Page 2 - Mine Operator News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> he didn't want to do it, he knew the danger. but when somebody above you is telling you what to do, you're going to do what they say. >> reporter: the mine operator, massey energy, says it was an isolated incident, but tells nbc news, "the methane monitor was bypassed in order to move the miner, the machine, from the area that did not have roof support to a safer area for repair." not so, says campbell. >> we kept using it. >> reporter: you kept cutting coal? >> yes, sir. >> reporter: without the methane detector? >> yes, sir. >> reporter: federal investigators say they've heard the allegat...

Company mine in april, ricky lee campbell was fired by massey for allegedly unsafe behavior. he's since been hired by another mine operator and has filed a whistle-blower lawsuit against massey. his lawyer says he's now telling his story to a federal grand jury. tom costello, nbc news, charleston, west virginia. >> we have long had the technology to prevent these kinds of so-called mining disasters. they are not accidents, i have held from the start. these things amount to industrial homicide. the criminal investigation is more than warranted. we want to, again, offer a brief reminder tonigh...

>> sure. >> are union mines safer than non-union mines? >> mines where the mine operator allow their workers to have a voice in safety and freely exercise that, i think are safer mines. >> okay. if they are safer mines why wasn't this a union shop? and did massey fight against any kind of organization in the past? >> absolutely. in fact, that's the other big problem we have in mine safety. it's the way the labor laws are enforced in this country. it is illegal to threaten workers during an organizing drive. the companies do it all the time. i like to liken it toward a bank robbery. imagine, if...

Who gave the mine a clean bill of health. in the same way that as you know, there were plenty of regulators at lehman brothers, at aig, at fannie and freddie. but there's so many loopholes. and that's why, as we're looking at the bill going through the senate, that's what we need to keep our eye on. the loopholes. because it was the loopholes at the mine and the mining legislation, that made it possible, despite the fact that this mine had over 500 violations in one year alone, not to be shut down. because they kept challenging them. >> kevin, how does that work? if i'm a mine operator and i'm...

Been recovered. the last nine bodies, state and federal investigators are taking over now. it could take months to find out what caused the explosion inside the upper big branch mine. it will take time, too, for the families of the 29 miners. life doesn't simply go on after you've lost a loved one. the widow of one of the miners opened up to cnn's ines ferre. >> they did a release of names of the individuals who were -- who perished. and, of course, my husband's was the second name they called. >> reporter: robert clark was one of the 29 coal miners killed in last week's west virginia mine d...