A federal mine inspector testified today that he never told Massey Energy official Chris Blanchard that it was illegal to call underground and inform Massey miners that a government inspector was heading their way.

Harold Hayhurst, a 17-year veteran of the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, said he was trained from the start of his career that such warnings were against the law.

“It hampers your inspection,” Hayhurst said. “You don’t get to see the mine as it actually is when you are not there.”
Hayhurst took the stand this morning as the criminal trial of ex-Massey CEO Don Blankenship entered its 18th day of testimony.

Defense lawyers were not allowed — as they had requested Friday — to re-cross examine Blanchard, but U.S. District Judge Irene Berger did not publicly explain her reason for that decision, or even mention in the jury’s presence that she had ruled on the matter. Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg McVey called Hayhurst to counter earlier testimony by Blanchard that an MSHA inspector, later identified as Hayhurst, had told him that inspections start when inspectors arrive on mine property, so that guards or dispatchers calling underground to alert miners was not against the law.

The charges against Blankenship include conspiracy to hinder MSHA by providing advance notice of inspections.

Today Hayhurst first testified that inspections start when inspectors arrive on mine property, but then said they start when inspectors review a mine file while still in their MSHA offices.

During cross-examination, defense lawyer Blair Brown noted that MSHA has admitted that prior to 2011, after advance notice at UBB became an issue following the April 2010 mine disaster, agency officials did not provide clear guidance about what behavior constitutes illegal advance notice. Berger did not allow either side to question Hayhurst about a 2002 court ruling that concluded advance notice involves any sort of warning “given before MSHA inspectors reach a particular mine face in order to inspect that mine.”

Hayhurst insisted today that the conversation Blanchard described never occurred.

“I don’t recall a conversation like that and I don’t think I would have told him wrong,” Hayhurst said.