CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – A defiant Don Blankenship declared himself an “American political prisoner” on his blog, blaming others for the 2010 mine explosion that killed 29 men and led the former West Virginia coal operator to be imprisoned.
The ex-Massey Energy CEO said this week that he plans to distribute 250,000 copies of the 67-page diatribe in booklet form.
Blankenship reported to a California federal prison May 12 for a maximum one-year sentence for conspiring to willfully violate mine safety standards at West Virginia’s Upper Big Branch mine, site of the explosion. He also paid a $250,000 fine. A jury convicted him of the misdemeanor last December.
Oral arguments in his appeal will be Oct. 26 before the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia.
Blankenship, 66, wrote that politicians imprisoned him for political, self-serving reasons.