one of the largest coal mining companies in the US At a meeting with locals following the spill, a Massey rep downplays the health risks. Do I think it's ultra dangerous? No, if you're asking my opinion. Meanwhile, an investigation by the U.S. department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration determines that the spill killed more than 1.6 million fish. So I guess it depends on your definition of ultra dangerous. It also turns out that this has happened before. There was another spill at the same pond six years earlier. After it happened, Massey said that they'd fixed the problem. But an engineer who worked For Massey Energy during that period tells investigators that the company lied about the fix. So this new, far worse spill could have been prevented. Still, this time, it looks like Massey Energy might be held accountable. Investigators from the Mine Safety and Health Administration are making good progress. But then, just three months after the spill, in January 2001, a new president gets sworn into office and everything changes. Under George W. Bush, the new administration cuts the investigation short and even interferes with the writing of the final report. One senior investigator says that he was asked to sign off on a watered down report that only cited Massey Energy for two violations instead of eight. He refused and asked to get his name taken off the report. In the end, Massey Energy paid out only $5,600 in federal fines and $3.5 million in state fines, a pittance to a mining company that brings in over a billion dollars a year. As for Martin County, Kentucky, most of the coal slurry gets removed within a year of the spill. But in the years that follow, residents complain about skin rashes, headaches and other ailments, all of which they attribute to coal slurry contamination. Because of that, many residents stop drinking the water coming out of their taps. And today, some still don't. So why did the federal government go so easy on Massey Energy? Well, the senior investigator I mentioned earlier was asked that question during an interview in 2003. He responded by saying that he didn't know. But then he made two observations that hinted at a cover up. The first was that Massey Energy made at least one donation of $100,000 to the Republican senatorial reelection committee during that period. The chair of that committee was Mitch McConnell. And Mitch McConnell's wife, Elaine Chao, was the Secretary of Labor under Bush and the person responsible for overseeing the Mine Safety and Health Administration. The senior investigator also pointed out that during the investigation, the CEO of Massey Energy met several times privately with the head of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Administration. That CEO, he's the subject of today's episode. A man named Don Blankenship, who Rolling Stone dubbed the dark lord of coal.
- [05:31]
Don Blankenship
The dark lord of coal. The dark lord of coal country.
- [05:34]
Zach Goldbaum
The dark lord of coal. For model originals, I'm zach goldbaum, and this is is lawless planet. Each week we tell a new story about the true crimes fueling the climate crisis and the people fighting to save the planet or destroy it.
- [06:00]
Don Blankenship
I'll never forget that the evening that
- [06:06]
Zach Goldbaum
the last body left. It's still pretty heavy on me because
- [06:09]
Don Blankenship
it's just like what just happen, You know, that moment when you order food
- [06:23]
Zach Goldbaum
and suddenly everyone around you gets very interested in your dinner.
- [06:26]
Don Blankenship
Yeah, that's what GrubHub does. Gives you deals so good you'll have to guard them.
- [06:31]
Zach Goldbaum
Gold days of grubhub plus is here. Four weeks of grubhub's best offers all month long in May, only for grubhub plus members. And if you're not a member, you can sign up now for just 99 cents a month for six months. That's 90% off Grubhub plus membership, auto renews and terms apply. Sign up now on the app or@grubhub.com don't miss it. If you ask President Trump, he'll tell you coal is beautiful. And coal is back.
- [07:04]
Don Blankenship
I call it beautiful clean coal. I tell my people, never use the word coal unless you put beautiful clean before it.
- [07:11]
Zach Goldbaum
Since the President took office again, he's been trying to turn things around for the coal industry by abandoning environmental regulations and and promoting an increase in coal exports. He's also pushing the idea of having aging coal plants, power, artificial intelligence data centers, all of that big coal energy has made coal executives very happy. So happy, in fact, that in February, they gave Trump an award to show our appreciation.
- [07:38]
Don Blankenship
The trophy says, the undisputed champion of beautiful clean coal. Thank you, sir.
