Murray Energy was founded by Robert E. Murray in 1988 through the acquisition of the Powhatan No. 6 mine in
Alledonia, Ohio. The company was established in nearby
St. Clairsville, Ohio. The Powhatan mine, which closed in 2016, was the only mine operated by a Murray Energy Corporation independent operating subsidiary that is unionized. The company also operated the nearby
Century Mine, which closed in 2022. Murray Energy Corporation produces approximately 30 million tons of
bituminous coal each year and employs approximately 3,000 people in the United States. In 2013, the company acquired
Consol Energy Inc, consisting of five mines and a fleet of more than 600 barges and other ships. According to the company's website, as of 2019, they employed some 7,000 workers in the US and South America. The company is headquartered in St. Clairsville, Ohio. At the time, Murray Energy's owner, Robert, claimed that the safety violations were trivial and included violations such as not having enough toilet paper in the restroom. On July 24, 2008, the U.S. government's
Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) announced its highest penalty for coal mine safety violations, $1.85 million, for the collapse. The government fined
Genwal Resources $1.34 million "for violations that directly contributed to the deaths of six miners last year," plus nearly $300,000 for other violations. The government also levied a $220,000 fine against a mining consultant, Agapito Associates, "for faulty analysis of the mine's design." Following the Crandall Canyon tragedy, the Mine Safety and Health Administration also was faulted by its parent agency, the
U.S. Department of Labor, both for lax oversight before the collapse and for its handling of a haphazard rescue effort that left three more people dead. An independent review of MSHA's role in Crandall Canyon by retired MSHA managers Earnest Teaster and Joseph Pavlovich, found that the agency failed to properly consider bounce activity in the mine prior to approving the mining plan, failed to properly evaluate the roof control plan and failed to follow established
mine rescue protocols at all times at Crandall Canyon Mine. Specifically, the authors wrote that, "MSHA's failure to adequately evaluate the roof control plans contributed to the August 6 accident." An independent review of MSHA's actions at Crandall Canyon also faults the agency for failing to control access to the mine, concluding that "MSHA improperly allowed media representatives and family members to enter the rescue area, and allowed an unlimited number of persons underground during the rescue operation." Murray Energy emerged from bankruptcy on September 16, 2020, selling almost all of its assets to a new holding company, now owned by its former creditors: American Consolidated Natural Resources Inc. Robert Murray was Chairman of the Board of Directors for the new company until his death in October 2020. ==Notes==