Steve Earle & the Dukes: Ghosts Of West Virginia
Andrew Mueller, Uncut, May 2020
ON APRIL 5, 2010, 300 metres beneath Raleigh County, West Virginia, methane seeping from the coal seams of Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch mine ignited and exploded. Fire roared through two miles of subterranean tunnel and killed 29 miners. Investigations blamed dereliction of safety procedures; Massey's CEO, Don Blankenship, was convicted in 2015 of conspiring to violate safety standards, and jailed for a year.
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