Highlights of Massey Energy Press Conference

JULIAN, W.Va., April 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Massey Energy Company (NYSE: MEE) today held a press conference to address the explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine. Remarks from the press conference are excerpted below.

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Massey Energy has also launched a new website, www.MasseyUBB.com, to provide the public with an archive of information Massey Energy has released about the Upper Big Branch mine. For additional information, please refer to the "April 26, 2010 Letter to Stakeholders" at www.MasseyUBB.com.

Don Blankenship, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

"We are fully dedicated to figuring out what happened if humanly possible to do so.  We owe to the families, and to the industry, and to the public our best and sincerest efforts to find the cause of the explosion.  It is critical that we find out the facts so that all Massey and industry coal miners can work without fear of another explosion.  Once the facts are known, we will enact corrective processes at Massey immediately and encourage regulation and laws focused on eliminating the chance of a reoccurrence."

General Robert H. "Doc" Foglesong, Director

"The first and most important consideration, of course, is providing care for the families of the 29 miners who died. Massey Energy is providing these benefits without requiring any family to settle any legal issues -- we're doing it because it's the right thing to do."

Admiral Bobby R. Inman, Lead Independent Director

"Massey Energy is dedicated to maintaining the highest level of integrity in every aspect of its operations. Some have called for immediately changing our leadership.  Making changes in the midst of a crisis is exceptionally high risk for all stakeholders.  When the crisis has subsided and we know the facts, we will maintain the highest standard of accountability and responsibility."

Stanley Suboleski, Director

"Massey Energy is cooperating with all federal and state regulatory agencies involved in this investigation.  The company is committed to working together to determine the cause of the accident, and to preventing it from ever happening again."

"It is important to note that the longwall at UBB was not operating with the same ventilation system that it began with in September 2009. MSHA required us to change that system and we complied.  Recognizing that professionals can reasonably disagree on the best method of ventilation at a mine, we have discovered the following: 1. that MSHA required several changes since that date that made the ventilation in this area significantly more complex; 2. that the volume of fresh air to the face was significantly reduced during this period; and 3. that our engineers resisted making the changes, in one instance to the point of shutting down production for two days, before agreeing to MSHA's ventilation plan changes."

Massey Energy Company, headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, with operations in West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia, is the largest coal producer in Central Appalachia and is included in the S&P 500 Index.

SOURCE Massey Energy Company