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Families of Miners Hope for a Miracle; A Look at American Dream of Homeownership; RX or Murder: Doctors who Deny Addicts in Danger; Massey CEO Defends Records; Equipment Needed to Survive; Not Guilty Pleas

Aired April 07, 2010 - 06:59   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: A good Wednesday morning to you, and thanks for joining us in the Most News in the Morning as we continue our special coverage of the Upper Big Branch miner disaster. I'm John Roberts in Raleigh County, West Virginia. Good morning, Kiran.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, John, where you are they are still praying and hoping for a miracle this morning in Montcoal, West Virginia where rescue teams are drilling holes right now deep into the earth. We all just listening to a news conference. We've got an update within the hour. And we learned one of drills has made it to the ceiling of the inside of the mine, making progress faster than they expected. They're also working more to get two more air holes drilled.

And what they're hoping to do is clear the air of deadly gases, do some monitoring of the air, determine it is safe. That's when they'll send the rescuers in to try to get the four missing miners more than 1,000 feet below. Only when the air is safe will they be able to go in. That's scheduled still for some time between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. this afternoon.

It also looks like new regulations to improve mine safety might actually in some cases make conditions more dangerous. An investigation by the Associated Press shows that mining companies in many cases are not paying stiff new fines for violations, electing instead to bog down the system with legal challenges.

Now let's go back to John who's on the ground right now in West Virginia.

ROBERTS: Kiran, there are a lot of questions about violations and how can you shut a mine down, and when a violation is filed against the mine, what they do about it.

You look to Massey mines and the Upper Big Branch mine which is where the explosion was -- 632 safety violations in the last 15 months. And the overall since 2005, there have been about 1,300 violations filed against that company. They are challenging just about a third of those as well.

So the Mine Safety and Health Administration can file these violations, but do they always make an impact? Yesterday I had the opportunity to talk with the CEO of the Massey Energy company, Don Blankenship, and I asked him about this whole issue of violations and why the mine was operating after one source in the mining industry told me that when you look at the landscape of mining companies, this one is one of worst in terms of the number of violations and severity of the violations filed against it. I asked the CEO about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DON BLANKENSHIP, CEO, MASSEY ENERGY: We would disagree in terms of the condition of our mines. The number of violations can depend on what area you're in, who the inspectors are, and a whole host of issues. And we're a big producer, but the truth is that we are doing a better job in our mines typically than what we observe others are.

ROBERTS: Are you suggesting you've been unfairly singled out?

BLANKENSHIP: I'm not suggesting anything. I'm saying we know because we hire the top people from engineering graduate schools, we do a good job of keeping mines in good shape. We're very open with the regulators, top management is very dedicated to safety. So I have no belief that we are not doing as good or better job than others.

ROBERTS: In the wake of the Sago mining disaster, new regulations were drawn up with the Miner Act talking about families and how they should be informed and kept apprised of what was going on in the event of an accident.

We've had several complaints from families that Massey has not reached out to them, not telephoned immediate family members about the situation. Can you explain what happened?

BLANKENSHIP: I don't know any particular incidents, but I know we're updating the families every two hours with our chief operating officer and other key people involved. I've been to three of them myself, and we're giving them the best information we have available.

You know, whether someone was missed for some reason or whatever, I don't know. But we have set up a communications center for the family that's functioning every two hours.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: And don't forget yesterday we introduced you to the family of Benny Willingham, the 61 year old miner who was about six weeks away from retirement. He was one of five people killed on the so-called man trip, and how angry the family was at the company for not giving the courtesy of a telephone call to tell them what was going on.

Between our coverage of that, the governor talking about it, other officials talking about it, Kiran, it would appear the company on that particular point did get the message.

CHETRY: That was heartbreaking to hear the family talk about that, how he went to church and thanked god for keeping him safe all those years only to have this happen.

We want to give you an inside look at what exactly is happening this morning at the Upper Big Branch mine. Right now rescuers are in the process of drilling four separate holes into the ceiling of the mine in the area where they believe the missing miners are located.

The good news is that one of four drills already made it more than 1,000 feet to open a six-inch hole in the ceiling of the mine. And then three other drills are also drilling towards the ceiling and will be ventilating the mine as well. And there you see that happening.

Also a look now at what rescuers will encounter as they go further into the mine. These are train-like cars called man trips, and they carry people deep into the mine. There's a look at one right there. Sometimes they man trips take the workers more than a mile from the mine entrance.

Then even deeper into the mine are the rescue chambers, and these are really the last hope for rescuers and those trapped underneath. They have food, water, and oxygen, enough to last for four days. And experts tell CNN there is still a slim possibility that the four miners could have made it into one of those rescue chambers waiting now to be rescued.