- [07:45]
Zach Goldbaum
But long before Trump, coal had another high profile champion, a man who once called himself Trumpier than Trump.
- [07:53]
Don Blankenship
What you have to accept in a capitalist society generally is that I always make the comparison. It's like a jungle. Survival of the fittest.
- [08:02]
Zach Goldbaum
I'm talking about Don Blankenship, the millionaire former coal company CEO, often called the dark lord of coal. That's the title climate journalist Jeff Goodell gave him in a Rolling Stone article. And the name stuck.
- [08:15]
Don Blankenship
I don't care what people think. You know, at the end of the day, Don Blankenship is going to die with more money than he needs.
- [08:23]
Zach Goldbaum
But before you conclude that Don is just a carbon copy of Donald Trump, allow me to introduce a few important differentiating factors. First, despite his best efforts, Don Blankenship isn't nearly as charismatic as Trump.
- [08:38]
Don Blankenship
A successful coal company is considered to be bad, regardless of what kind of job they do, because people who are somehow benefiting from the environmental movement will say almost anything to promote their own jobs.
- [08:54]
Zach Goldbaum
Yeah, not exactly the most thrilling orator. And another thing that separates him from Trump, this Don wasn't born rich. And he isn't a city kid either.
- [09:04]
Don Blankenship
Well, I grew up in what many people consider the toughest town in Mingo county in Delorme which is on the border of pike county and not too far from Virginia, which are both dry counties. And it was a very rough area.
- [09:16]
Zach Goldbaum
So how does a guy like Don Blankenship, brought up poor in the heart of coal country, rise to become one of the most powerful figures in American coal mining history? And how did he also come to be known as one of its biggest villains? Don Blankenship grew up in West Virginia in the 50s and 60s in a camper that didn't have indoor plumbing. The camper was parked next to the gas station and convenience store that his mother ran. So when Don was home, he'd often help out with the business, managing the books and dealing with customers. This is where he first gets introduced to business as well as coal miners. Here he is in a PBS special, the Kingmaker.
- [09:59]
Don Blankenship
I was reared in a gas station grocery store, so I put gasoline in coal miners cars for a long time and got to understand what coal miners were about and what their struggles were.
- [10:10]
Zach Goldbaum
As a kid, Don had to be resourceful. If he wanted to make money, he'd trap muskrats for 50 cents. And for entertainment, he obsessed over baseball and card collecting. He loved the coal company baseball league and could rattle off stats. But his love of watching coal miners play baseball didn't translate into a love of mining. He only worked in a coal mine for one summer, and the guy who acted as his foreman said he was mediocre at best and borderline lazy. Don just didn't seem all that interested in Cole. After high school, he studied accounting and he got accounting jobs that took him all over the country, including a stint in Georgia where he worked for Keebler, the company that makes those little elf cookies. He also got married and started a family. Then in 1982, he gets a job offer that brings him back to his roots. Office manager at a Massey subsidiary called Rawls Sales and Processing in West Virginia. And that is how Don Blankenship became a coal man. Massie was already a huge coal producer in central Appalachia at the time, and it was growing, and Don rose fast through the corporate ranks. By 1984, he was president of raw sales and processing, and that same year, his leadership skills would be put to the test. In 1984, Massey decided it was going to treat each of its mines as an independent subsidiary company, which allowed Massie to temporarily close each mine and then reopen them under a different name as non union mines. Understandably, this makes the coal mining union, United Mine Workers very angry. Negotiators for United Mine Workers demand an end to the practice. They ask that all the mines be under one contract. But Massey refuses. So in the fall of 1984, workers go on strike. We're standing up for what's right, and
- [12:06]
Don Blankenship
bless God, we're going to continue to
- [12:08]
Zach Goldbaum
stand up for what's right.
- [12:09]
Don Blankenship
And if wintertime comes around again and there's 18 inches of snow and we've not got a contract, we'll be here, then we're going to be here.
