Deaths of two Kentucky workers demolishing coal plants attract $31,500 fine for safety violations

The coal processing plant was photographed from the air on November 1, 2023, the day after the collapse. Louisville Emergency Management took the photo via a drone. (Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet data)

On a cool evening in late October, David Peyton heard a bang and then a shout of warning to get out. Within seconds, two men were trapped beneath eleven stories of steel and concrete.

Peyton ran to where Alvin Nees and Billy Joe “Bo” Daniels were trapped in the collapsed Pontiki/Excel coal processing plant in Martin County. He spoke to the men, but lost contact with Nees after half an hour, perhaps a little longer.

Peyton, a subcontractor on the project to demolish the plant, told state investigators that he had declined to do the demolition himself because of concerns about the plant’s decades-old condition. That’s according to a report by state workplace security officials and released to the Lantern through an open records request.

Rescuers from across Kentucky worked for several days in a dangerous but ultimately futile attempt to save Nees and Daniels. Both men died of their wounds, a loss that Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear called a “heartbreaking situation” in early November.

A months-long investigation by the Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet found this was a situation that could have been avoided if federally required safety measures had been followed.

The investigation found multiple safety violations that preceded the collapse, including:

• Not having a technical study and plan before demolition.

• Failure to strengthen corroded load-bearing steel columns or ensure that the columns are not “overloaded” before using welding torches to cut into them.

• There is no person certified in first aid on site.

• Not informing Nees and Daniels of the dangerous conditions involved in the demolition.

The Cabinet on April 30 fined Skeens Enterprises, the general contractor charged with demolition and demolition of the plant, $31,500 for five violations that preceded the deaths of Nees and Daniels.

A voicemail and text message to Peyton from the Lantern asking questions about the state report went unanswered. Attempts to reach Skeens Enterprises CEO Stanley Skeens or a Skeens Enterprises representative were unsuccessful.

What state and federal officials found

The Lexington Coal Co., a leading mining company with a history of environmental compliance issueshas the state permit to reclaim the site of the coal preparation plant, which was operated by Alliance Resource Partners until it was closed and sold in 2014.

Lexington Coal Co. is led by Jeremy Hoops, the son of Jeff Hoops whose bankrupt coal company Blackjewel went bankrupt in 2019 final pay slips withheld of employees who subsequently blocked a coal train for two months. Jeff Hoops was from Blackjewel CEO and chairman.

Lexington Coal Company contracted with Pike County-based Skeens Enterprises to demolish and save the plant. Skeens Enterprises then called on Tennessee-based Bordeau Metals, LLC to assist with the demolition, including loading and transporting metal. Bordeau Metals, led by Brad Bordeau, then called on Peyton’s McLean County-based company Ace Welding and Fabrication to carry out the demolition of the plant.

State workplace safety officials noted in their report that Lexington Coal Company’s contract with Skeens Enterprises required the contractor to obtain approval before subcontracting the demolition work. According to the state report, Lexington Coal Company did not know that subcontractors had been hired or that demolition work had begun in late October. State officials separately investigated the Lexington Coal Company after the collapse but did not issue the company any citations.

Peyton, head of the welding company, had doubts about the demolition project, which dates back to September 2023.

Peyton told Skeens in September that he was not comfortable demolishing the plant because of its condition. The steel of the idled preparation plant was extensively corroded. State inspectors later attributed the corrosion to decades of exposure to spent chemicals and coal ash created by crushing and removing excess rock from the mined coal.

Skeens continued to keep Peyton on the project; the two agreed that month that Peyton would continue with his work if Skeens could “get the building on the ground.”

But in late October, Peyton told Brad Bordeau, the other subcontractor, that he would not proceed with his part in the demolition project. Bordeau then decided to hire a Louisville company that specializes in demolition work to look at the structure. Bordeau informed Skeens and Peyton that he was bringing in the company from Louisville.

Skeens, the general contractor, had a different idea. He contacted Bo Daniels and Alvin Nees, unbeknownst to Bordeau. Daniels had previously worked with Skeens, but not on a demolition project, according to the state report, and Skeens had demolished a dozen coal processing plants before tackling the project.

Skeens asked Peyton if Nees and Daniels could use Peyton’s welding torches and equipment, which Peyton had provided them, along with protective equipment. Peyton also taught Nees and Daniels how to use the torches. On the day of the demolition, October 31, 2023, Nees and Daniels began cutting two-foot notches from the steel columns at the base of the factory.

According to the state report, it was Skeens’ screams that Peyton heard as the factory began to collapse. Skeens felt ill after the collapse and was taken to hospital.

State officials found no evidence that an engineer conducted a survey before the demolition was carried out, as required by federal regulations. Also, no one on the plant site was certified in first aid, also required by federal regulations, even though Skeens had a first aid certification that had expired in 2008. Skeens told state officials that he had not advised Daniels on how to drop the building other than to drop it to the east. Daniels and Nees would receive $5,000 for their work.

That same day, Bordeau had enlisted Jon Davies, president of Louisville-based Complete Demolition Services, to reward the plant’s demolition. State officials write that Skeens said Davies told him at the plant site that the demolition process Nees and Daniels were undertaking “looked good.” But when government officials interviewed Davies, he told them that the demolition process was “not how he would do it” and that he requested to be removed from the building.

A federal engineering report said that while the use of welding torches is not uncommon in demolition work, the cuts in load-bearing steel columns on the ground floor of the plant posed a “serious risk to the structural integrity of the building.” One of the columns cut by the torches had a calculated load of 56,000 pounds, or the equivalent of more than a dozen large SUVs.

That column was overloaded and “in a precarious condition even before the collapse,” wrote Alan Lu of the federal Office of Engineering Services. “Field investigations further show that some columns in the eastern part of the building were subjected to burns, completely losing their load-bearing capacity.”

“The inadequate demolition procedures ultimately culminated in the premature and catastrophic collapse of the building during the demolition work,” Lu wrote.

Rescuers from across the state worked for more than two days, using dogs, listening devices and cameras to search the unstable rubble. The county sheriff told the Inez Mountain Citizen that responders crawled under tons of steel and concrete that were “snapping and popping” and at one point tried to free Daniels by surgically amputating his leg.

The two men were remembered by their families and loved ones last year “a great father” And “a wonderful person.”

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