And John, tell us a little bit more about what's going on where you're located. If they indeed did make it into the rescue chambers, what is the hope that these rescuers will be able to get to the miners?

ROBERTS: Well, if they made it inside one of those rescue chambers, the theory should hold that if they clear out the methane gas, the rescuers can go in and find them because there are enough supplies in there for 36 miners for four days. So if you have only four people in there, three people in there, they could potentially extend that out longer than that.

So there is definitely the survivability in the area here, and it's just whether or not they survived the initial blast. And everyone that we have talked to about that, looking at the damage done by the initial blast, Sanjay Gupta here with us, the rail lines that carry the coal out and the miners in is twisted up like a pretzel.

So is it possible for the human body to survive a concussion shock like that?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I don't think so. And in fact as horrifying as it is to even think about, it's even difficult to identify sometimes these bodies. The key is when they get into the refuge chambers, they are in an airlock. So as high as the methane and carbon monoxide levels might be, if they were in the airlock, who knows?

ROBERTS: They have the breathing apparatuses there, and they have enough supplies for 36 people, so four people can really make that go a long way. If you consider five people were killed on one of those man trips 1,000 feet away from where the dead bodies were found, that doesn't bode well.

GUPTA: It really doesn't. These are such volatile gases. You're talking about an explosion force even in an open space like this would be significant.

A lot of people obviously paying attention to this now because of what's happened here, but when you walk around this community, as I know you have, John, the impact of what's been happening here on this community is something they've been talking about for a long time.

I had a chance to sit down and talk to a woman working on this, in part for personal reasons, but professional reasons as well. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: Lorella (ph) Scarborough is still waiting for any word from inside the mine. Friends and people she loves are not yet accounted for. But it took me just minutes to realize that while we all wait with her today, in fact Lorella (ph) has been waiting and worrying for decades.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're always concerned every time they walk out the door about an explosion and about the danger that exists there. There's so many things that can go wrong.

GUPTA: So many dangers, some intense and unpredictable, and others that seem to creep into miners lives over time. Lorella (ph)'s husband went to work at the mines for 30 years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Going a couple of miles underground in a very, very dark hole where it's dark and damp, and like I said before, if the mountain starts falling in on you, there is nowhere to go. And when the lights go out, you don't have any idea where to go or what to do.

GUPTA: That's in the case of an explosion, but Lorella (ph) is also talking about something else, slower deaths -- black lung, coal dust killing off your lungs and literally turning them black. Over the past decade, 10,000 miners have died of black lung disease. Kidney disease affects 20 percent of miners. And there's neurological complaints as well.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My daughter called me very early this morning and she was very, very upset because she said one of hardest things that she had to do was to send her husband to work today.

GUPTA (on camera): Today?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Today. He's terrified. We all are, because this could happen again today. We're disposable commodities here. And this is the only game in town.

GUPTA (voice-over): The waiting did end for Lorella (ph) a few years ago. GUPTA (on camera): This is your husband's gravestone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, it is.

GUPTA: What happened to him?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My husband was diagnosed with black lung, totally disabled with black lung by the time he was 51 years old.

GUPTA: What was he experiencing?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Extreme shortness of breath. I was really surprised the first time that I saw an x-ray of his lungs. He was a little guy, but his lungs were, when I saw the x-rays, they filled up his whole chest cavity. They looked like these balloons that had been blown up with black lung. He really, really suffered.

GUPTA: this was definitely due to coal mining?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely.

GUPTA (voice-over): There is something else that Lorella (ph) wanted to show me as well. This is her family cemetery. And you just see gravestones everywhere. Just about everyone here has died of a mining-related cause.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: It's just so hard to imagine that. You have the cemetery in your backyard, and that's the real impact here.

Lorella (ph) said something else to me, John, which I think about. She said "every time you turn on the light or use power, think of us" is what she said as I was leaving her. Again, a huge impact -- we have this water behind us, the impact of all of this mining, that's what why look at today.

ROBERTS: So many things to consider when we consider how easy our lives have been made by people that work underground.

Sanjay Gupta for us this morning. Let's send it back to New York, and here's Kiran.

CHETRY: Very true. Thanks so much for that report, Sanjay.

Also the governor of West Virginia is saying we could still see a miracle at the Upper Big Branch mine. At 7:14 eastern we'll hear from one family that is waiting and still hoping for the best.

Plus, is it the right time to buy a home? More Americans are starting to say yes. We'll find out why and whether or not the timing is right if you're thinking about buying a home. Christine Romans will be "Minding your Business."

And hooked on pain pills -- we've heard the stories about doctors who've supplied the addicts. Now we'll show you the danger of doctors saying no.