- [12:22]
Zach Goldbaum
Given that he's from Appalachia, you might think that Don Blankenship would be pro union. After all. The history of coal mining in Appalachia is inextricably linked to the labor rights movement in the us. Don actually grew up near the site of the Matewan massacre, a now infamous and fatal shootout that happened in 1920 between striking coal miners and security forces. It's not clear if Don ever related to any of that history. All we know is that by 1984 he's a company man through and through. Here he is in a 1986 documentary called Mine War on BlackBerry Creek, talking to one of the filmmakers.
- [12:57]
Don Blankenship
This area has a history of union, union terrorism. Is that the way you see it?
- [13:04]
Zach Goldbaum
Union terrorism?
- [13:06]
Don Blankenship
You know, I know the history of the Matewan massacre and all that kind of violence. The only thing I can say about that is not conducive to good business climate.
- [13:17]
Zach Goldbaum
The strike goes on for months and it gets ugly. Don decides that he doesn't want to wait around for negotiations to yield a new union contract. So he reopens the mine he's operating and brings in non union workers to run it. And that's just the start. To protect the mining facility, don has a 2 mile long chain link fence installed around the mine. He also staffs the mine's surface with armed guards and dogs. The overall atmosphere is grim. The tension between the strikers and the non union miners crossing the picket line escalates. And in Kentucky, one strike breaking. Truck driver is shot to death and Don gets caught in the crossfire too. At one point, when Don is traveling to the mine in an armored car, strikers attack it with rocks and baseball bats. Another time, Don's office is sprayed with bullets. Don worries for his safety, but he doesn't back down. In fact, for years after the strike ends, Don keeps a TV riddled with bullet holes in his office as a memento. Fifteen months into the strike, Massie settles with the union and the strike ends. But Massie doesn't have to admit to any labor violations. And many of the miners who participated in the strike, don't get rehired. After the 1984 strike, the union's power in the region wanes, but Don Blankenship's power only grows. In 1992, Don ascends to the top of what was then called the AT Massey Coal Company. He's named chairman and CEO in part because he's really good with numbers and in part because of how he handled the strikes in the 1980s. As the head of the company, Don has his hands in just about everything. He signs off on really small expenses, like the gas that managers buy for their company trucks, and that gets under some people's skin. The former president of AT Massey described Don's management style like, there've been a
- [15:14]
Don Blankenship
lot of good people who've worked for Don that have left because, in their opinion, don't give them enough authority. Don's management style is that of wanting to know everything that's going on and making most of the decisions.
- [15:30]
Zach Goldbaum
With Don as CEO, Massey goes all in on mountaintop removal, a type of mining that's cheaper than conventional mining and also a whole lot worse for the environment. Rather than digging tunnels into the rock, the technique essentially involves decapitating mountains with dynamite to uncover the coal within. So it's very destructive. Also, under Don's leadership, Massey buys up a bunch of small coal companies, and Don continues the practice of considering each mine its own entity, which makes union negotiations very difficult. Not every small operation willingly becomes part of Don's growing empire. In the late 1990s, the owner of a company that Don wants to buy, a guy named Hugh Caperton, refuses to sell. So Don allegedly employs some sneaky tactics to ruin Hugh's business, and Hugh is forced to capitulate. The sale goes through, and the 150 union employees who worked at the mine lose their jobs. Hugh Caperton isn't pleased with any of this. He sues Massie and wins a $50 million verdict. But behind the scenes, Don Blankenship is making sure that ruling doesn't stick. He spends $3 million to bankroll a judge's campaign for a seat on the court that will hear the appeal. And the judge gets the seat. So when Don does appeal the ruling, he wins. After Don buys the mine, Hugh says Don paid him a visit at his office. And during that conversation, Don tells Hugh that he doesn't understand why people don't like him anymore. There's one other thing about the way Don Blankenship ran Massey Energy and its subsidiaries that's worth mentioning. Don loved to cut corners and he didn't seem to care about violating safety rules in the process. Take what happened on January 19, 2006, at the Aricoma Alma mine in West Virginia. A fire breaks out. That day in the mine, 12 coal miners are deep underground. When it happens, they put on their respirators and they try to make their way to the surface. But on the way, two of the miners get separated from the group. They're declared missing, and a rescue team begins searching for them. But the fire is still going. And two days later, there's an announcement.
