West Virginia
Search for coal miner trapped in flooded West Virginia mine continues for third day
A coal miner remains missing and trapped after catastrophic flooding struck the Rolling Thunder Mine in Drennen, Nicholas County, in central West Virginia, over the weekend. The miner—a crew foreman whose name has not yet been released—was assisting his team to safety when he was caught by rising waters.
The torrent was unleashed deep inside the mine when an unknown pocket was struck. The incident occurred about three-quarters of a mile into the Rolling Thunder Mine, which is owned by Alpha Metallurgical Resources (AMR). Other crew members managed to escape, but the foreman was overtaken by the flood.
The accident was reported at around 1:30 p.m. Saturday to the county emergency management office; all other miners on the team have been accounted for. The area remains flooded and the extent of the devastation below ground is still unclear.
Rescue operations began promptly and have been complicated by challenging conditions such as murky water, unstable underground air pockets, and the sheer depth of the site. For three days, crews have coordinated with county officials, state agencies, and national cave rescue experts.
Divers are working to locate any air pockets that may have provided a temporary refuge for the missing miner. Teams have employed underwater drones to try and pinpoint his location while simultaneously pumping water from the flooded section and drilling boreholes to lower water levels more rapidly.
The complexity of the effort reflects both the seriousness of the situation and the persistent danger in the coal mining industry.
The West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health, Safety, and Training (OMHST) and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) have been present on the scene. West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey, while covering for the $2 billion mining corporation, has postured as a friend of the miners saying, “There is nothing that we would spare to try to save the life of the miner,” and assuring that all available resources, including national experts, are being utilized in the search operation. The company has not issued a single word on the disaster.
Nicholas County Commissioner Garrett Cole described the scene as one of relentless work and notes that while divers have entered the mine more than once, the process of pumping out enough water to allow exploration remains an immense challenge.
AMR has not answered critical questions about safety protocols and mine conditions at Rolling Thunder Mine. Backing up the governor, UMWA President Cecil Roberts and Region 2 Director Mike Dalpiaz have stepped in to divert and contain the anger of coal miners.
Roberts issued a statement that did not hold the company or the government responsible, saying, “This disaster is a reminder of the risks our miners confront daily, and we will do everything possible to support our brothers, their families, and the teams working underground now.”
Dalpiaz went further making the absurd statement that the UMWA, “stands ready to ensure that safety remains the priority, and we urge the company and regulators not to cut corners during this perilous search.”
AMR, with headquarters in Bristol, Tennessee, controls 11 underground mines and multiple surface mines in West Virginia and Virginia. The mine originally opened in 2005, employs about 25 workers, and extracts metallurgical coal, with property owned outright through Nicholas Contura LLC, an Alpha subsidiary.
Rolling Thunder’s coal seam extends along and below the drainage of TwentyMile Creek, with extensive historical records from prior operators. An engineering report prepared for AMR in February 2025 stated that “no significant hydrologic concerns” existed for further coal extraction at the property, which raises critical questions about the subordination of a mine safety evaluation that failed to anticipate this flood to the corporate and financial interests at AMR.
Once again, like every workplace disaster, the events at Rolling Thunder Mine show how the capitalism subordinates life-threatening risks faced by miners to the drive for profit.
Just days before the Rolling Thunder flood, on Thursday, November 6, 25-year-old Joey Mitchell Jr. was killed at Mettiki Coal’s Mountain View Mine in Mount Storm, Tucker County. Mitchell died before dawn while working underground; another individual was seriously injured and airlifted to the hospital.
While Governor Morrisey was quick to mourn Mitchell’s death and call for West Virginians to keep his family, friends, and fellow miners “in our thoughts and prayers,” details about the cause of the accident remain undisclosed, continuing the stonewalling policy among coal industry operators and local authorities.
According to reports, this was not the first fatality at the Mettiki Coal site. On January 16, 2014, Daniel Lambka, a 20-year-old worker was crushed to death in a coal feeder accident at the Mountain View Mine. MSHA officials detemined that the coal company has been negligent by failing to prevent the equipment from moving.
Mettiki Coal’s parent company, Alliance Resource Partners, also had safety violations at other operations.
In 2010, a roof collapse at the Dotiki Mine in Kentucky claimed the lives of two miners, Justin Travis and Michael Carter. That same year, the Dotiki operation accumulated 216 MSHA citations.
There have been at least three other mining fatalities in 2025 in West Virginia. These include:
- On January 29, Steven Fields, a 55-year-old drill operator, was killed at the Twilight Surface Mine in Boone County.