It's 11 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.

The White House says next month's visit by Afghan President Hamid Karzai could be called off if he continues to make troubling remarks. Sunday Karzai told tribal leaders that they can stop a planned U.S. operation in Kandahar, and he also threatened to join the Taliban if the U.S. didn't stop pressuring him to reform.

White house economic adviser Paul Volcker says the U.S. may need to consider a value-added tax to get the deficit under control. The tax, similar to what's charged in Europe, is collected at every stage of the manufacturing cycle. Some call it a sales tax as well and eventually passed onto the consumer.

Right now let's go back to John in West Virginia. Hey, John.

ROBERTS: Good morning, Kiran. And the big news here is that they made a little more progress a little more quickly than they thought they were going to drilling the bore holes. A little more than three hours ago the first one punched through the area where it's believed the four remaining miners might be.

And they hope to get a couple more bore holes drilled today, clear out some of that air, leaving the potential that maybe by nightfall those rescue crews may be able to get back in and take a look for those four missing miners. As you can imagine the anxiety and the pain that the families of those men are going through right now not knowing if they are dead or alive.

Our Ed Lavandera is with us this morning. He has been talking to some of the folks around the area. And you found a woman who has a relative who may be among the four missing miners.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And that's where the focus is today. The governor of West Virginia just told us that today is going to be a big day. So you can imagine the amount of pain that is weighing on these peoples' hearts. Today, we spoke with Judy Petersen. Her brother, Dean Jones, 50 years old, the father of a 13- year-old boy, is believed to be trapped in there. So she's waiting desperately.

Just to kind of give you an idea, a lot of these immediate family members are being held inside the mine area, where they're able to get updates from company officials, state officials here. They're working on the mine site, so that pain extends all throughout this region as people are waiting for that phone call of any kind of news. We spoke with Judy Petersen about her brother's fate and how she's coping throughout all of this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JUDY PETERSEN, SISTER OF MISSING MINER DEAN JONES: My brother Dean is an incredible brother, an incredible father. He's the father of a 13-year-old child with cystic fibrosis.

LAVANDERA: Judy, you told me your brother Dean --

PETERSEN: Yes.

LAVANDERA: -- you believe is still trapped inside the mountain?

PETERSEN: I believe my brother is still trapped inside the mountain. The fact that he has not been found gives us hope that he may have been able to escape to safety. He wasn't working in the same area. He was deeper in the mines at a new area that was being developed by the company.

And there is a possibility that because his body has not been found that he's escaped with the other two crew members that work right side by side with him. And he may have escaped to a safety zone where there's food and water and oxygen, and actually be the miracle that could come out of this that all of us are waiting and hoping for.

LAVANDERA: And this waiting must be excruciating for your family.

PETERSEN: The waiting is excruciating because you want so badly to hold onto the hope that he's going to be all right. But you, at the same time, you know that this was a terrific explosion.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: And, John, she's really holding onto the hope that he was very far away from where this explosion happened. You know, but as some officials here have said, it's slim at this point but that's what they're holding on to.

ROBERTS: The problem is that the deeper in the mine the rescuers went, the higher the concentrations of gas. But you know, people keep talking. One name that they keep talking about Randal McCloy, the miracle of the Sago Mining disaster. He survived 41 hours underground. Nobody thought that he would live.

LAVANDERA: That's what they're holding on to.

ROBERTS: Ed Lavandera this morning. Ed, thanks.

Let's go back to Kiran in New York.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: John, thanks so much. Well, we've seen the housing boom, the housing bubble and of course, unfortunately, the housing bust. But now there are more people showing confidence in the housing market. Is it time to get back in?

Christine Romans is "Minding Your Business" this morning. We talked so much about who shouldn't buy and we talked so much about foreclosures, but who should be looking at whether or not it's time to buy?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And we're going to talk about interest rates, mortgage rates have jumped in the last week. I'm going to tell you that important news if you're thinking about buying if you're on the fence. I'm also going to tell you about this cautious optimism about the American dream of homeownership. That's right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Christine Romans is "Minding Your Business" right now at 21 minutes after the hour. We're asking the question, is now the time to buy? More homeowners think so. It's interesting news when we saw mortgage rates jump for the first time in a long time.

ROMANS: Yes. Mortgage rates, the 30-year fixed rate of a confirming loan is 5.31 percent now, so it's jumped to the highest since August. So if you're on the fence, you're thinking about buying, those mortgage rates are going up as many people have said they are. But focusing in on how people feel about homeownership after all we've been through in the housing crisis is still the American dream or is it the American nightmare.

