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OPINION AND COMMENT
By Bob Weaver
Massey Coal and their CEO Don Blankenship have
contributed much of the $4 million dollars to defeat
Supreme Court Justice Warren McGraw.
They are backing Republican Brent Benjamin, using a
political group called "And for the Sake of Kids."
Exactly one week after next week's election Massey
lawyers will be standing before the state Supreme
Court.
Massey wants to block state Department of
Environmental Protection enforcement actions
against its mining operations in Southern West
Virginia.
Massey has been cited, sued and criticized for
dozens of blackwater spills and other environmental
abuses, described by some environmental experts as
the "most flagrant abuses of environmental law in
America."
Last year, two Massey subsidiaries plead guilty to
criminal violations of the federal Clean Water
Act.
DEP lawyers are now asking the justices to suspend
a Massey preparation plant where agency inspectors
cited 11 violations in a three-month period.
By then, it will be clear if Massey President Don
Blankenship's efforts to unseat Justice Warren
McGraw were successful.
Blankenship has poured more than $1.7 million into
the effort and millions more by his and other coal
companies.
Blankenship says he sees nothing wrong with using
his money.
The millionaire coal operator had a "leisurely dinner"
with state Supreme Court Justice Elliott "Spike"
Maynard at Charleston's pricey Chop House the other
evening, according to the Charleston Gazette.
It is troubling that major suits have come before the
high court that cost Massey a lot of money, and here
there is a situation where Massey money seems to
be buying power and influence.
State Senator Jeff Kessler, a Democrat, told a
Calhoun group last week "If you think this is for the
kids, you'd better think again."
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