The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Today's Front Page

May 24, 2010

Hearing on UBB disaster today

At the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center

By Staff and Wire Reports

Relatives of four of the 29 men who died in the Upper Big Branch mine explosion on April 5, a fellow miner working at UBB that day, Gov. Joe Manchin and U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller are among those scheduled to give testimony at a special federal hearing today in Beckley.

At the request of Rep. Nick Rahall, who will deliver opening remarks, the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee, chaired by Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., is conducting the field hearing as part of a federal probe into the nation’s worst coal mining disaster in 40 years.

The full committee hearing, entitled “The Upper Big Branch Mine Tragedy: Testimony of Family Members” is scheduled to begin 9 a.m. in Room C at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center.

Today’s hearing comes on the heels of a Senate subcommittee session which was conducted last Thursday in Washington, D.C.

During that hearing U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd lashed out at the mine’s owner, Massey Energy, as well as the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and questioned the responsibility of both as it relates to the tragedy.

Byrd is not scheduled to be in Beckley today.

Comprehensive coverage of today’s hearing will be featured on our website — www.register-herald.com — as well as in Tuesday’s print edition.

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