Don Blankenship, the chairman and CEO of America's most notorious coal company, unexpectedly announced his retirement this week. If you don't know who Blankenship is or why his departure from Massey Energy is significant, the profile that appeared in Rolling Stone last week ("The Dark Lord of Coal Country") covers that ground thoroughly.
Suffice to say that Blankenship ran Massey with an iron fist and a stunning disregard for the safety of its workers or the environmental effects of its mining practices. Last year alone, Massey had more than 500 safety violations and nearly $1 million in fines, and last April's explosion at Massey's Upper Big Branch Mine alone (29 men killed) was America's worst mining tragedy in 40 years.
continued at Daily Kos....