- [17:50]
Don Blankenship
I'd like to tell you that we found the two miners that we're looking for for the past 40 some hours. Unfortunately, we don't have a positive outcome.
- [18:05]
Zach Goldbaum
Both men died of smoke inhalation. In the aftermath of the fire, federal mining investigators try to piece together what happened. But they have a hard time getting information from Massie because the coal company keeps stonewalling them. So the US Mine Safety and Health Administration does something unusual. It files a lawsuit against Massey. Officials note that they don't recall ever having faced this kind of pushback from a mining company. In 2007, the federal report about the fire is made public. Investigators figured out that the fire started because of a conveyor belt. But two things made it even more dangerous. First, the mine didn't have proper air control walls installed. And second, Massey Energy failed to install a sprinkler system inside the mine. And if that wasn't bad enough, a memo from Don later reveals that he knew that the conveyor belt was faulty nearly a week before the fire started. In another memo, Don urges his managers to focus on profits instead of trying to improve conditions in the mine. He writes, quote, if any of you have been asked by your group presidents, your supervisors, engineers, or anyone else to do anything other than run coal, you need to ignore them and run coal. Arakoma ends up having to pay $4.2 million in civil and criminal penalties. But as part of the plea deal for the federal case against Arachoma, prosecutors agree that they won't pursue any charges against any Massey executive. And Don walks away from this scot free. But that won't last. Eventually, Don Blankenship will be forced to face consequences for his profits at all costs attitude. But it'll take another tragedy to make that happen. It's April 5, 2010. Just after 3pm A miner named Stanley Stewart has just started a shift at a coal mine in Raleigh County, West Virginia. He works at the Upper Big Branch Mine, but most of the miners refer to it as UBB. It's a deep mine, roughly 15 years old, and it's operated by Performance Coal, a subsidiary of Massey Energy. UBB is valuable to Massey because it's full of metallurgical coal, which can be turned into steel. So it's the most valuable kind of coal and it's in high demand. Exports of metallurgical coal increased by 62% in the first half of 2010. It's Easter Monday and Stanley is working. He's about 300ft below ground, but then suddenly he feels a breeze.
- [20:48]
Don Blankenship
I said, that's not right. Well, then it got harder and we just took off running to the outside.
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Zach Goldbaum
There's a second whoosh of air, a strong one. A massive explosion is ripping through the mine. For several minutes. The blast is heard traveling through miles of underground space, sometimes even loops, and hitting the same area twice. Stanley Stewart makes it out of the tunnel alive. But when he turns around to look back at the mine, he sees debris gushing out of it.
- [21:21]
Don Blankenship
You can see the woofs just keep coming and coming. Seemed like for somewhere between two and four minutes. And one of the younger guys said, hey, what happened? I said, babe, the place blew up.