- In February, Billy Stalker, 46, a contractor with Wright Concrete Underground LLC, died in an underground incident.
- On August 26, Eric Bartram, 41, a preparation plant electrician, was fatally injured at the Marfork Preparation Plant in Raleigh County.
The number of fatal mine accidents in 2025 has been rising at an alarming rate despite the sharp reduction in mining employment. According to MSHA, fatalities reached 18 by early August, outpacing 2024, which had 12 by the same point. The industry is on pace for about 30 fatalities for 2025, matching 2022’s year-end total. The increase in death rates comes amid ongoing attacks on safety enforcement, including funding cuts, elimination of federal programs, and a drive to lower standards and oversight by MSHA and OSHA.
Wayne Palmer, Trump’s nominee who was approved for Assistant Secretary of Labor for MSHA previously held executive posts in mining and mineral industry business associations.
Jordan Barab, a former OSHA official and publisher of the “Confined Spaces” blog who continues to tally the rising fatalities, stressing that they are neither accidental nor random but the direct product of deliberate corporate and government policies that place profits over lives.
Among the workplace deaths reported by Barab on Tuesday alone were 14 workers killed in the UPS plane crash in Louisville, Kentucky; a postal worker killed in a collision with a pick-up truck in Aliceville, Alabama; and a lawn maintenance worker was killed when his lawn mower rolled onto him in Bryan County, Oklahoma.
On Saturday morning, a postal worker in Allen Park, Michigan—a suburb of Dearborn—was found dead after becoming trapped in a mail handling machine at the United States Postal Service facility. The 36-year-old man, identified as a maintenance worker, was discovered by firefighters after his wife contacted authorities when he failed to return home following his shift.
He had been stuck in the machine for approximately six to eight hours before his body was found. As is the case with many workplace fatalities, the USPS facility remains operational, while federal authorities are conducting an investigation. No details about the circumstances leading to the accident have been released.
Seven months ago, Ronald Adams Sr. was crushed to death at the Stellantis Dundee Engine Plant in Michigan when a automatic hoist cycled unexpectedly during maintenance. The Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA) says the case is “still open” and Adams’s family and co-workers remains without answers from the company or the United Auto Workers although full production has resumed.
The rise in workplace deaths is taking place globally. As enormous wealth concentrates in fewer hands—with the billionaire elite soon growing into the trillionaire elite—workers are being killed and injured at alarming rates.
With the approval of both the Democrats and Republicans and the backing of the union officialdom, owners are being shielded while workers die, are maimed, or denied compensation and their families left with no answers.
This situation will not be reversed by either capitalist party or the union apparatus. Workers themselves must act—organizing independent rank-and-file committees to enforce safety, demand accountability and safeguard lives through direct intervention in the workplace.
Delegate Larry Kump of Berkeley County has died, state officials announced. Kump was 78 years old.
Kump, a Republican, served in the House from 2010 to 2014, again from 2018 to 2020 and finally 2022 to the present. He had announced plans to run again in the coming electoral cycle.
“As a battle-tested and liberty minded Christian and Constitutional Conservative, my consecrated action principles of good governance remains solid and steadfast,” he wrote to supporters in January.
He had been serving in the ongoing legislative session, but had been absent in recent weeks.
The daily prayer in the House of Delegates this past Wednesday included an expression of concern for Kump: “A special prayer for Delegate Larry Kump. Lord, you know where he is in the hospital now, and I pray right now that you would send your angels there to touch him, to be with him.”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced Kump’s death on social media, calling Kump “a devoted public servant who dedicated many years of his life to improving West Virginia.
“Delegate Kump served with a deep commitment to the principles he believed would strengthen our communities and protect our freedoms.
“On behalf of the First Lady and myself, we extend our condolences to Larry’s family, friends, former colleagues, and all those who had the privilege of knowing and serving alongside him. His legacy of service and his love for our state will never be forgotten.”
Secretary of State Kris Warner also posted condolences to Kump’s family. “Larry was a conservative Christian and a true Mountaineer! He will be sadly missed by his friends and colleagues,” Warner posted.
The West Virginia Democratic Party also put out a statement to offer condolences, saying Kump’s work reflected a lifelong commitment to accountability, public policy, and the effective administration of government.
“Delegate Larry Kump devoted his life to his family, his community, and to his state. He brought experience, independence and thoughtfulness to his role, and he never lost sight of the people he served,” said Mike Pushkin, the Democratic Party chairman who is also a delegate from Kanawha County.