And a really interesting study from Fannie Mae shows that two thirds of people still prefer to own a home and they prefer it for all the right reasons. Seventy-six percent prefer to buy a house and own a home for non-financial reasons, where you live, your schools, the stability, the commute, all the things that are old fashioned during the bubble. These are reasons why people who do believe in the American dream of homeownership still do. But, at the same time, people who are renting right now are very comfortable renting right now, because it's the financial stability and the cash flow of renting and not having the burden of homeownership as well. Seventy-nine percent of renters said they had a good experience as a renter.

So let's -- oh, let me get rid of my money here. All of my money. Sorry. OK. There we go.

Now, here are the challenges for homeowners. Sixty percent, it's harder to get a loan than it was for their parents. And even worse, almost 70 percent say it'll be harder for their children to get a loan. And that's true. We have seen that getting a home loan is much more difficult. The obstacles include bad credit, income and no down payment. You have to have 20 percent down. You have to have a 720 credit score. You have to have all of these barriers that so many people didn't have for so long.

Let me give you one last thing here. This is walking away. This is the new, the new debate in the homeownership equation, Kiran. Is it OK to walk away if you're delinquent? Walk away from this big important contract that you have. Eighty-eight percent say it's unacceptable. Eight percent said it's acceptable to walk away from a home loan if you're under water or you're somehow in trouble.

One last statistic, Kiran, to give you. Fascinating. You're much more likely to default if you know somebody who defaulted as well. Twice as likely to default, not pay your mortgage on time, if you know somebody who isn't as well. So what I will say is that it's cautious optimism about the American dream right now. But cautious optimism is much better than many people were fearing quite frankly after the past few years -- Kiran.

CHETRY: All right. Christine Romans for us, thanks so much.

Twenty-three minutes after the hour. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Twenty-six minutes past the hour. Your top stories just five minutes away. But first, an "A.M. Original," something you'll see only on AMERICAN MORNING.

You've seen the headlines from stars like Heath Ledger to Michael Jackson, but America's addiction to prescription drugs is growing in places far away from the spotlight. There's a new study that says prescription drug overdoses were up by two-thirds from 1999 to 2006. Today in our series "Addicted," Carol Costello shows us that it can deadly not only for the addict but for the doctor who comes between the addict and his fix.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Small-town America with a big problem, pill poppers.

DANIELLE SANDLIN, DAUGHTER OF DR. DENNIS SANDLIN: I didn't really realize how bad it was getting until after I have gotten out of college.

COSTELLO: Danielle Sandlin grew up in Eastern Kentucky. Her father was a doctor who, like other doctors in this part of the country, watched prescription drug abuse spiral out of control.

(on camera): In December, things came to a head here in Cornettsville, Kentucky, population 792.

(voice-over): In this clinic, Danielle's father, Dr. Dennis Sandlin, refused to prescribe painkillers for a man he suspected was an addict. Police say that man, John Combs, left angry and came back with a gun.

SANDLIN: My dad was writing in a chart at the nurse's station. They -- someone heard my dad say, you don't want to do this, I take care of a lot of elderly people. He said, well, you didn't help me. And that's when he shot him.

COSTELLO: Dr. Sandlin's murder didn't come as a shock to Dr. David Greene. He works at a family practice clinic in Berea. Addicts often come to his clinic to shop for doctors. They use every trick in the book to get them to prescribe powerful pain medication like OxyContin. It can get ugly.

(on camera): So have you had people come in and scream at you?

DR. DAVID GREENE: Yes.

COSTELLO: Physically push you? Or cut you?

GREENE: Oh, I have less of a problem because I'm male and taller so -- but one of the things we have to do in our office because I'm the only male doctor, I'm sort of on call for situations like that that involve anybody else. And I'll deal with them.

COSTELLO (voice-over): But some doctors do refuse to deal with it. They no longer write prescriptions for pain medication for anyone, regardless of need. Detectives in Louisville can understand that. They arrest two or three suspects a day who routinely call in fraudulent prescriptions to pharmacists.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, this is a forged prescription that you went and picked up, not just once, a bunch of times. Do you know who's calling these in?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it you? Claiming to be --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It wasn't in the beginning, but yes.

COSTELLO: It's become an old tired story.

DETECTIVE STEVE WATTS, FIGHTING ILLEGAL PRESCRIPTION DRUG USE: That's actually her at the pharmacy.

COSTELLO: Detective Steve Watts is dedicated to fighting just one kind of drug crime. Illegal prescription drug use. He's looking at surveillance tape of a woman who allegedly used a doctor's name to call in a prescription for Xanax.

WATTS: There she is with the same distinctive bag, her Wal-Mart bag walking out.

COSTELLO: We rode along with Detective Watts.

