Galax, Virginia (Platts)--17Jan2013/205 pm EST/1905 GMT

Gary May, a defendant who pleaded guilty in the ongoing criminal investigation into the April 2010 explosion at the Upper Big Branch coal mine in West Virginia, received Thursday a 21-month federal prison sentence.

May, a superintendent at the Massey Energy-owned underground mine at the time of the accident, was charged in February 2012 with conspiring to impede the US Mine Safety and Health Administration's enforcement at the mine prior to the explosion that killed 29 miners.

May received 21 months behind bars from US District Judge Irene Berger in a Beckley, West Virginia, courtroom, according to Melvin Smith, a spokesman for US Attorney Booth Goodwin, who prosecuted the case.

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May had faced a maximum penalty of five years in prison, but had argued for a more lenient sentence because he cooperated in the ongoing federal criminal investigation into the explosion.

May pleaded guilty March 29, 2012, to conspiracy to impede MSHA enforcement efforts at the mine in Raleigh County, West Virginia, between February 2008 and April 5, 2010, when the explosion occurred.

Alpha Natural Resources acquired Massey in June 2011 and has since permanently closed the Upper Big Branch mine, which had not produced coal since the explosion, the deadliest US coal mine explosion in 40 years.

--Steve Hooks, steve_hooks@platts.com
--Edited by Keiron Greenhalgh, keiron_greenhalgh@platts.com

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