Before death came to Upper Big Branch Mine, Donald L. Blankenship managed his patch of Appalachia like King Coal incarnate. Outside homes in rural West Virginia flew the banner of his company, Massey Energy Co.: a flame leaping out of an M on a field of white. Blankenship was a command-and-control chief executive of a company that a state investigation called “a towering presence in the Appalachian coalfields.” He took a dim view of bureaucracy and regulation, insisting on production reports every half hour and buzzing around in a helicopter inspecting mines, according to investigator Patrick McGinley. Donald Blankenship, left, makes his way out court on the first day of jury selection in...
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