WATTS: We're almost here.

COSTELLO: It wasn't long before she appeared, along with her father and that purse.

WATTS: If I can make this the worse day of her life so that tomorrow she will seek treatment, then I've won.

COSTELLO: Back in Cornettsville, there are no winners. Dr. Sandlin's alleged killer has yet to face trial. He says he's not guilty.

SANDLIN: He has to see what he's done. He has to look at my family and know what he did, took somebody's life. It's the lives of his patients, that community. You know, it's everybody. (END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: It is everybody. Danielle is working with a number of groups to make it safer for doctors to practice medicine. She says the creation of a national prescription data base would allow doctors to see what other drugs they're patients are taking.

Dr. Green, Kiran, is working too. His clinic has informed every pharmacist in (INAUDIBLE) Kentucky, they are no longer calling in prescriptions. He's also working on a committee seeking other solutions to what's becoming an out of control problem.

But Kiran, as you well know because I watched your story yesterday, you know, these patients come in and there's no way to really tell if a patient is in pain, you know, besides, you know, the obvious if they have cancer or if they broken bones. Because the only way a doctor has of finding out if you're in pain, is if he asks you and it's very tough to tell if an addict is lying or not. Very tough for doctors, and he's been fooled, Dr. Green, before.

CHETRY: It is - you know, it's a growing problem though and that I have seen this spike happen right at the time that retail sales of these pain, these narcotic opiates that contain methadone and other things started coming on to the market as well. You know, as we talked to Dr. Robert Shaw yesterday hr said that these are not medications you should be giving for people in chronic pain. This after a certain amount of time, you know, you become resistant to them and need more.

COSTELLO: Well, the real problem is there's nothing in the middle, you either take Tylenol for pain or you take Oxycontin. There's no middle ground here. It's either a very powerful pain medication or something like Tylenol. So maybe we need to develop new pain medications for people who are not in extreme pain but just need pain pills for a while.

CHETRY: Yes. Carol Costello for us. Great piece. Thanks so much. And we're, of course, asking people to go to our Web site, cnn.com/amfix if they would like to weigh in on this series. Meanwhile, we're crossing the half hour. Time for a look at the top stories this morning.

A drill managed to puncture through the ceiling of a West Virginia mine allowing workers to try to start to clear out the toxic air and attempt to contact the missing miners by banging on pipes lowered inside. More bore holes are on the way right now. And toxic gases have to vent before rescuers get the OK to go back in. That may happen by this afternoon. There still is a danger that drilling could spark another explosion.

Space shuttle "Discovery" able to dock at the International Space Station this morning despite a faulty antenna, knocking out radar tracking. The mission includes three space walks and it is the first time that four women have been in space at once. "Discovery" should return in about two weeks. And it's not snow, a spring storm in Kansas dumps buckets of hail in less than 30 minutes. People sent running for cover. Homeowners say their lawns were quickly covered under a bed of pea-sized hail. Gutters and drains also overloaded. And those are the headlines right now. We're going to go back to John in West Virginia. Hey, John.

ROBERTS: Hey, Kiran. Don Blankenship is a titan of coal. He is the CEO of one of top five mining companies in America, Massey Energy Company, which owns the mine where we saw that disaster on Monday. He doesn't believe in global warming. He believes people who support global warming "greeniacs."

He has contributed tens of thousands of dollars to federal political candidates. In recent years, 100 percent of them are Republican. And he has spent millions of dollars of his own money to help elect a Supreme Court judge who turned around and ruled favorably for the company in a $50 million lawsuit.

He's always been a controversial figure but he is under new scrutiny now with word of the number of violations against the mine that was involved in Monday's accident. 638 of them in just the past 15 months. And seven violations for ventilation problems during the month of March and then there was that toxic explosive buildup of methane gas and coal dust, which led many to question, why the mine is even operating at all.

And I put that question to Blankenship yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DON BLANKENSHIP, CEO, MASSEY ENERGY: Well, I think the reason that it is operating is all of the people who are very knowledgeable of mining, whether they be the federal government or the state government or Massey, had concluded that the mine was safe to operate. And these violations and the efforts on the ventilation are efforts to improve it. And I think that everyone involved thought that we had proper ventilation and of course, don't know for 100 percent sure what happened yet. So we can't speculate on it.

ROBERTS: MSHA kept coming back at you saying you need to fix your ventilation problem. You need to fix your ventilation problem. It seemed as though someone at least thought there was a problem.

BLAKENSHIP: Well, I don't know that they thought that there was a problem that hadn't been corrected. You don't go back to get a new ventilation plan or an altered ventilation plan unless the experts involved agree that the altered ventilation plan will achieve the desired results. So as far as I'm aware, and I'm sure is the case everyone had agreed that ventilation plan was safe and adequate.

