Mine owner flouted safety rules

The Justice Department said the settlement is the largest of its kind. In addition to payments to families, Alpha will pay nearly $35 million in fines and $48 million to fund mine safety research, and pledged to spend $80 million on safety improvements at the company's underground mines as part of its settlement with the Justice Department.


http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/06/us/west-v ... ?hpt=hp_t1

what a shame for the miners and their families to go thru, that was all unnessary. Yet another black eye for the coal industry.