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Dec. 6, 2011 / 4:38 PM

Company agrees to pay $209M in mine blast

Alpha Natural Resources agreed to pay $200 million to resolve penalties in a West Virginia coal mining blast that killed 25 miners in 2010, several people said. (L to R) Massey Energy workers Maurice Blanchette, Jimmy Shortridge, Brandon Waddell and Andrew Lucas take a break from drilling efforts above Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch Coal Mine on April 7, 2010 in Montcoal, W.Va. Alpha bought Massey. UPI/Jeff Gentner/Pool

Alpha Natural Resources agreed to pay $200 million to resolve penalties in a West Virginia coal mining blast that killed 25 miners in 2010, several people said. (L to R) Massey Energy workers Maurice Blanchette, Jimmy Shortridge, Brandon Waddell and Andrew Lucas take a break from drilling efforts above Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch Coal Mine on April 7, 2010 in Montcoal, W.Va. Alpha bought Massey. UPI/Jeff Gentner/Pool | License Photo

CHARLESTON, W.Va., Dec. 6 (UPI) -- Alpha Natural Resources will pay $209 million for the role of its subsidiary in a 2010 mine explosion that killed 29 men in West Virginia, U.S. officials said.

The subsidiary is Massey Energy. Officials said it is the largest ever settlement in a government investigation of a mine disaster, The New York Times reported.

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The penalties include $46.5 million earmarked for the families of the victims and those injured in the blast.

It also includes terms that protect Alpha executives, but not individual Massey executives, from criminal prosecution, Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Ruby was quoted as saying by the Times.

The Times said the settlement announcement came the same day the Mine Safety and Health Administration imposed a $10.8 million fine, the largest in agency history, on the company as it concluded its investigation into the April 2010 explosion.

The MSHA said Massey and its subsidiary, which was operating the Upper Big Branch mine, had been cited a total of 369 times.

The announcement came after federal investigators met with families of the victims in West Virginia.

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