ROBERTS: So many violations that were filed against this company. 638, I believe in 2009 until now. Why so many violations?

BLAKENSHIP: Well, first of all, it's a large coal mine with five operating sections and lots of people which causes the number to be higher than you might see on average at a one section coal mine across the country. Of course, under - since the Sago incident and (INAUDIBLE), there's been a lot of scrutiny focused effort to make sure the mines are safer. And the result of that has been not only at Massey but throughout the industry, more violations in an effort to make a big improvement in the safety.

ROBERTS: One person told me, a source who chose to remain anonymous told me that you were one of the worst operators in terms of the number of violations and the severity of those violations?

BLAKENSHIP: We would disagree in terms of the condition of our mines. The number of violations can depend on what area you're operating in, what district and who the inspectors are and a whole host of issues. And we're a big producer, but the truth is that we are doing a better job in our mines typically than what we observe otherwise.

ROBERTS: But sources who were involved with mine safety regulations say that Massey has attracted more than its fair share of violations over the years.

BLAKENSHIP: Well, I think that based on what we know, the due diligence we've done on acquisitions and the times we've been around other mines that our mines are typically in better shape than others that are in the area or in the country. And our NFDL rate has been lower 18 in the last 20 years, you know, better than 18 in the last 20 years than the industry average and our creativity on safety is second to none. So we would take great exception to the fact that someone would claim Massey's mines aren't generally safer than competitor coal mines.

ROBERTS: We've had several complaints from families that Massey has not reached out to them, not telephoned immediate family members about the situation. Can you explain what happened?

BLAKENSHIP: Well, I don't know any particular incidents, but I know that we're updating the families every two hours with our chief operating officer and other key people involved. I've been to three of them myself. And we're giving them the best information that we have available. You know, whether someone was missed for some reason or whatever, I don't know. But we have set up a communications center for the family that's functioning every two hours.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: And back on the issue of violations, you heard Blankenship say that since the 2006 Miner Act, the number of violations has increased because the regulations have been tightened up. But at the same time, the number of violations that the companies are challenging has increased as well. Massey Energy Company is now challenging fully a third of the number of violations that have been filed against it in recent years.

And coming up in our next hour here in the most news in the morning, we're going to be talking with one of the co-sponsors of the Miner Act, Congressman Nick Rahall and ask him about the effects of all of this and how you make sure that these mines are coming into compliance with the regulations. All of that coming your way next hour. Kiran?

CHETRY: Thank you.

We're going to take a quick break and we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Some more progress being made this morning in the on-going efforts to get to four trapped miners in West Virginia. They were able to drill at least one bore hole through the ceiling of the mine to release any toxic air. Rescuers could get the OK to head back in this afternoon.

Meantime, 25 people are confirmed dead in this latest mine tragedy. And this morning the search for answers continues. Tony Oppeguard is an attorney who represents coal miners on safety issues. And he joins us from Lexington, Kentucky this morning. Tony, great to talk with you.

TONY OPPEGARD, ATTORNEY WHO REPRESENTS COAL MINERS IN SAFETY- RELATED MATTERS: Hi, Kiran.

CHETRY: As we know, you've been involved in a lot of these safety investigations. When you take a look at the safety record of this company in particular in this mine, they received 458 citations from federal inspectors in 2009 alone. And according to the documents more than 50 percent were problem - 50 of them were problems that the operators knew about but hadn't corrected. And many are asking this morning, could this accidents have been prevented?

OPPEGARD: Well, it certainly could have been prevented. This was an act of man that was not an act of god. And I think for the CEO of Massey to suggest that the accident was preventable dishonors those miners who were killed as well as their families.

CHETRY: You mean to suggest that this accident couldn't have been prevented?

OPPEGARD: Correct. It could not have been prevented.

CHETRY: Right.

OPPEGARD: And any explosion, Kiran is preventable. This explosion did not have to happen. And should not have happened.

CHETRY: We take a look at some of the violations just from this last month. This is just from March. They have failure to control dust. They were shown to be in violation of that. Improper ventilation plan, inadequate protection from roof falls, failing to maintain proper escape ways and also allowing the accumulation of combustible materials. You know, people see this list and see how was this mine even allowed to continue operating.

OPPEGARD: Well, there isn't a mechanism under the Federal Mine safety Law to shut down a mine basically. Usually if there's a disaster, which most miners die one at a time, but after the investigation is completed usually that mine goes right back on production. And there really isn't a mechanism under the Mine Act to shut down a problem mine such as this.