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Zach Goldbaum
Stanley isn't the only one who feels that breeze and takes off running. A coal miner named Tommy Davis does the same thing. He had decided to quit his shift early and he's making his way up to the surface along with his nephew Cody, when the first gust of air hits. They're about 200ft from the surface, higher up than Stanley. And at first Tommy thinks that the breeze indicates a major rock fall. That's why he takes off running. But then the rumble coming from inside the mine just keeps going. Tommy and Cody make it out of the mine, but their nightmare is just getting started because they know that three members of their family are still inside. Tommy's brother Timmy, his 20 year old son Corey, and another one of his nephews Josh, were working the same shift that day, except they didn't quit early. All three are inside the mine when the blast happens. Happens along with 28 other miners. Another one of those miners is Timothy Blake. He's with a group of eight other guys when the explosion hits. He's an experienced miner. He's been doing this job for 38 years. But this is unlike anything he's seen. It's terrifying and chaotic. He can't breathe. The air has gone toxic and somehow the explosion is still happening. Timothy will later tell investigators that being inside the mine during this time was like sitting in the middle of A hurricane, Things flying and hitting you. Timothy struggles to put on his respirator, but eventually he manages it, except that now he can't find his goggles and he can't see anything. There's too much debris in the air. The blast has stopped by now. He listens to for the other miners and hears gurgling sounds. They're struggling to breathe, just like he did. Timothy goes from man to man, trying to help them put the respirators on. He can tell that some of the men are unconscious, so he tries to revive them. He feels for their pulses too, and he finds a pulse in all but one of them. Given the circumstances, he can't do much else for them but wait. He stays for nearly an hour, but eventually he starts to run out of air. He has no choice but to leave his coworkers and try to find his way to the surface to get help. Breaking news in America's coal mining country, Massey Energy issues the first press release about the disaster just before 5pm but the press release only vaguely refers to an explosion. Shortly after that, the first qualified rescue team enters the mine. Meanwhile, a large crowd has formed outside the facility, including family members of minors who are hoping to hear about their relative's fate. Eventually, the company moves them into a building with food and drinks. It's there that Massey officials address the families for the first time. According to people who were present in the room, Company officials start off by saying that their loved ones are safe. But then they do something astonishing. They pivot and say that if your name is called out, you should head to the fire department to, quote, identify the body. Worse, in at least one instance, a family gets sent to the fire department to identify the body of a killed miner, but the body isn't there. They eventually find out that it's at the medical examiner's office, another town over. At 8:10pm, Massie makes a public announcement. Seven miners are dead, while another 19 miners are missing. Those numbers will soon be revised. But for the families whose names haven't been called, time slows to a crawl. At one point, a federal official on the ground makes a statement.
- [25:20]
Don Blankenship
It's a rescue operation. It is definitely not a recovery operation. The refuge chambers have the ability to have 96 hours of oxygen in there. So we have to time on our side.
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Zach Goldbaum
Some families decide to stay overnight in the staging area that Massey had set up for rescuers and family members. Among the people who stay are Tommy Davis and his family. On the news, a local resident explains how the community has been responding to
- [25:46]
Don Blankenship
the disaster immediately, people start bringing food and water, but mostly they pray. This is a praying community. I mean, this area's. They come together really fast. So other than that, what can you do?
- [26:01]
Zach Goldbaum
Overnight, the death toll rises to 25, while four other minors are still missing. And then in the morning, West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin sits down with Tommy Davis and his family. He tells them the news. Tommy's nephew, his brother and his son are dead. Joe Manchin actually knows the extended Davis family personally. Telling them what happened was, quote, the most excruciating moment. The governor will later recount how Tommy asked him just one question after hearing the news. Were they all together when they died? The governor said they were. A few days later, Tommy Davis gives an interview to Think Progress and talks about his son, Corey.
- [26:50]
Don Blankenship
I just want everybody to know that he worked hard every day and his life was cut short for some reason. He'd give me 20 years of memories that I can make last a lifetime. I just wish I just missed it.
- [27:12]
Zach Goldbaum
Even though 25 bodies have been found, only 14 have been identified. The rest are too burned and mutilated to be identified on site. The rescue operation continues. Days pass, but there's still hope. It's possible that the four missing miners had made it to the airtight refuge chamber.
- [27:30]
Don Blankenship
We're going to do everything in our power and in the mine rescue team's power to locate those people alive.
- [27:37]
Zach Goldbaum
Governor Joe Manchin speaks to the press.
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Don Blankenship
If we have any hope of survival and they're in a rescue chamber, they're still okay. I mean, that's the sliver of hope we have, and it's a long shot.
- [27:49]
Zach Goldbaum
Everyone's been up front about that because
- [27:51]
Don Blankenship
this was a horrible blast. But if they're there, they're okay.
- [27:55]
Zach Goldbaum
At one point, President Obama holds a press conference of his own at the White House for the four who remain missing. We are praying for a miracle. But the rescue efforts are slow going. The rescue team keeps getting pulled because of unsafe methane levels and an ongoing fire inside the mine. The mine has to be vented before they can resume the search. Then, on April 10th, five days after the explosion, Governor Joe Manchin approaches the podium at yet another press conference and says, we did not receive the miracle we prayed for. The rescue mission has ended. All four missing miners are dead. A rescue team member later described how the last bodies were carried out of the mine.
