Question: Which states did the company Don Blankenship was CEO of have substantial operations in?

Context paragraphs:
Don Blankenship: Donald Leon "Don" Blankenship (born March 14, 1950) is a retired American business executive.  He was Chairman and CEO of the Massey Energy Company — the sixth largest coal company (by 2008 production) in the United States — from 2000 until his retirement in 2010.  A federal grand jury indicted Blankenship on November 13, 2014, for conspiracy to violate mandatory federal mine safety and health standards, conspiracy to impede federal mine safety officials, making false statements to the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as securities fraud.

Independence Mines: The Independence Mines, now Independence Mine State Historic Park, is the site of a former gold mining operation in the Talkeetna Mountains, across Hatcher Pass from Palmer, Alaska.  The area's mining history dates to at least 1897, when active claims were reported in the vicinity of Fishook Creek.  These early mining efforts were eventually joined to form the Wasilla Mining Company, which worked the mines from 1934 to 1943, and again from 1948 to 1950.  The mining operation at Independence was the second-largest hard-rock gold mining operation in the state, after a larger site near Juneau.  The company and the miners that preceded it built a substantial mining camp, with as many as sixteen wood frame buildings, which were originally connected to each other by sheltered wooden "tunnels".  When the company ended operations in 1950, it had expected to eventually resume operations, but never did; this resulted in a particularly well-preserved collection of mining equipment and buildings, although the weather has since taken a significant toll on the latter.

Triple Canopy: Triple Canopy, Inc., is a private security company that provides integrated security, mission support and risk management services to corporate, government and non-profit clients.  The firm was founded in May 2003 by veteran U.S. Army Special Forces Soldiers, including former Delta Operators.  In June 2014 the firm merged with rival security contracting firm, Academi, formerly Blackwater, thus forming the new company Constellis Group.  The new CEO of Constellis Group is the former CEO of Academi, Craig Nixon, and training facilities are to be consolidated at the existing Academi training facility in North Carolina.  It was staffed by, among others, a number of former Army Special Operations personnel, Special Forces Soldiers, Rangers, SEALs, MARSOC Critical Skills Operators, other special operations personnel, and a select few law enforcement officers.  Over 5,000 employees worked for Triple Canopy at the time of the merger.

ACO, C.A.: ACO, C.A. is a Venezuelan holding company for an umbrella organization of over eighty companies engaged in a wide variety of industries throughout Venezuela predominately in the automotive industry.  It is best known for the sale, servicing and leasing of automobiles nationally.  It was founded in 1951 by Arnold Orav, Chairman along with Harry Männil , President & CEO, and with the financial backing of Alcoa Aluminum Corp. (majority shareholder), the Juan Simon Mendoza family (Polar Group), the Tamayo family (largest Venezuelan liquor distributor "et al."), and other prominent Venezuelan investors.  The company emerged in the 1970s as the world's largest tractor dealership as the dealer for John Deere Tractors in Venezuela.  It also became the largest automobile dealership in South America, according to the Ford Motors Company (USA).  A significant contributor to the success of the Grupo Aco was the innovative introduction in Venezuela of in-house auto sale financing using a captive finance company.  Whereas Grupo Aco had equity stakes in a great number of companies, the balance of ownership of many of these companies was held by Grupo Aco shareholders.  As a result, Grupo Aco commanded a larger market share than would be suggested only by its totally owned companies.  It attained US $900 million in sales during 1973 and ranked as the most profitable private sector company in the nation that year.  Changes in Venezuela's economy and political environment during the early 1980s caused a downturn for many large businesses in Venezuela.  In the case of the Aco Group, a financial crisis emerged as motor vehicle sales plummeted.  By 1993, the Aco Group was forced into reorganization and a restructuring of the entire group.  This led to Harry Mannil becoming the largest shareholder, at 24% of common shares.  Efforts to recover financially were overwhelmed by continuous declines in the nation's private sector economy.  Aco, S.A. was splintered into several groups, with a substantial number of auto dealerships taken under direct ownership by Harry Mannil.

Syed Safawi: Syed Safawi is the Managing Director and Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of VLCC.  Prior to it, he was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Viom Networks, a telecom infrastructure company, the largest independent operator in India, according to Business Standard.  Before Viom Networks, Syed was with Reliance Communications Limited (RCom) as the President and CEO of the Wireless Business and Chairman of the Reliance Management Board.  He worked with RCom for over two years.  He was earlier with Bharti Airtel Limited as the Executive Director, responsible for the East and West India operations along with the international wireless operations.  In his earlier role at Airtel, he was also responsible for the global calling cards business and the B2B business of mobile services.  He went to IRMA for postgraduation and during initial period worked with Gujarat Co Operative or Amul.  He is from Lucknow.

Keith Brackpool: Keith Brackpool (born 1957) is a British-American investor and business executive presently engaged as chairman of West Coast United States operations for Stronach Group, a thoroughbred horse-racing company.  After starting his career as an investment banker and CEO for Albert Fisher's North American operations, he co-founded the water resource company Cadiz Inc. in 1983, holding a number of executive positions including CEO, and is currently chairman of the board.  In 1989 he started the company 1334 Partners LP., which owns the Manhattan Country Club in Manhattan Beach and other properties.

Massey Energy: Massey Energy Company was a coal extractor in the United States with substantial operations in West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia.  By revenue, it was the fourth largest producer of coal in the United States and the largest coal producer in Central Appalachia.  By coal production weight, it was the sixth largest producer of coal in the United States.

Seth Bonder: Seth Bonder was an American engineer who made substantial contributions in Operations Research for the US military, first as a pilot during the Korean War in the US Air Force and later as a consultant through Vector Research, Inc., a company he founded and later served as its CEO.  Amongst his numerous honors includes being named a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

La Count Mountain: La Count Mountain ( ) is a mostly ice-free mountain, 1,875 m high, forming the northern portion of the Battleship massif, located between Rotunda Glacier, Blankenship Glacier, and Ferrar Glacier in Victoria Land, Antarctica.  The mountain was studied by geologist Warren Hamilton of the United States Geological Survey during the 1958–59 season.  It was named in 1992 by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names after Ronald La Count, Manager of the Polar Operations Section, Division of Polar Programs, at the National Science Foundation, 1984–90.

Studyhall: Studyhall is an online education startup based in Washington, DC, United States, and founded by Cornell and Washington University in Saint Louis School of Law graduate Ross Blankenship.  The company is a peer-to-peer learning platform that seeks to change higher education by providing a virtual space in which students can collaborate.

Supporting paragraphs: Don Blankenship Massey Energy
Answer: West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia