Public pressure is growing, meanwhile, on Massey CEO Don Blankenship. On Monday, a pension fund controlled by the labor federation Change to Win with shares in Massey called for Blankenship to be forced out. New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, the trustee of the New York State Common Retirement Fund, also called for Blankenship to resign from Massey’s board. In newly disclosed video from an anti-union Labor Day rally last year, Blakenship told supporters he thinks the efforts of mine safety officials are “as silly as global warming.”

Don Blankenship: “As someone who has overseen the mining of more coal than anyone else in the history of Central Appalachia, I know that the safety and health of coal miners is my most important job. I don’t need Washington politicians to tell me that, and neither do you. But I also know — I also know that Washington and state politicians have no idea how to improve miner safety. The very idea that they care more about coal miner safety than we do is as silly as global warming.”