Back on 05 October 2015, I posted the article “The Fall of King Coal“.  It is filled with information on Don Blankenship and I highly recommend giving it a read!  Unfortunately, Blankenship is making a run for the US Senate as a Republican.

One of the most loathed businessmen in West Virginia is seeking to win a seat in the Senate. Don Blankenship, who was given the damning title “Dark Lord of Coal Country” by Rolling Stone magazine, is vying to be the Republican Party’s pick for the Senate from West Virginia [emphasis mine]. Yet the coal industry mogul’s negligence was blamed for one of the worst coal mining disasters in 40 years.

In 2010, a massive explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine, owned by Massey Energy—where Blankenship was then CEO—killed 29 miners in West Virginia. The deaths of the workers led to a heightened focus on mining safety and possible violations that put the lives of the workers at risk. But in Blankenship’s school of thought, as Rolling Stone reported, no such concern seemed important. Instead of taking responsibility for the workers and their well-being, Blankenship called the fatal incident an “act of God.” At the time, the coal tycoon told Metro News’ Talkline that the explosion was caused by other factors; he said cutting sandstones was “risky” and blamed a gas leak that became exacerbated by a faulty ventilation system.

But the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration said Blankenship’s company had committed a whopping 48 safety violations. MSHA also shared a 2005 memo Blankenship circulated within Massey Energy, telling employees to focus on coal product over everything else. “If any of you have been asked by your group presidents, your supervisors, engineers, or anyone else to do anything other than run coal (i.e., build overcasts, do construction jobs, or whatever) you need to ignore them and run coal,” Blankenship wrote.

From AlterNet

This from Wikipedia: (I encourage you to read the entire Wikipedia article as it provides some of his views on the environment and the lengths to which he will go to cover over some nasty environmental problems that directly affect him.)

“As a result of the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster, in which 29 miners were killed in Raleigh County, West Virginia on April 5, 2010, he faced up to 30 years in prison on several charges including felony conspiracy.^[3] A federal grand jury indicted Blankenship on November 13, 2014, for conspiracy to violate mandatory federal mine safety and health standards, conspiracy to impede federal mine safety officials, making false statements to the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as securities fraud. [emphasis mine] On December 3, 2015, Blankenship was found guilty of one misdemeanor charge of conspiring to wilfully violate mine safety and health standards. He was acquitted of felony charges for lying about safety procedures in Massey’s Upper Big Branch Mine.^[4]

On December 28, 2015, U.S. Magistrate Judge Clarke VanDevort lowered his bond from $5 million to $1 million, and he was permitted to return to his home in Las Vegas, and travel freely in the U.S. On April 6, 2016, he was sentenced to 1 year in jail and fined $250,000. On May 12, 2016, his appeal rejected in federal court, he reported to FCI Taft, in California north of Los Angeles, to begin serving his sentence.^[5] On January 19, 2017, his appeal of his conviction was rejected by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.^[6] He was released from prison on May 10, 2017.”

Although Blankenship managed to wiggle out of all the charges save one misdemeanor, he is still a criminal having served a one year prison sentence.  And ostensibly, he is complicit in the deaths of 29 miners, all who were and would have been West Virginia workers and voters in 2018. 

1. How then is he allowed to run for the US Senate as a candidate for the Republican party while so many former prisoners in various states are not allowed to vote in any election?  I suppose one only need say he is a millionaire/billionaire and a Republican.
2. Do West Virginians have that much support for “The Dark Lord of Coal Country” as Rolling Stone calls him, to allow him to unseat Joe Manchin, DINO, a seat which he has held since 2010, and before that the governorship of West Virginia?

In the event that this is not a really bad dream, “The Dark Lord of Coal Country” must NOT be voted into office!  West Virginians need to understand that the coal industry will not return to its glory days despite what Drumpf said and campaigned on.  Blankenship will only parrot Drumpf and other Republicans who clearly live in the 1800’s.

Resist the Republican Reich!!!