Three mine resue workers were killed and six injured while in engaged in rescue efforts authorized and approved by Richard Stickler, chief of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, who was appointed by George Bush as an interim appointee, because during the Republican controlled 109th congress, Bush could not even get support from Republicans to appoint him.
Forty Seven people died in coal mining accidents in 2006, compared to 22 the year before, according to the Labor Department's Mine Safety and Health Administration. These three new deaths bring the count for 2007 up to 20 coal miner deaths.
The rescue effort, in its 11th day, has been used by mine co-owner Bob Murray, chief of Murray Energy Corp as a bully pulpit to sell his claim that an earthquake caused the original mine cave-in that led to the trapping of the six miners who the resuers were attempting to dig out. Murray has even used the massive attention the media has given him to sell his anti-global warming, pro-coal message.
Murray's Crandall Mine, in Utah, is non-union. Mines worked by unions have tougher safety requirements. On the contrary, safety seems to be a concept that Murray doesn't factor very high in the management of the 11 mines his company owns in four states-- mines that 3000 miners mined 20 million tons of coal out of in 2006, worth an estimated $840+ million.
this is not the first time his company has been cited for breaking federal mine safety laws. According to MSHA records, since January 2004 MSHA cited the Crandall Canyon mine for 325 violations, 118 of them considered serious enough to have possibly caused death or injury.
"For millionaire coal operator Robert E. Murray, owner of Crandall Canyon mine, this is not the first time his company has been cited for breaking federal mine safety laws. According to MSHA records, since January 2004 MSHA cited the Crandall Canyon mine for 325 violations, 118 of them considered serious enough to have possibly caused death or injury.
The company was fined a total of $6,000 for the violations, but there is no record of their payment of the fines or corrections of the problems. The mine has been inspected six times so far this year, and fined $3,773 for 40 violations.
A mine organized by the UMWA would not tolerate such dangerous conditions. “When you are talking about [almost 120 violations in three years], that would be alarming to me,” said the union’s western regional director, Bob Butero, based in Denver. “If it were one of our union mines, we wouldn’t allow that pattern to continue.” A union organizing effort at Crandall Canyon several years ago failed.
Meanwhile, mine owner Murray, CEO of Cleveland-area-based Murray Energy Corp., is busy counting up profits and writing checks to Republican candidates.
Murray Energy is the 12th largest coal company in the country.
It should come as no surprise that, while there are no records that Murray ever wrote a check to a Democratic candidate for any office, anywhere, there is a long paper trail of contributions to Republicans. The Federal Elections Commission reports that since 2005, Murray, through the Murray Energy Corp. Political Action Committee, has contributed more than $155,000 to GOP candidates.
But maybe this disaster, in spite of Murray's record of violations, and the way he's used his Republican connections to bully regulators, this was not due to Murray's apparent failure to meet safety regulations.
Meredith Vieira of the Today show asked Murray, “Since January of 2004 it’s been cited 325 times by the federal government for violations, more than 100 of those considered potential dangers to the miners…How can you be so sure that this accident isn’t the result of a problem with the mine itself?”
He had only owned the mine for about a year, Murray answered, and he said his track record in owning mines for more than 19 years is admirable."
Rob Kall is executive editor and publisher of OpEdNews.com, President of Futurehealth, Inc, inventor . He is also published regularly on the Huffingtonpost.com. He is a frequent Speaker on Politics, Impeachment, The art, science and power of story, heroes and the hero's journey, Positive Psychology, Stress, Biofeedback and a wide range of subjects. He is a campaign consultant specializing in tapping the power of stories for issue positioning, stump speeches and debates. He recently retired as organizer of several conferences, including StoryCon, the Summit Meeting on the Art, Science and Application of Story and The Winter Brain Meeting on neurofeedback, biofeedback, Optimal Functioning and Positive Psychology. See more of his articles here and, older ones, here.
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Doesn't it seem like these mine collapses occur quite frequently? What steps have been taken to improve mine safety?
I did my weekly 10-minute check-in with CNN this morning and they happened to be interviewing a former head of mine safety (under a non-Bush administration) and he suggested (diplomatically, of course) that corporate negligence is the cause -- again.
by
Kathlyn Stone (42 articles, 219 quicklinks, 26 diaries, 637 comments)
on Friday, August 17, 2007 at 11:58:32 AM
It appears that more and more often mining companies are doing open-pit mining to avoid such disasters.
Since Rob took a pot-shot at Republicans and how sensible people feel about man-made-global warming (it's a hoax!), I'll take a pot shot at liberals and environmentalists--I suspect (but don't know) that if environmentalists wouldn't scream so loud, this and/or other mines would have been open-pit and these kinds of tragedies would not be able to occur.
