You have to hand it to Massey Energy; they know how to handle a public relations (PR) nightmare. Okay, the reality is they have no idea, so they have turned to people who are said to be experts in such affairs, a PR firm known as Public Strategies, out of Texas.
First up for Public Strategies was what Massey’s senior executives might say during Sunday’s Memorial Service, held in Beckley, W. VA. This service saw comments by W. VA. Governor Joe Manchin, First Lady Gayle C. Manchin, U. S. Congressman Nick Joe Rahall, Senator Jay Rockefeller, and even Vice President Joe Biden, and President Obama, who are said to be two of the more unpopular people in the Mountain State.
But nary a peep from Massey executives. Funny thing, too. You’d think that if you paid a CEO as well as Massey pays Don Blankenship, this would be the time he’d step forward and earn that money, instead of, as it was reported by the Kansas City Star, sitting in the back of the room.
The day after the Memorial Service, though, the whole Board of Directors got together and held a news conference. And here, they all had something to say. Yes, Don Blankenship, CEO, Stan Suboleski, a mining engineer, and even Admiral Bobby Ray Inman, one time director of the NSA, and now an official in the PR firm, Public Strategies, each took their turn at a podium.
CEO Blankenship left the heavy work to the others. He merely thanked everyone for their help during the disaster, as he declared that Massey’s Board of Directors was “humbled and hurt, and searching for answers." We can only hope that this means more than how to replace the lost production of this mine while it is shut down.
For his part, Mr. Suboleski repeated Massey’s talking points so far, that Upper Big Branch had no more violations than any other mines, no lost-time accidents this year, and furthermore, all those violations aren’t the whole story, etc., and finally, we still don’t know what caused this, so please be patient.
Admiral Inman showed himself to be the PR expert as he blamed the impression that Massey let production trump safety on plaintiff’s lawyers and union leaders. Hopefully we will now all forget Mr. Blankenship’s frequent statements, most made well before the explosion, that seem to show just the opposite.
Despite this PR approach, there are still serious questions here that aren’t being answered. If the air was clean just “tens of minutes” before the explosion, how could such a massive detonation have taken place so quickly? Something is amiss here, and judging from the scope of the disaster, it would seem to be the contention about clean air.
Yes, Admiral Inman contended that Massey is constantly concerning itself with safety. But, according to a statement by UMW spokesman, Phil Smith, who was reacting to what Admiral Inman called “the big lie” (Massey lets production trump safety), “ "The big truth is, 52 people have been killed on Massey property since 2000. No other coal company has had even half that.”
Apparently, Massey has troubles, and they include more than a bad public image. And it will take more than a PR campaign to correct them.
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