Corrects status of a former employee's criminal case in ninth paragraph
Signal Peak Energy, which operates an underground coal mine near Roundup, Montana, has been sentenced to pay a $1mn fine for violating mining health and safety standards.
US magistrate judge Timothy Cavan of the US District Court for the District of Montana followed the terms of a plea agreement reached in October between Signal Peak and the US Attorney's Office. He imposed a fine of $250,000 for each of the four counts of conviction levied against Signal Peak. That was the maximum fine allowed under federal statutes.
Signal Peak also will be on probation for three years, during which time it cannot commit any state, federal or local crimes, must develop an "effective" compliance and ethics program, and open mining operations to unannounced visits from US probation officers. The company also must pay $400 in restitution to a worker who was injured on site.
Signal Peak and former senior management were accused of failing to report workers' injuries and improperly disposing mine waste between 2013 and 2018. Nine people who either worked for or were affiliated with the company have also been convicted on charges including embezzlement, tax evasion and bank fraud, said US attorney Leif Johnson.
"This case holds Signal Peak Mine accountable for its utter disregard for environmental and worker health and safety standards," Johnson said. He accused mine owners of providing "little in the way of meaningful oversight" which "fostered a climate of fraud."
"In addition, mine managers lied about the mine's expenses, its safety record, and other matters," Johnson said.
Signal Peak said that "the company was a victim of these former employees' actions, suffering losses in the many millions of dollars related to their fraudulent conduct." It also noted that it "cooperated fully with the government, providing evidence and information that aided the government's investigation."
In separate, earlier, proceedings, the company's former vice president of surface operations Larry Wayne Price was sentenced to five years in prison for defrauding companies of $20mn. Zachary Ruble, a former surface mine manager at Signal Peak, was sentenced to probation for conspiring to defraud Signal Peak of $2.3mn.
Another former Signal Peak employee, Dale Lee Musgrave, pleaded guilty in December to conspiring to submit false statements in reports. Four other charges, including two cocaine-related charges, were dropped. He is scheduled to be sentenced in May.
Federal prosecutors said in court filings that former mine chief executive Brad Hanson also knew of the illegal activities at Signal Peak. But Hanson died in February 2020 before he could be charged.
