Massey Energy: Has Big Coal's Bad Boy Turned a Corner?

Back in May, I posted an item about Massey Energy Co., the nation's fourth largest coal producer that continually draws controversy for its big safety and environmental violations and questionable political campaign contributions in the Appalachian coalfields.

My item noted that Massey's annual meeting was stage-managed precisely so the public and the news media were kept at bay. Shareholders resolutions demanding better accountability were quickly throttled. Massey's in-your-face approach stood in marked contrast to that of most of the corporate world this past proxy season.

But maybe Massey is getting religion. The company has posted a Corporate Social Responsibility Report that extols the firm's do-good projects in its work area.

This slick, 32-page document available on the company's website claims that the firm actually does much good. These include financial help to bring primary care doctors to some of West Virginia and Kentucky's poorest counties; helping with mine safety education; offering financial rewards to high school students; and planting more than 1 million trees on reclaimed strip mines in a partnership with the American Chestnut Foundation.
Does this mean the notorious firm has turned a corner? I sure don't know and have suspicions given that the firm still engages in massive mountaintop removal mining practices that make parts of the Central Appalachians look like a nuclear weapons test sites.

But if Massey is even doing a few things that the brochure claims, more power to them. As someone who was once a kid in that part of the world, I know the needs it has.