Just announced — Don Blankenship is set to receive a $12 million “F*** Off” package from Massey Energy. It must be very disappointing for Don, as last year he took home $18 million in salary and bonuses, the highest paid man in the coal business.
Here are my thoughts about how Massey could spend that money instead:
1) On medical monitoring and cancer insurance for more than 700 Rawl community members, whose water supply was contaminated by Massey injecting massive amounts of coal sludge (more than seven times the BP oil spill) into an old leaky mine.
2) On Marsh Fork Elementary School. Massey offered a token $1 million to relocate the school, which sits in the shadow of their 2.8 billion-gallon coal slurry pond. They could afford to foot the entire $8 million bill and have change to spare for upgraded facilities.
3) On new homes for all the former residents of Lindytown — a ghost-town in Boone Co, WV where the entire community has been pushed out to make way for a Massey mountaintop removal mine.
4) On a memorial for the victims of all coal mining disasters (the second deadliest industry in the US) and for compensation to the families of the 54 miners who have been killed in Massey mines since 2000.
5) On a college scholarship fund for Appalachian students to study renewable energy and help transition the region away from dirty coal to a green economy.
How do you think Massey should be spending that $12 million?