Kump was known for his turns of phrase, for example kicking off his comments on the House floor with “Great googly moogly” for emphasis. He often described his adoration for his “beloved and bodacious wife Cheryl.”
He regularly concluded interactions and written communications this way: “Meanwhile, and for sure and for certain, may God bless you all real good!”
West Virginia
Vape Safety Act of 2026 passes W.Va. House, tightening oversight and licensing for shops
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WCHS) — The Vape Safety Act of 2026 passed in the West Virginia House of Delegates on Friday, aiming to crack down on what lead sponsor of the bill Del. David McCormick, R-Monongalia, said are the bad actors in the vape shop world.
“They’re very lightly regulated,” McCormick said. “Here’s something that is becoming a blight on our landscape out here in our neighborhoods and towns. They’re all over the state and they need some oversight.”
McCormick said the bill will also strengthen licensing as to who can run the shops.
A key part of the legislation that passed the House by a vote of 88-5 is an FDA registry, requiring all the products sold in the shops to be approved at the federal level.
“Make sure that something doesn’t have 30 times the nicotine in it that it’s supposed to, which has happened, and get a 12-year-old kid addicted to nicotine,” McCormick. “That’s buying something that looks like Pokémon.”
Cracking down on the marketing strategies vape shops use is also included in the bill. It has gained support from both sides of the aisle.
“You walk into them and they have you know it looks fun and all the flavors and all the things,” Del. Hollis Lewis, D-Kanawha said. “So when teens go in there, it’s geared towards teens. So I think some regulation is important.”
Other provisions include vape shops not being allowed within 300 feet of schools, libraries or churches.
“I would deem these things almost attractive nuisance for kids and teenagers,” Lewis said. “What we want to do in this piece of legislation, we want to ultimately, above anything else, is protect our children and to get rid of bad actors to make sure that we know what’s being sold in the shop and we know who’s selling it.”
The No. 23 BYU Cougars (20-8, 8-7 Big 12) visit the West Virginia Mountaineers (16-12, 7-8) Saturday for a 5:30 p.m. ET (FOX) tip from WVU Coliseum in Morgantown, West Virginia. Let’s analyze BetMGM Sportsbook’s NCAA basketball odds around the BYU vs. West Virginia odds and make our expert college basketball picks and predictions for the best bets.
BYU has dropped 2 of its last 3 games after falling 97-84 against UCF on Tuesday, failing to cover as a 13.5-point home favorite with the Over (162.5) hitting. F AJ Dybantsa led all scorers with 29 points and G Robert Wright III added 20 as only 3 Cougars players scored in double figures in the upset loss.
West Virginia has dropped 3 games in a row after falling 91-84 in overtime against Oklahoma State on Tuesday, failing to cover as a 1.5-point road underdog with the Over (143.5) hitting. G Honor Huff scored a game-high 20 points on 6-of-12 shooting from 3, while the Mountaineers overcame a 13-point halftime deficit to force OT before running out of gas.
– Rankings: USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll
Watch NCAA basketball on Fubo!
BYU at West Virginia odds
Provided by BetMGM Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated 10:20 a.m. ET.
- Moneyline (ML): BYU -135 (bet $135 to win $100) | West Virginia +110 (bet $100 to win $110)
- Against the spread (ATS): BYU -1.5 (-115) | West Virginia +1.5 (-105)
- Over/Under (O/U): 142.5 (O: -110 | U: -110)
BYU at West Virginia picks and predictions
Prediction
BYU 81, West Virginia 74
PASS.
There is better value on the Cougars to cover the spread.
BET BYU -1.5 (-115).
A win all but guarantees a cover for the Cougars in this matchup with such a slim spread. They have covered in 2 of their last 3 and 3 of their last 5, including back-to-back road games.
Neither side has played particularly well recently, with both teams being 4-6 straight up (SU) and 3-7 ATS over their last 10 games. This matchup will give Dybantsa, the nation’s leading scorer (25.1 points per game) who earned USBWA Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week honors last week, an opportunity to take over the game.
BET OVER 142.5 (-110).
The Mountaineers have scored at least 74 points in 2 of their last 4 games while allowing 67 or more in 3 of their last 5.
The Cougars have hit the Over in 7 of their last 10 games. They have scored 79 or more points in 4 of their last 5, including 90 or more twice in that span. They have scored 82 or more points in 7 of their last 10 and have allowed at least 86 in 6 of their last 9.
For more sports betting picks and tips, check out SportsbookWire.com and BetFTW.
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