Don Blankenship is striking back at people and organizations he said he believes tried to hurt his reputation and harm the coal company he leads, Massey Energy.

He wants $300 million in damages.

According to a lawsuit filed Wednesday, "the coordinated release of false and defamatory statements about Massey Energy and Blankenship by the defendants ... was without justification and constituted a conspiracy to damage the plaintiffs in their business and profession." It was filed at 12:52 p.m. in state court in Fairfax County, Va., according to court records.

The defendants are:

• United Mine Workers of America.
• Cecil Roberts, president of UMWA.
• West Virginia Consumers for Justice, an independent political group that was active in the 2004 election season.
• Kenneth Perdue, chairman of West Virginia Consumers for Justice.
• The Charleston Gazette, a newspaper being sued only by Blankenship and not Massey.

The complaint states the defamatory statements "were undisputedly false and were made with actual malice because the defendants made their false statements with knowledge or reckless disregard that the statements were false."

Massey is headquartered in Richmond, Va., and has holdings in Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky.

"They said Massey and I had poisoned drinking water and laid off workers at Horizon (Natural Resources) and cut off their health benefits," Blankenship said. "I'm looking for the media, union and others to be responsible in what they said. I want fairness."

Massey is suing UMWA, Roberts, Consumers for Justice and Perdue because they made public statements and aired television commercials during the 2004 election season that said Blankenship fired Horizon workers and eliminated their benefits. The ad also said Blankenship had been convicted of contaminating West Virginia's drinking water. The advertisements and public statements hurt the company, Blankenship said.

He is suing The Charleston Gazette personally because of its coverage of Massey's purchase of bankrupt Horizon Natural Resources' Cannelton mine in Kanawha County.

"We claim they made untrue statements," he said. "They have damaged Massey's ability to recruit employees and conduct business."

The $300 million in damages requested in the complaint is based on the company's loss in productivity and other business damages, he said.

Perdue, who also is president of the AFL-CIO of West Virginia, said he could not comment on a lawsuit he had not yet seen.

Phil Smith, communications director for the UMWA, said Roberts was not available, but he had a response similar to Perdue's. "We haven't seen the lawsuit, so we're not going to comment," Smith said.

Jim Haught, editor of The Charleston Gazette, told 13 News reporter Kimberly Beary, "We report Massey coal problems simply factually."

"Massey has many more coal problems than any of the other coal companies put together. To me, we put them together in the newspaper as a matter of fact," Haught said. "I can't imagine why anyone would sue about reporting facts.

"I don't know if we said anything about Blankenship himself except describing his role in public life in West Virginia," he continued. "He has chosen to be a part of an active political scene. It baffles me that he would file a lawsuit when we didn't ever really attack him for anything. We just report the facts that Massey really ruined all those former Cannelton miners, but that's just business. We just reported the way business went."

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