CHARLESTON, West Virginia (Reuters) ? Coal miner Alpha Natural Resources has agreed to pay $1.5 million each to the families of 29 miners killed in an explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia last year.
The payments are part of a $209 million settlement of civil and criminal charges stemming from the April 5, 2010, accident, the worst U.S. mining disaster in four decades.
The settlement, announced Tuesday, does not resolve questions of individual responsibility for the explosion and leaves open the possibility of criminal charges against former executives of Massey Energy, which owned the mine at the time of the accident.
"I want to emphasize again that the investigation of individuals associated with Massey is still ongoing," said federal prosecutor Booth Goodwin. "If anything, this resolution allows us to place a greater focus on that critical piece of our investigation.
"We're still working hard on the investigation," he told reporters in Charleston, West Virginia.
Shares of Alpha, which acquired Massey this year and assumed liability for the 2010 accident, fell 3.2 percent to $24.36 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Alpha said in a statement that it entered into a settlement with the federal prosecutor's office for the Southern District of West Virginia and the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as a comprehensive settlement with the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).
Under the terms of the agreement, Alpha said it agreed to invest $80 million over the next two years in added safety measures at legacy Massey mines and Alpha mines.
It will also establish a $48 million trust to fund research and development projects designed to improve mine health and safety, and will pay $46.5 million to families of the dead miners and two other individuals affected by the explosion. It said $16.5 million of that sum has already been paid in settlements and anticipated settlements.
Alpha also agreed to pay $34.8 million to settle outstanding safety citations, violations and orders related to MSHA's investigation into the explosion.
MSHA's official investigation of the accident was to be released later on Tuesday.
Kevin Crutchfield, Alpha's chief executive, said the settlement represents "the best path forward for everyone."
"We're particularly pleased that a substantial portion of the settlement is going towards furthering miner safety, which has always been Alpha's guiding principle," he said.
"We're mindful that the Justice Department investigation arose from a terrible tragedy which took the lives of 29 miners."
Company spokesman Ted Pile told Reuters that so far, eight families have settled with the company and received restitution of about $1.5 million each. Three more families are in the process of settling, while the survivors of the other 18 victims are in litigation.
He said Alpha had already figured in the $46.5 million restitution amount in its financials, along with the $80 million investment in safety measures at its mines. The only new figure was the $48 million for a trust fund to research and develop improved safety measures and technology.
Massey said last year it had set aside $78 million to pay for expected litigation. Alpha acquired Massey in a $7 billion deal in June.
(Additional reporting by Sakthi Prasad in Bangalore and Steve James in New York; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick, Lisa Von Ahn and John Wallace)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111206/us_nm/us_alphanatural
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