CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - The lawyer for the only person convicted so far in the Upper Big Branch mine disaster predicts the Mine Safety and Health Administration will increasingly pursue criminal prosecutions.
At a Charleston mining symposium, attorney Bill Wilmoth said three bills in Congress all call for stiffer penalties.
He urged operators to involve lawyers early and often when there's word of an investigation, and to consider whether the company and employees need separate representation.
He says they should also consider whether to cooperate with investigators and turn over requested documents. He says that's what got his client, former security chief Hughie Elbert Stover, in trouble.
Stover was convicted last fall of lying to investigators and trying to destroy records after the explosion that killed 29 miners in West Virginia. He's awaiting sentencing.