But clearly there were red flags here and their safety record was not very enviable. And those types of citations really show a culture that is not committed to safety and not committed to protecting the miners who work there.

CHETRY: And if the company is not going to do it, I mean, the federal regulators are supposed to at least, you know, have some say in making sure that the workplaces are safe.

And I remember the talk after the Sago Mine disaster, we asked similar questions after the Crandall Creek Mine accident, where people said if you know these violations are taking place, especially major violations when it comes to the possibility of collapses or explosions because of improper ventilation, why can't the feds go in and shut it down at that time and then work out through the courts or work out through any contesting of these citations later on after the safety of the miners is ensured?

OPPEGARD: Well, one point you make is a good one. That is that the operator does have the legal right to contest any violation. They can argue that the unsafe condition did not exist or that the negligence that the agency is alleging wasn't as great as alleged. So there is a legal process.

But there's a provision under the mine act called pattern of violations, which is a provision that MSHA have not used through the years and has never been implemented in the way that Congress intended it to be implemented.

And that is if a mine operator shows a pattern of violations and refuses to correct those violations and continues to have those violations, that MSHA can put them, send them a letter telling them they are on the pattern and then if any what's called an S&S violation is found in the next several inspections, that mine can be shut down in those areas.

MSHA did not use that provision and that's one of the things that Congress needs to take a look at. MSHA certainly needs to take a look at, bolstering that provision for the way it was originally intended by Congress.

CHETRY: I got you. All right. Well, Tony Oppegard, an attorney who represents coal miners in these safety related matters. Thanks so much for your time this morning. We appreciate it.

OPPEGARD: Thank you, Kiran.

CHETRY: We're going to take a quick break and we'll be back. It's 44 minutes past the hour.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Under there you think about everybody. You're cautious about yourself, but you're also cautious about someone else.

I mean, the room could fall, a roof can fill out or something. It's random. Anything could happen. But that, I don't know.

It's a dangerous job, but it's one of good ones.

ROBERTS: The ever-present dangers associated with mining. A dangerous job, but a good one.

It does bring, particularly to this part of America, above- average salaries, but the work is so, so difficult and - and so dangerous and so claustrophobic - I mean, imagine, if you will, next time you go into your basement at night, turn off the light. Try to find your way out.

Then, think of that 1,000 feet underground, with you being more than a mile away from the stairs. Those are the conditions that miners live in every day, should something go wrong. So they take with them a set of safety gear to help them do their jobs and also help keep them safe whenever an emergency might happen.

We caught up with a coal miner by the name of Chris. He didn't want us to use his last name. He does a lot of maintenance in several of the mines around the area, and, in his own words, he walks us through the equipment that he takes into the mine each and every day.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS, WEST VIRGINIA COAL MINE WORKER: Every coal miner, when he's ready to go underground, he has to have on metatarsal boots. You have to have on striped pants and a striped shirt. Most prefer long- sleeves. It's - it can get cool underground at times. Most of the time it's a good, comfortable temperature.

You have a light, which comes up, and that's what you see with underground. You have an MSA hardhat to keep rocks from falling on your head and cutting you open.

You carry a hammer and a brass tag with your name and the last four of your Social Security in it, in case something does happen.

This is NCSR (ph). This is what contains oxygen, breathable oxygen. It - it has enough oxygen in there to get it started. You breathe back into it, it turns carbon dioxide back into oxygen so you can keep breathing it. It gets very hot after about 30 minutes, but it makes oxygen for an hour.

For you to get - these are located in large groups, every 30 minutes in a coal mine, at walking speed, so that you can get another one and change it out.

This is a three gas detector, that is - it measures the amount of methane in the air, it measures the amount of oxygen in the air and it measures the amount of carbon monoxide in the air. Whenever this goes off, it makes a very loud beeping and it vibrates. When it's against you, it lets you know - if you don't hear it beeping, it vibrates so that you will feel it and it is very annoying. You will know when it goes off.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: And in addition to all of that, as a result of the 2006 Miner Act, every thousand feet in the working seams in these coal mines are these so-called refuge chambers. And the best way to describe them would be you -

You know what the inflatable slide looks like on an aircraft. It's all packaged that you pull the pin and, boom, you get this big slide. It's an inflatable room, so it basically sits there on a panel along a mined-out room of coal, and if there's an emergency that happens, it requires them to go into it.

They open the door. They punch a button and, bam, like an escape slide does on an aircraft, it inflates into this big plastic room with an air lock, and it's got its own air supply. So they could go into that if they need to get away from the dangers of the coal mine.

So - so a little bit of what coal miners face every day and the equipment that they have to take underneath with them.

You're watching special coverage of the coal mine disaster here in West Virginia. Let's send it back to New York, and here's Kiran.

