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Post Christmas Lumps Of Coal For Massey Energy

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by Mark Stein
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The Private Equity Rebel at EMI   Private Equity, Public Protest

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Jan 18 2008 12:00am EDT

Post-Christmas Lumps of Coal for Massey Energy

It was a rough week for Massey Energy, the independent coal mining company.

First it was fined $20 million for violating the Clean Water Act, setting a record as the largest civil penalty in the Environmental Protection Agency's history.

Then, today, Chief Justice Elliot Maynard of the West Virginia Supreme Court recused himself from hearing an appeal of a $76.3 million civil suit between Massey and a competitor, Harman Mining.

It seems that Harman objected to Maynard's close friendship with Massey C.E.O. Don Blankenship. Photos of the two men vacationing together in Monaco recently came to light.

The task of finding a temporary replacement for Maynard falls to the next-senior justice, Brent Benjamin. But Harman Mining is objecting to that, too, saying Blankenship helped Benjamin win his seat on the high court in 2004.

A decision is expected next week.

by Christine Lenzo

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