- [28:45]
Don Blankenship
We formed a human chain of 140 Mine Rescue Team members, so we had to carry them and we passed them from one team to the other until we got them to the last ride.
- [28:58]
Zach Goldbaum
They carried the men, passing them from rescuer to rescuer for thousands of feet so they could be laid to rest by their families. As people in West Virginia grieved, investigators set out to determine what had caused this awful tragedy. And in the search for answers, they zeroed in on the decisions of one man. Don Blankenship. Good morning, everybody.
- [29:40]
Don Blankenship
On April 5th, the United States suffered
- [29:43]
Zach Goldbaum
the worst mine disaster in more than a generation. On April 15, 2010, 10 days after the explosion at the Upper Big Branch coal mine, President Obama gives another press conference.
- [29:57]
Don Blankenship
I want to emphasize that this investigation
- [29:59]
Zach Goldbaum
is ongoing, and there's still a lot
- [30:02]
Don Blankenship
that we don't know. But we do know that this tragedy
- [30:05]
Zach Goldbaum
was triggered by a failure at the Upper Brig Branch mine. A failure first and foremost of management, but also a failure of oversight and a failure of laws so riddled with loopholes that they allow unsafe conditions to continue. Obama also attends a memorial service for the miners. Don Blankenship is there, too, but his behavior in the face of so much grief is odd. At one point, Don actually gives his business card to the child of a dead miner and says, hang on to that. Not many people get one of those. Meanwhile, news is emerging of the mine's safety record. And even by the shaky standards of the coal mining industry, it is abysmal. UBB received 515 citations from the Federal Mine Safety and health administration in 2009 alone, four times the national average. But in an interview, Don Blankenship portrays Massey Energy as being a safety first kind of company
- [31:08]
Don Blankenship
where it's not possible to put production ahead of safety because you can't be productive if you're not safe. So we've known that for a long time. I think I've proven that. We run safer coal mines most of the time, and accidents sometimes happen. We got to figure out what happened here.
- [31:28]
Zach Goldbaum
The federal investigation, much like the rescue and recovery efforts before it moves slowly. There is still so much methane in the mine that it takes more than two months for investigators to reach the explosion zone. The investigation is still ongoing when Massie's board asks Don for his resignation. So in December 2010, Don Blankenship steps down as CEO of Massie Energy. As part of his exit package, he gets $12 million. The next year, two reports about the disaster are made public. They reveal the likeliest cause of the explosion. An accumulation of methane gas in a part of the mine that was not properly ventilated, which was then ignited by a spark from a piece of mining equipment. Normally a water spray System would have extinguished the flame in seconds. But several nozzles of the system were missing, so the flame grew. A flame like that is especially dangerous in a coal mine because coal dust is highly combustible. This is part of why regulators demand that tunnels be well ventilated. But UBB had a track record of poor ventilation. It had been cited for air related issues 48 times between January 2009 and the day of the explosion. The investigation also revealed that one month prior to the explosion, federal officials had cited Massey Energy for not properly ventilating methane gas at ubb. In the end, it took less than two minutes for the flame to make contact with some coal dust in the air. That's all the flame needed to set off the explosion. The resulting blast was so powerful that it killed coal miners more than a mile away. Massive mining rigs were completely ripped apart by the force. Despite the findings in the report, Don calls the circumstances of the explosion an act of God. Stanley Stewart, one of the miners who survived the disaster, said this in response on 60 Minutes.
- [33:28]
Don Blankenship
Well, you know, Don Blankenship, I'd like to take those words and stuff them right back down his throat, because that was not an act of God. That was man made 100%. These men, you know, they weren't just 29 people that got killed. They were a lot of good men.
