A powerful explosion at the mine on April 5, 2010, which killed the men working 1,200 feet below the surface, was the result of safety violations that allowed coal dust and methane to ignite, according to a 2011 report by the Mine Safety and Health Administration.

The disaster, the deadliest in the nation since 1970, has left painful scars even in a state that has long accepted mining’s toll on life and health, and which celebrates coal as part of its identity. As recently as the elections last week, candidates in House and Senate races boasted of how quickly they had rushed to the Upper Big Branch site four years ago.

Mr. Blankenship, who retired about eight months after the disaster, is well known in the state, where he has donated to conservative political candidates, even as victims’ families have called for his prosecution. Through a lawyer, he maintained his innocence. “Don Blankenship has been a tireless advocate for mine safety,” the lawyer, William W. Taylor III, said in a statement. “His outspoken criticism of powerful bureaucrats has earned this indictment. He will not yield to their effort to silence him.”

Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia had an unusually sharp reaction. “As he goes to trial, he will be treated far fairer and with more dignity than he ever treated the miners he employed,” he said. “And, frankly, it’s more than he deserves.”

Several investigations have found that Massey routinely ignored safety violations at the mine. The 2011 federal investigation by the mine safety agency concluded that the explosion was preventable and issued 369 citations. Alpha Natural Resources, which bought Massey in 2011, paid $209 million in criminal penalties to settle with the Department of Justice. Two subordinates of Mr. Blankenship, including a former superintendent of the Upper Big Branch mine, have pleaded guilty in criminal cases. Mr. Blankenship faces a maximum of 31 years’ imprisonment.