EKB News

Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship said at an investor conference Wednesday in New York that Massey investigators have discovered the Upper Big Branch mine was inundated at the time of the April 5th explosion with natural gas. Massey previously said it believed a crack in the mine floor alllowed a dangerous amount of methane gas to enter the mine, a position the company bolstered with air samples taken in the hours after the blast. The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration had dismissed that theory. The company still suspects gas entered the mine through cracks in the floor,and has asked MSHA for permission to bring in specialized equipment to study the area. The company blames MSHA for changes that Massey contends weakened the mine's ventilation system. Blankenship says, if the explosion were caused by natural gas, it would prove Massey's contention that safeguards required by law were overwhelmed, and it didn't come out of the normal mining process, nor was it something you would normally be guarding against.