- [33:48]
Zach Goldbaum
And in the end, prosecutors agreed with Stanley. They decided God was not responsible for the Upper Big Branch mine explosion. Massey Energy was starting with Don Blankenship. In November 2014, Don Blankenship was indicted for conspiracy to, quote, commit and cause routine violations of mandatory safety standards. Don faced one misdemeanor count and three felony counts. The prosecutors alleged that Blankenship knew about the mine's safety issues and actively avoided dealing with them. Among their evidence, a memo in which Don gave explicit instructions to postpone safety improvements. Following UBB's many citations. In the memo, Don said, quote, we'll worry about ventilation or other issues at an appropriate time. Now is not the time. Everything was produce, produce, produce. It was all about, put the coal on the belt. Bobby Polley was UBB's only female miner. She wasn't working the day of the disaster, but her fiance was, and he died in the explosion. Bobby told 60 Minutes that the miners were given instructions to not wear the devices that were supposed to monitor the air around them. Instead, to fool regulators, they were to hang them in an area where the air was fresh.
- [35:10]
Don Blankenship
So your measurements, when they were tested,
- [35:14]
Zach Goldbaum
came in compliant with the law. Was there enough air in the mine?
- [35:17]
Don Blankenship
Our section never had air.
- [35:20]
Zach Goldbaum
The indictment says that to cut costs, Don pressured UBB managers to cut safety enforcement jobs. Investigators also state that Don and UBB employees used code words to warn miners if safety inspectors were showing up. Security guards at the entrance of the mine would say things like, bad weather. They would say, it's bad weather, which
- [35:41]
Don Blankenship
means, we'll let you know if he's coming your way or going some other way.
- [35:46]
Zach Goldbaum
So you would get word from above that, okay, an inspector's coming, and then you would basically clean up your area to make it look right.
- [35:53]
Don Blankenship
Mm, yeah.
- [35:55]
Zach Goldbaum
Infuriatingly, it seems that Don understood that the only thing keeping the miners alive were the regulators that he kept trying to thwart. We know this because Don actually recorded himself having conversations with some of his managers. Apparently, he did this regularly. And in one of those recorded conversations, Don said that although he didn't like the Mine Safety and Health Administration, or msha, he admitted, quote, I don't know what we'd do if we didn't have them. Maybe if it weren't for msha, we'd blow ourselves up. Prosecutors found all this evidence despite the fact that Massie's security chief destroyed thousands of of pages of documents. While the investigation was underway, Don's case went to trial. And at the end of 2015, the jury returned a verdict. Don was convicted of conspiring to willfully violate mine safety regulations, a misdemeanor charge. The jury exonerated him of the other felony counts he'd been charged with, but the ruling made him the first CEO of a major US Company to get convicted of a crime related to workplace safety. Federal judge sentenced Blankenship to one year in prison. He also must pay a $250,000 fine. Don gets 12 months in jail and another 12 months of supervised release after that. But for people who lost loved ones, it's nowhere near enough. Outside of the courthouse, family members, including Tommy Davis, are angry.
- [37:25]
Don Blankenship
I hope you never have to bury your kid like we did.
- [37:29]
Zach Goldbaum
We buried our kid because of this.
- [37:31]
Don Blankenship
Man has no remorse at all. There's just too much to say. I miss my family. He hugged his, and all he gets is a year.
- [37:39]
Zach Goldbaum
Don spends his sentence in a low security federal prison in California. Then, In May of 2017, he begins a year of supervised release. But Don doesn't lay low. Almost immediately, he takes to Twitter and goes after Joe Manchin, who is now a US Senator.
- [37:55]
Don Blankenship
The senator has, if you will, said that I had blood on my hands. He's not provided any evidence of that at all
- [38:04]
Zach Goldbaum
now that he's no longer CEO of a large coal company, Don has tried his hand at politics. In 2018, he ran for the US Senate as a Republican. His campaign videos were bizarre, not to mention pretty racist.
- [38:18]
Don Blankenship
Swamp captain Mitch McConnell has created millions of jobs for China people. While doing so, Mitch has gotten rich. In fact, his China family has given him tens of millions of dollars.
