Overview

On April 5, 2010, an explosion ripped through Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch mine and killed twenty-nine miners. This tragedy was the deadliest mine disaster in the U.S. in forty years - a disaster that never should've happened. With more safety violations than anyone else in the industry, Massy went beyond ignoring regulators but actually considered them the enemy as were unions, environmentalists, and anyone else who dared to tell Massey how to do business or how keep their miners safe. Nor was it anywhere close to the end of the tragedy. Deaths have been taking place in Appalachian mines for generations. The long hours and dangerous work are part of a way of life where poverty is pervasive, but the most insidious dangers are being buried deep underground and the true costs are hidden from the balance sheets of coal companies. Massey and its former CEO Don Blankeship - the worst offenders in the industry - appeared to perpetuate a corporate culture that destroyed human life, the health of communities, and the environment all in search of higher profits. For years, Peter Galuszka has covered energy policy around globe, and now with ""Thunder on the Mountain"" he tells the searing true story of the rise, fall, and resurrection of Massey Energy and in doing so exposes the coal-black motivations that fuel the on-going war for the world's energy future.

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9781250000217

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<p>Praise for Thunder on the Mountain: <br> Natural gas, renewables, and efficiency are positioned to be the electricity sources of America's future. While Asian exports could potentially fuel coal's domestic growth, public opinion, state-level mandates, emissions standards, technology breakthroughs, and other critical factors are increasingly lined up against the adoption of new coal-fired power plants in America. Galuszka's Thunder on the Mountain highlights the disturbing and often deadly impacts of this highly polluting energy source and why Big Coal might just be losing its power. <br>--Ron Pernick Managing Director, Clean Edge, Inc. and Co-author of The Clean Tech Revolution and Clean Tech Nation <br> Peter Galuszka has absolutely nailed his subject on every level. He displays an intimate understanding of the people in Appalachia including those who work in coal mines. Yet at the same time, he understands how global energy demand and financial pressures created the conditions in which Massey's Don Blankenship cut corners at the Upper Big Branch mine, resulting in 29 deaths. It is a devastating portrait of an individual, and an industry. No one has put this story together as well as Galuszka has. <br>--William J. Holstein author of The Next American Economy and Why GM Matters <br> With measured and dogged reporting, Galuszka persuasively reveals how corporate greed and mismanagement, Appalachian underdevelopment, insatiable global demand for coal, and the right-wing backlash against government regulation and labor organization resulted in tragedy at Upper Big Branch. Essential reading for anyone interested in the past, present, and future of Big Coal. <br>--Thomas G. Andrews, Bancroft Prize winning author of Killing for Coal <br> Peter Galuszka has a deep appreciation of Appalachia and its damaged beauty, having grown up in West Virginia and filed decades of coal stories as a reporter. In Thunder on the Mountain he draws vivid portr

<p>Praise for Thunder on the Mountain: <br> <p> Natural gas, renewables, and efficiency are positioned to be the electricity sources of America's future. While Asian exports could potentially fuel coal's domestic growth, public opinion, state-level mandates, emissions standards, technology breakthroughs, and other critical factors are increasingly lined up against the adoption of new coal-fired power plants in America. Galuszka's Thunder on the Mountain highlights the disturbing and often deadly impacts of this highly polluting energy source and why Big Coal might just be losing its power. <br>--Ron Pernick Managing Director, Clean Edge, Inc. and Co-author of The Clean Tech Revolution and Clean Tech Nation <br> Peter Galuszka has absolutely nailed his subject on every level. He displays an intimate understanding of the people in Appalachia including those who work in coal mines. Yet at the same time, he understands how global energy demand and financial pressures created the conditions in which Massey's Don Blankenship cut corners at the Upper Big Branch mine, resulting in 29 deaths. It is a devastating portrait of an individual, and an industry. No one has put this story together as well as Galuszka has. <br>--William J. Holstein author of The Next American Economy and Why GM Matters <br> With measured and dogged reporting, Galuszka persuasively reveals how corporate greed and mismanagement, Appalachian underdevelopment, insatiable global demand for coal, and the right-wing backlash against government regulation and labor organization resulted in tragedy at Upper Big Branch. Essential reading for anyone interested in the past, present, and future of Big Coal. <br>--Thomas G. Andrews, Bancroft Prize winning author of Killing for Coal: America's Deadliest Labor War <br> Peter Galuszka ably tells the story of the 2010 Upper Big Branch mining tragedy, and exposes a seam that runs deep in American history -- the corporate indifference of Big Co

Author Information

PETER A. GALUSZKA is a veteran journalist who has covered worldwide energy issues, especially coal, for several decades. A former West Virginia resident, he logged thousands of miles on the windy mountain roads of Central Appalachia and traveled to Mongolia, China, and Japan to track down the Massey story. The former Moscow bureau chief for BusinessWeek, he now lives in Chesterfield, Virginia.

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