Five weeks ago it was reported that federal prosecutors had charged Gary May, former superintendent of the Upper Big Branch Mine, with felony conspiracy for his attempts to thwart federal safety inspections at the mine where 29 miners were killed in April 2010.
Yesterday, Gary May pleaded guilty to those charges.
From the LA Times
Gary May, 43, of Bloomingrose, W. Va., admitted Thursday to concealing health and safety violations, using code phrases to give advance warning of inspections and ordering a mine examination book to be falsified. His actions, while he was superintendent of the mine, were intended to mask safety violations, including poor airflow and accumulation of explosive coal dust, two factors that have been deemed causes of the deadly explosion.
Sentencing is scheduled for August 9. May could face up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines.
As reported last month, May is cooperating with prosecutors and more individuals are expected to be charged.
R. Booth Goodwin II, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia, said May was cooperating with investigators. The conspiracy charge against him suggests other individuals might also be targets in the ongoing investigation into the blast.
“We hope he can give us a better picture of what was going on at this company,” Goodwin said in a prepared statement.
Alpha Natural Resources, the owner of the West Virginia mine, reached a settlement with federal prosecutors late last year, agreeing to pay a record $209 million in compensation and fines. The agreement stopped prosecutors from pursuing criminal charges against the firm, which last June acquired Massey Energy, the company that owned Upper Big Branch at the time of the explosion.
The deal with prosecutors applied only to the company. At the time, Goodwin pledged that “no individuals are off the hook.”
Although the wheels of justice turn slowly, they do indeed turn.
A sentence of five years in these types of cases, as has been noted previously, is fairly unprecedented. Since May is cooperating, he could very well receive less than the maximum penalty. On the other hand, it is also possible that he has avoided more serious charges related to the deaths by pleading guilty to conspiracy. In that case, he might have agreed to penalties on this scale.
At any rate, a month ago the former Security Chief at the mine, Hughie Stover, was sentenced to three years in prison for his role in thwarting federal safety inspections. May, as mine superintendent, was undoubtedly at least one step up the corporate ladder and this might be indicative that he will receive a greater sentence.
Hopefully other mine owners and supervisory employees are paying attention to these developments and carefully considering the criminal penalties of ignoring safety issues at the cost of human lives.
Two down. How many more will be charged? Obviously federal prosecutors are still looking for more convictions. It is important to note that the convictions so far have only been related to conspiracy to thwart safety regulations. No one has been charged in the 29 deaths which occurred in the disaster.
One can only hope that those charges, manslaughter or worse, will be filed eventually.
Although this is of little solace to those families who lost members in this disaster, perhaps other miners will eventually have a better chance of emerging safely at the end of their shifts if it is known that thwarting safety rules results in more than slaps on the wrist.