Former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship is scheduled to be released from an Arizona halfway house Wednesday after serving a year in federal prison. Massey currently operates 35 underground mines and 12 surface mines in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Virginia.
Blankenship was found guilty of conspiring to violate federal mine safety standards in December 2015. He was sentenced to one year in federal prison, beginning his sentence in May 2016 in a California penitentiary.
In March, Blankenship was moved to a halfway house in Phoenix to serve the remainder of his term. He is scheduled to be released from that facility Wednesday.
Blankenship’s conviction stems from the 2010 Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster. An explosion at the mine in April of that year killed 29 men. The U.S. Attorney’s Office argued that explosion was the result of a conspiracy under Blankenship to shirk safety laws to increase production and profits.
In February, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied Blankenship’s request to have his trial reheard. He can appeal that decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, but would have to do so by the end of the month.