- [38:28]
Zach Goldbaum
This is when Don started comparing himself to Donald Trump. He says that he's the other Don, except that he calls himself Trumpier than Trump. The President did not agree. Just before the election, he asked voters not to vote for Don Blankenship. And in the end, most West Virginians decided against having Don Blankenship as one of their senators. Immediately after the election results came in, a reporter talked to Don about the loss. But Don seemed completely unbothered. When asked what he'll do now, he's almost giddy.
- [39:01]
Don Blankenship
Go on vacation, you know, I'm off of probation tonight at midnight.
- [39:05]
Zach Goldbaum
He wasn't just looking forward to his vacation, though.
- [39:08]
Don Blankenship
I'll get my guns back in a day or two.
- [39:11]
Zach Goldbaum
Despite that defeat, Don hasn't given up on his political career. In 2020, Don, he took a really big swing and ran for the White House as a third party candidate. You're forgiven. If you don't remember, he only received about 60,000 votes in the general election. And in 2024, Don ran for Joe Manchin's Senate seat after Manchin announced he wouldn't seek reelection. Except this time he runs as a Democrat because why not, right?
- [39:38]
Don Blankenship
I want to be a leader in the party and lead it back to sanity and getting it away from the transgender stuff and getting it away from, you know, being in favor of anti Israel protests and so forth.
- [39:50]
Zach Goldbaum
He lost that race, too. But if his track record is any indication, it seems likely that we haven't heard the last of Don Blankenship. We reached out to Don Blankenship for an interview. He declined, but offered the following, quote, climate change policies are a hoax. No one who seeks to improve the environment or prevent catastrophic climate change would support the policies environmental groups support. This is particularly so if they believe climate change is the result of increased carbon emissions. As to ubb, only an imbecile or an evil person would promote the idea that UBB experienced a coal dust explosion, end quote. Don Blankenship did not provide an alternative theory for the the explosion. But his relentless denial of responsibility and his profits over people worldview make him the living embodiment of the thinking that got us into the climate crisis in the first place. As for the men who perished in the blast, there's this one detail that continues to haunt me. It's something that Tommy Davis said in the days after his son's death. On the day of the tragedy, he stopped to talk to his son Corey. On the way way out of the
- [40:59]
Don Blankenship
mine, I went, turned to take a couple steps something I told him, I said, hey bub. He said, hey Daddy. I said, I love you man. I love you too old man. I'm going to remind me some coke.
- [41:13]
Zach Goldbaum
Those were the last words they exchanged. Follow Lawless Planet on the Audible app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to all episodes of Lawless Planet ad free by joining Audible. On the next episode of Lawless Planet, we go inside Trump's epa, where the vibes are not great. It doesn't take long to break things, but sometimes it takes a while to feel the the effects of having broken that, and it takes even longer to fix what you've broken. For today's episode, we relied heavily on the book Thunder on the Death at Massey and the Dirty Secrets Behind Big Coal by Peter A. Galaska, as well as the documentaries Sludge and Mine War on BlackBerry Creek and the reporting of 60 Minutes, Rolling Stone, the New York Times and Mother Jones. Lawless Planet is produced by Audible. This episode was produced and hosted by me, Zach Goldaum. It was written by Ariel Duum Ross. Our senior producer and senior story editor is Derek John. Senior producer for Audible is Andy Herman. Our senior managing producer is Lata Pandya. Our managing producer is Jake Kleinberg. Our producer is Lexi Perry. Music and single sound design by Kenny Kusiak Dialogue edit by George Drabing Hicks. Our music supervisor is Scott Velasquez for Frison Sync Fact checking by Brian Punyant. Our legal counsel is Shepard Mullen, Executive producer for Audible Jenny Lauer Beckman, head of Creative development at Audible Kate Navin, head of Audible Originals North America Marshall Louie Chief Content Officer Rachel Giazza Copyright 2026 by Audible Originals, LLC Sound Recording Copyright 2026 by Audible Originates, LLC thanks for listening. We'll see you next week.