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RICHMOND, Va. — Massey Energy Chairman and CEO Don Blankenship announced Friday that he will retire at the end of the month, finishing a nearly 30-year career that included big profits for the company but also labor conflicts, battles with federal regulators and a 2010 mine explosion that killed 29 people. A millionaire who rose from obscure beginnings in coal country, Blankenship oversaw an ongoing plan to expand the production of Appalachian coal for growing Asian markets, but will leave behind a company that was badly shaken by a history-making mine disaster. The company’s board of directors named current president Baxter F. Phillips Jr. as Blankenship’s successor, effective Friday. Blankenship’s retirement date is Dec. 31. “After almost three decades at Massey it is time for me to move on,” Blankenship said in a prepared statement. “Baxter and I have worked together for 28 years and he will provide the company great executive leadership.” Blankenship, who has served as chairman and CEO since 2000, leaves at a time when Massey’s safety practices are under scrutiny by the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration and the West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training. It also comes at a time when Massey’s board is viewing its strategic options. In recent weeks there have been reports that Massey is a possible takeover target for rivals such as Alpha Natural Resources and steel industry giant ArcelorMittal SA. Based in Richmond, Va., Massey is the nation’s fourth-largest coal producer by revenue. It operates 19 mining complexes in Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky. Massey is under investigation for the April 5 explosion at its Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia that killed 29 and injured two. The blast was the worst U.S. coal mining disaster since 1970 and the subject of civil and criminal investigations. Blankenship was expected to meet with state regulators on Dec. 14 as part of their investigation. Last month, Blankenship blamed the explosion on a sudden rush of natural gas into the underground coal mine. He added that the infusion could have been mitigated if MSHA had not forced Massey to change its ventilation plan in the mine. MSHA investigators have said a buildup of coalbed methane and coal dust might have contributed to the blast. Massey said it lost money in the third quarter of this year because of tougher federal regulations after the mine blast that hurt production Blankenship grew up beside the railroad tracks a tiny town in the Tug Fork River valley along the Kentucky-West Virginia border. He was raised by his single mother, who owned a gas station and grocery store. He was an accountant who worked for two baking companies before joining Massey’s Rawl Sales & Processing Co. in 1982. Bill Raney, president of the West Virginia Coal Association, called Blankenship “one of the most aggressive, intelligent and certainly one of the most outspoken leaders in the coal industry. “I don’t think it’s any of my business whether it’s good or bad, I’ve just observed that Don’s been quite a leader over the years,” Raney said. Blankenship rose in the company’s ranks, in part, for his handling of a labor dispute involving the United Mine Workers of America. Massey has been strongly anti-union under Blankenship’s leadership. He keeps a television set in his Kentucky office that was hit by a stray bullet during a dispute. And as he rose through the company, his personal fortune increased as well. According to Associated Press calculations, Blankenship earned $17.3 million in total compensation last year, including salary, perks and performance-related bonuses. That was down from $19.7 million in 2008. The bulk of Blankenship’s 2009 compensation came in a performance award of $11.5 million, nearly double the $6 million he earned in 2008. UMW spokesman Phil Smith called the announcement the end of a long, difficult chapter in the coal industry’s history, “one that all too often been associated with human tragedy.” The UMW, which has fought with Blankenship for decades, called for his removal at the company’s annual meeting this spring, after the April explosion. A number of Massey’s shareholders also asked that Blankenship’s role be re-examined. The board voiced its support for Blankenship in April, saying it would not be a good time to change leadership while the Upper Big Branch investigation was continuing. “We are gratified that this action has finally occurred,” he said, adding that it’s an opportunity for the industry to step away from its negative image. Since the Upper Big Branch explosion, public attention has been focused on Massey’s underground safety record. The company also has a history of environmental violations at its surface mines. Pittsburgh attorney Bruce Stanley, who has sued Massey at least five times over the years in cases ranging from personal injury and pollution to wrongful death, said Blankenship has left a legacy in the Southern coalfields, where his mountaintop mansion sits high above his neighbors. “He poisoned his own back yard,” said Stanley, one of the lawyers behind a case involving some 700 people who blame their polluted wells and wrecked health on coal slurry that Massey and subsidiary Rawl Sales & Processing pumped into worked-out underground mines. Blankenship’s retirement has few implications for the pending lawsuit, he said. His presence wasn’t just felt in the coalfields. Blankenship also used his wealth to try and influence West Virginia politics and public policy. In 2006, he spent more than $1.8 million to promote 41 hand-picked Republican candidates through contributions and his personal political action committee. He also spent $3.4 million to help elect the first Republican to the state Supreme Court in 2004. The U.S. Supreme Court would late cite that campaign in a ruling involving Massey Energy and the West Virginia Supreme Court. “All he’s done in the past few years is bring negative attention to Massey,” said environmental activist Larry Gibson, who has long battled Massey Energy and the practice of mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia. Lorelei Scarbro, a coal miner’s widow from Rock Creek, has fought for years to stop Massey’s planned mountaintop removal operation on the Coal River Mountain, where many residents say their health, property values and quality of life have been hurt by dust, vibrations, water pollution and more. “The citizens of the mountain communities can only hope that Baxter Philips will be a man of honor – a man who puts the health and safety of miners and communities above profits,” she said. “I know coal companies are in business to make money, but we must no longer be asked to pay such a high price for cheap energy. Blankenship did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment Friday night. ___ Smith reported from Morgantown, W.Va.