Man describes issues at mine during trial of former coal CEO

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - During ex-Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship's trial, a former miner testified management required alerting underground miners when federal inspectors had arrived.

In Charleston federal court Thursday, ex-Massey miner Bobbie Pauley said managers, up to Massey subsidiary president Christopher Blanchard, ordered the warnings at Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia. She said underground workers would stop mining and quickly attend to neglected safety problems.

She said Blankenship himself didn't tell her to make the warnings.

Pauley said an inspector was nearby when she once made a warning call, and former mine superintendent Gary May told her not to let the inspector hear.

Blankenship is charged with conspiring to break mine safety laws and lying to financial regulators about safety practices at the mine, which exploded in 2010, killing 29 miners.