[7] Alpha Natural Resources, which had bought Massey Energy in 2011, settled its corporate criminal liabilities with the U.S. Attorney for $209 million.

[8] Investigation of possible personal criminal liability continues,[8] with one former superintendent, Gary May, pleading guilty in March 2012, and "confess[ing] to conspiring to 'impede the [MSHA]'s enforcement efforts.'"

[9][10] Former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship was convicted in 2015 of a misdemeanor conspiring to willfully violate safety standards and was sentenced to one year in prison.

[14][15] Investigators later faulted Massey Energy for failure to properly maintain its ventilation systems, which allowed methane levels to increase to dangerous amounts.

A miner working at another site approximately seven miles away from the blast said when it happened, "it was just like your ears stopped up, you couldn't hear" and it was like being in the middle of a tornado.

[23] On Tuesday April 6, at 2:00 am, high levels of methane and carbon monoxide were detected forcing the team of rescuers to higher ground, further delaying the search.

[24][20] Family members of the mine workers were angry after learning their relatives were dead from either government officials or a company website rather than from Massey Energy executives.

"[25] Thursday morning, April 8, rescue workers prepared to re-enter the mine to continue the search for the four missing miners.

[26] Rescue workers announced around midnight on Friday April 9 that the four remaining bodies had been found, bringing the death toll to 29.

Poor conditions in the mine caused rescuers to walk past the bodies of the four miners on the first day of the rescue operation without seeing them.

[30] Massey was strongly condemned by the report for multiple failures to meet basic safety standards outlined in the Mine Act of 1977.

The failure to issue flagrant violation citations was attributed to MSHA which also failed to notify the miners and their families that they were working in a mine which had not met minimal safety requirements.

The report cites how politicians were afraid of the company because it "was willing to spend vast amounts of money to influence elections."

[34][35] It was claimed that the FBI had launched a probe investigating the possible bribery of federal officials overseeing mining industry regulation by Massey Energy.

[38] Blankenship was convicted of a single misdemeanor charge of conspiring to violate federal mine safety standards and went on to serve a one-year prison sentence.

In May 2017, on the last day of Blankenship's prison sentence, he resumed his Twitter feud with Manchin, then a United States Senator, over the explosion.

[49][50] In the previous year, 50 of the safety violations, more than 10%, were categorized as "unwarrantable failures to comply," which indicates willful or gross negligence; this was higher than the 2% national average.

[7][52][53] On the same day the U.S. Attorney announced a settlement with Alpha Natural Resources, which had acquired Massey Energy's assets and liabilities in 2011.

[52] While the investigation found the physical conditions that led to the coal dust explosion were the result of a series of basic safety violations at UBB, which PCC and Massey disregarded, the report cites unlawful policies and practices implemented by PCC and Massey as the root cause of the explosion --- including the intimidation of miners, advance notice of inspections, and two sets of books with hazards recorded in UBB's internal production and maintenance book but not in the official examination book.

The investigation found that the operator promoted and enforced a workplace culture that valued production over safety, including practices calculated to allow it to conduct mining operations in violation of the law.State and federal leaders, including Governor Manchin, United States Senators Robert Byrd and Jay Rockefeller, United States Representative Shelley Moore Capito, and Cecil Roberts of the United Mine Workers of America, all expressed their condolences to the families of the workers.

The American Red Cross and the Salvation Army sent workers to the scene to provide emergency response vehicles, mental health counselors, food and water.

"[57] Days before the disaster a United States Department of Labor report emerged entitled "Journeyman Mine Inspectors Do Not Receive Required Periodic Training".

[59] Relatives of the missing and confirmed dead expressed their anger that they were not notified directly by Massey Energy executives, but found out information from the company website or government sources.

"[34] Ted Turner commented on CNN about the mine disaster, stating "I'm just wondering if God is telling us He doesn't want to drill offshore (in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill off of the Gulf of Mexico.).

I think maybe we ought to just leave the coal in the ground and go with solar and wind power and geothermals..."[60] That September, the West Virginia University Mountaineers announced that they would wear Nike Pro Combat System of Dress uniforms, designed to pay respect to the deadly explosion at the Big Branch Mine, for the 2010 Backyard Brawl against the rival Pitt Panthers.

[61] According to the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, West Virginia will wear a shade of white "that looks as if it has a fine layer of dust on the jersey" and has accents in university gold that "references the canaries used long ago to test toxicity in mines."

Dedicated in July 2012, the memorial also includes a bronze sculpture and plaque recognizing the local first responders and mine rescue teams from West Virginia and neighboring states that aided in recovery efforts.

Three interpretive signs tell the story of the Upper Big Branch Disaster and serve as an introduction to the events of that day and following week.

Most of the songs on the album were written for the off-Broadway play Coal Country about the Upper Big Branch mine explosion.

[69] Hip-hop-bluegrass fusion group Gangstagrass recorded the song "Big Branch" with Portuguese-born artist Tomasia in their album Lightning on the Strings, Thunder on the Mic, released in 2010.