Excerpt: "Former coal executive Don Blankenship has been sentenced to one year in prison and fined $250,000 for conspiracy to violate mine safety standards in the deadliest U.S. mine explosion in four decades."
West Virginia coal baron Don Blankenship. (photo: Calvin Mattheis/Bloomberg)
07 April 16
Don Blankenship was convicted in connection to a West Virginia mine explosion that killed 29
ormer coal executive Don Blankenship has been sentenced to one year in prison and fined $250,000 for conspiracy to violate mine safety standards in the deadliest U.S. mine explosion in four decades.
U.S. District Judge Irene Berger sentenced the ex-Massey Energy CEO on Wednesday.
Blankenship was convicted Dec. 3 of a misdemeanor conspiracy to willfully violate mine safety standards at Upper Big Branch Mine. The West Virginia coal mine exploded in 2010, killing 29 men.
He was acquitted of felonies that could have stretched his sentence to 30 years. His attorneys had argued for probation and after the sentence, they promised to appeal.
