There was no formal ceremony at the UBB memorial marker in Whitesville, West Virginia, not far from the site of the Raleigh County explosion. Nevertheless, hundreds of people arrived to privately mark the anniversary.
At the county seat in Beckley, the Beckley-Raleigh County Chamber of Commerce honored the victims with a permanent marker on the lawn of its courthouse, unveiling it in a morning ceremony. West Virginia governor Earl Ray Tomblin asked the state and nation’s industry to observe a moment of silence at the explosion time of 3.01pm.
The Upper Big Branch Mining Memorial Group, which worked to develop the Whitesville memorial park, said on Friday that families and community members were still struggling to cope with the disaster’s enormity.
“We are encouraged by the recent news that mine safety legislation in Washington, which would address the failures that led to the UBB disaster, is being reworked and proposed again this year after past attempts in 2010, 2011 and 2012,” director Mike Gwinn said.
“We remind the West Virginia state delegation of the content of their speeches at the UBB memorial dedication last July and urge them to work diligently to follow through on those words.”
The group gathered on Friday to lay a wreath at the park.
Mine health and safety regulations also were at the forefront for the nation’s largest industry union, the United Mine Workers of America.
“It is a travesty that we have reached this point so long after this tragedy occurred and Congress still has not done anything to improve mine safety and health laws, so that other families won't have to suffer as the Upper Big Branch families have,” United Mine Workers of America president Cecil Roberts said.
“We heard repeatedly in the weeks, months and years after the disaster that action would be taken in Congress after all the facts about what caused it were in. That proved to be false.
“Miners and their families need more than lip service from congressional leadership. They need action.”
The UBB mine remained closed after the accident, and an announcement was made on the first anniversary of the explosion that it would be permanently shut.
Owned by Massey Energy at the time of the incident, it was sold in June 2011 to Alpha Natural Resources in the producer’s takeover of Massey.
