In addition to a comprehensive settlement with the US Mine Safety and Health Administration, the producer – which took over Massey’s mines in an acquisition that closed in June – has entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the USAO for the Southern District of West Virginia and the US Department of Justice.

It resolves a criminal investigation and regulatory civil proceedings against former UBB owner Massey for the blast that killed 29 people in April 2010.

“Since acquiring Massey, Alpha has cooperated fully with the USAO SDWV, the DOJ and MSHA and has implemented extensive measures to improve health and safety at legacy Massey operations,” the company said, stressing the agreement did not resolve any individual responsibilities related to the Raleigh County explosion.

Under the deal’s terms, Alpha will pay $34.8 million to resolve outstanding citations, violations and orders stemming not only from the federal UBB investigation but also from other non-UBB related matters involving legacy Massey divisions incurred prior to the acquisition.

It will also pay $46.5 million to the families of the killed UBB workers – $16.5 million of the amount has already been paid out or will be paid out in settlements.

The producer will also establish a $48 million trust to fund research and development projects for the improvement of miner health and safety.

One of the largest chunks of the settlement, $80 million, has been earmarked for investments over the next two years to add safety measures at legacy Massey mines and Alpha mines, such as ongoing safety skills and compliance training, the construction of a state-of-the-art safety training facility and the development and placement of “next-generation” mine safety equipment.

“We believe the agreements we've reached represent the best path forward for everyone,” Alpha chief executive officer Kevin Crutchfield said.

“We're particularly pleased that a substantial portion of the settlement is going towards furthering miner safety, which has always been Alpha's guiding principle.”

He confirmed, Alpha was still working on its own independent review of the explosion.

While no release date was indicated, the company would consider MSHA’s findings, as well as the outcomes of other reports already released.

Moving ahead as one

In the months since closing the Massey takeover, Alpha confirmed it had made numerous strides to integrate legacy Massey operations into the new, larger Alpha operational portfolio.

It included the reinforcement of the company’s commitment to safety.

First, the producer implemented its “Running Right” behaviour-based safety culture and training program across all former Massey operations.

The company said in the first four months post-acquisition, Alpha officials devoted more than 60,000 hours of training to the effort and safety performance had improved.

“Alpha has begun a second phase of training specifically targeting those with supervisory responsibilities, focused on two fronts: Running Right leadership and safety compliance,” it said.

“Since June 1, 450 supervisors have completed leadership training and more than 1000 certified mine examiners have completed safety skills training and extensive safety compliance training.”

The company also conducted emergency response training for its mine foremen, superintendents, safety staff and management across all of its business units.

Alpha also spent considerable time and resources to review the mine plans for all former Massey mines, including ventilation surveys and modelling at underground mine sites.

Geological, structural and roof support processes have also been analyzed.

Finally, reiterating Crutchfield’s status on the UBB probe, Alpha is awaiting the work from a team of external experts it retained for an independent review into the explosion.

The individuals, including specialists in mine accident investigations, have commenced an investigation and are following a comprehensive work plan that includes a review of all published reports on the accident.

“Alpha hopes that all of the previously completed reports and the review will help the mining industry learn as much as possible from the UBB accident,” the company said.

Encouraging settlement response

The settlement agreement announcement was released at the same time as MSHA’s final report on the explosion on Wednesday afternoon.

It prompted a response from Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, who said she was encouraged by the investments being made by Alpha for mine safety and research in response to the explosion.

“They are sorely needed,” she said.

“Alpha has a duty to change a troubling management culture at UBB that placed profits over people.

“New equipment and new facilities that value the safety of every miner are important first steps.

“No amount of restitution or penalties can bring back the 29 miners who lost their lives at UBB but it’s important that Alpha do right by the families whose lives were forever changed by this preventable tragedy.”

United Mine Workers of America international president Cecil Roberts called the agreement a “mixed bag” with both positive steps and areas where further attention was needed.

“On the one hand, we understand that Alpha will invest in new safety equipment to be installed in all its mines and must report its ongoing compliance with the US Attorney, which should serve to improve the health and safety of all its coal miners going forward,” he said.

“That’s an important step, provided this reporting duty has some real teeth so that corporate leaders are personally held accountable in a way that hasn’t happened before.”

He added the UMWA was disappointed to learn the settlement included a non-prosecution clause, which he said meant neither Massey nor Alpha admitted to criminal wrongdoing and the US Attorney had agreed no criminal charges would be pursued.

“Since the government is stressing that it is not waiving its right to pursue any individuals who worked for Performance Coal or Massey, we remain hopeful that responsibility will be placed where it belongs – on upper level management at Massey who created the safety-last culture at that company,” Roberts said.

“We firmly believe the evidence is there for such criminal prosecution.

“Until someone goes to jail, there will be no justice done here.”

While the union was glad to see the families of the victims receiving monetary damages and moves by Alpha to address citations at legacy Massey mines, Roberts said the union would be waiting for the specifics of the deal.

“Until we see the details of the actual settlement agreement, we are reserving final judgment,” he said.

“If the settlement resolves many issues while still leaving the door open for individual criminal prosecutions, there may yet be true justice for the families affected by this horrible tragedy.”