CHETRY: John, thanks.

And we're getting a lot of comments on our blog this morning about many of the stories, including our A.M. special series, "Addicted" that we've been doing.

Vanessa, who's a pharmacist, writes in, there is medication in between Tylenol and OxyContin. She says that it - it's important to remember that there's Lidocaine patches, there are other substances that you can take that are not as addicting.

And, of course, one of the doctors that we spoke to said there's not enough attention paid to some herbal cures, also doing things like - like acupuncture and in some cases physical therapy to try to heal chronic pain.

A couple of people are weighing in about whether or not a value- added tax would be something. We talked about Paul Volcker saying that that may be a solution to some of America's problems right now. Many people writing in about feeling that they have a lot of taxes.

"The only way value added tax would fly is if states significantly lower sale taxes in conjunction," that coming from Alex.

And this one, I just have to quickly say, because we talked about the UConn women winning yet again, and somebody points - points out that it was actually 78 games that they won, not 78 championships in a row. Marlin (ph), thank you for the correction. I guess Rob Marciano was just too nice to say that to me this morning.

Head to our blog, by the way, if you'd like to weigh in on anything going on in our show, cnn.com/amfix. We'll be reading your comments throughout the morning.

Speaking of Rob, he's going to be by shortly to give us our extended forecast, coming up in just a couple of minutes.

It's 52 minutes past the hour.

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CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the morning. Right now, it's five minutes before the top of the hour.

We have some new developments surrounding the bullying death of Phoebe Prince. Three Massachusetts high school students have entered not guilty pleas in connection with the teen suicide. Three other teens will be arraigned tomorrow. In all, as many as nine teens face charges from statutory rape to stalking.

Prosecutors argue that their relentless abuse led to the 15-year- old's suicide.

We're going to Northampton, Massachusetts. That's where Alina Cho has been following the latest on this story for us.

Good morning, Alina.

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kiran. Good morning to you.

There has been so much outrage in this community ever since 15- year-old Phoebe Prince committed suicide in January by hanging herself in the stairwell of her home, so many people asking who's to blame - fellow students, school administrators, parents?

Well, three of the accused were arraigned yesterday, but they were not in court.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We ask that not guilty pleas be entered at this time.

CHO (voice-over): The arraignment of 17-year-old Sean Mulveyhill, 17-year-old Kayla Narey and 18-year-old Austin Renaud, the three teens facing the most serious charges in the Phoebe Prince case, lasted less than five minutes. All three will be booked by the end of the week and released on this condition.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That they stay away from the Prince family.

CHO: The case has put a national spotlight on bullying, with many local parents blaming school officials in South Hadley, Massachusetts for not putting a stop to it. In neighboring Chicopee, Massachusetts, school administrators there say when it comes to bullying, they have a zero tolerance policy.

JOSEPH MORRISSETTE, SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICER, CHICOPEE POLICE: I think we have as many incidents of bullying as other schools have. The difference here is how we deal with them.

CHO: At Chicopee Comprehensive High School, adult monitors in every hallway, high tech surveillance cameras, even an armed police officer.

DEREK MORRISON, PRINCIPAL, CHICOPEE COMPREHENSIVE HIGH SCHOOL: I think teenagers respond well to adults. I think in general they respect the teachers here in the building and they - they also lean on them when they do need help.

CHO (on camera): They also know they can't get away with it.

MORRISON: That's true. That is true.

CHO (voice-over): And they're not just watching the students, they're getting parents involved too, something that some allege didn't happen in South Hadley.

CHO (on camera): You actually also send a questionnaire out to parents -

MORRISON: Yes.

CHO: -- every single year.

MORRISON: Every year, a bullying survey. Yes.

CHO: Eighty to 90 percent of parents come back and say we're happy with the job you're doing.

MORRISON: Yes.

CHO (voice-over): Chicopee's mayor says times have changed, so their policies have too.

MICHAEL BISSONNETTE, MAYOR, CHICOPEE, MASSACHUSETTS: Back in the day, it used to be kids fighting on the playground, and the noon moms or the lunch moms would get out there and they break it up and that would be the end of it, you know, sort of boys would be boys.

And, somehow, it's gotten worse, that when school lets out, the bullying doesn't let up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHO: Well, the three teens arraigned yesterday in absentia will be in court on September 15th.

Meanwhile, three other girls charged in this case will be arraigned in juvenile court tomorrow, but, Kiran, at least one of them, we're hearing, has waived her right to appear - Kiran.

CHETRY: Alina Cho for us following the latest on that story. Thanks so much.

We're going to take a quick break. Your top stories coming your way in just two minutes. We'll be right back.

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