It looks like things are going to stay that way too.
In a rare interview, with the Wall Street Journal this week, Blankenship, who reportedly lives in Kentucky, said he had no imminent plans to return to the coal business once his non-compete agreement with the company ended at the end of the year.
"I don't have much in the way of plans with coal," he said, noting the loss of competitiveness for Appalachian coal against natural gas was a position the industry was likely to be in for a long time.
However, last year Blankenship established McCoy Coal Group in what appeared to be a foray back into the industry. He also serves as an officer for numerous firms.
However, he told the paper that mining was not part of his direction and that he had no plans for reserve purchases or mining permit applications.
“It is easier to make money in the stock market than coal,” Blankenship said.
With an online presence via a personal website – outfitted in a patriotic color scheme – as well as recent activity on Twitter following an extended absence, many speculated the former executive was eyeing a political turn.
Not so, he told the WSJ.
“I don't think I'm electable,” he said, though he added he reserved the right to change that decision and “run for something just to speak my mind".
Just months after Blankenship left the helm of Massey, the Virginia-based producer was acquired by Alpha Natural Resources in a $US7.1 billion deal. That transaction closed in June 2011.
Former Massey lead outside director Bobby Inman told the WSJ he expected Blankenship would come back to coal at some point.
“If it's a private investment, his best features would show, and not the ones that caused him so much trouble in a public company,” Inman said.
“He remains the single most broadly knowledgeable manager about the coal business that I've ever encountered.”
Despite it all, the former Massey chief executive officer still holds strong opinions about the coal industry, particularly market conditions.
He placed blame for ongoing price weaknesses on the low natural gas price as well as other factors.
“So it's been a host of things that have really hurt the industry," he told the WSJ, noting that while those less expensive mines in Illinois and Wyoming would be competitive again as gas prices “normalized” the future of Appalachia was much more bleak.
“Central Appalachia steam coal is in big trouble. I don't really see them being competitive with gas for a long time," he said.
Earlier this week, former Massey subsidiary Green Valley Resource Group president David Hughart agreed to plead guilty to two federal crimes related in part to the UBB mine disaster.
Hughart was charged with conspiring to impede the Mine Safety and Health Administration as well as conspiring to violate mine health and safety laws.
He is the highest ranking official charged in an ongoing federal investigation of Massey and has agreed to cooperate with investigators.