Comment is flagged and has been reviewed by the editors -
Reason: Nasty Attacks
Editor's Message: uncivil, nasty, personal attacks. Let's keep the disagreement civil. Name calling and uncivil remarks removed, as a choice rather than deleting the whole comment.
[Personal attack removed] Open pit mining leaves a scar upon the earth lasting for hundreds if not thousands of years. Is this the kind of earth you would leave your children?
The problem at Murray's mine was caused by a process known as retreat mining, in which , having exhausted the vein of coal, the miners move backwards taking the coal that was left as support structures for the shaft. This stuff is pure profit for Murray and pure hell for the mine workers. many American coal companies refuse to engage in this process because of the danger to its workers. In fact two areas of that mine collapsed earlier, fortunately they had been abandoned.
The subject, as you might have missed in your pompous rush to condemn these "libruls" yuck, is the numerous and serious violations and unsafe practices engaged in by Murrays company, and the refusal of the Bureausof Mine Safety to act upon them under the Bush administrations policy of screwing the American worker.
A few years ago a Canadian Potash mine collapsed, trapping about a dozen or so workers. They were not rescued for 32 days yet all emerged healthy and unscathed. Do you wonder why? Well I know you dont give a shit but Ill tell you anyway: Because Canadian mines are unionised and must contain safe rooms which move with the excavations and contain food, water, breathing apparatus and medical supplies., thats why. So if you can take a bit of time from your right wing [uncivil language removed] you might wonder why Canada can do a better job than can we......Of course [name calling deleted] , and we liberals care about our neighbors and fellow citizens.
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2377 comments)
on Friday, August 17, 2007 at 7:16:08 PM
There is absolutely no question that this disaster relates to: (1) lack of safety regulations being following in (2) a non-union mine run by owners who seem to have little concern about safety. That alone should bring federal action. But, as we know, and as Rob has eloquently pointed out, politics is in play here. This is yet another case of incompetence and greed by the Bush-Cheney Administration. Even the most conservative Republican should be yelling about another B-C piece of incompetence, stupidity, and neglect. Equally important, as Rob also noted, the media have been negligent in adequate reporting. It's easy to see how Bush derives his power--the media are too lame to report the truth, the people are too uninformed to demand the truth.
/walt brasch\
by
Brasch (63 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 48 comments)
on Friday, August 17, 2007 at 1:23:52 PM
"Did Another "Brownie" KILL Three Utah Mine Rescue Workers?"
Rob:
I watched the breaking news early this morning on CNN and MSNBC, as the second tragedy unfolded at the Crandall Mine. It was sad knowing that these nine miners who were trying in earnest to rescue their fellow co-workers already trapped in what must have been a hell-hole, would succumb to serious injury and even death.
During this coverage not once did I hear either CNN or MSNBC question whether Crandall was safe to work in the first place! What they kept alluding to was this "Bump" the miners were experiencing. And I'm certain in the back of their minds, these brave miners
understood the ramifications of those bumps, which at any moment could lead to their demise. Unfortunately, the fact they are non-union miner's doesn't help matters. I've worked non-union, and the vast majority of these companies put profit before safety. This must change.
But what bothers me most is watching these media whores continue to interview mine co-owner Bob Murray, without questioning him about the safety or of the previous violations Crandall's incurred. This is unconscionable! This reticent media literally allowed Murray and Co. to get away with murder.
I sincerely believe Rob that what's needed is to create an entirely new news network. Call it T.N.N. Truth News Network. It would take time and money however, America deserves better. Until this occurs, we are never going to hear the actual truth from any of these corporate news giants. It's that simple. And because of the lack of oversight and accountability, there'll be more tragedies such as Crandall.
by
Munich (0 articles, 66 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 830 comments)
on Friday, August 17, 2007 at 3:26:59 PM
We certainly need something better than what we now have.
With more and more of the coverage coming from cell phone cameras and home video there's no reason why a "People's news network" couldnt be built from reporting by average people. The problem is with the staffing needed to cover events and press conferences, and doing the kind of investigative reporting that takes resources to pay a journalist to work for weeks or even months without seeing a story. Of course, not even the networks are doing much of that anymore.
by
Rob Kall (807 articles, 3921 quicklinks, 332 diaries, 1702 comments)
on Saturday, August 18, 2007 at 9:51:47 AM
I have been to Price and Helper many times. In 1998 I rented a car and drove through the canyon to Helper. When I got to the bottom of the canyon I saw a black vein in the side of the road where they blasted it to widen it. I parked my car and walked up to the black vein. I found some black shiny stones on the side of the road. It was native coal.
All coal mines must be unionized! If a worker reports a safety violation in a unionized mine the mine shuts down until the violation is fixed. If a miner reports a safety violation in a nonunion mine they are told to keep their mouth shut or lose their job.
Boycott all nonunionized mines!
by
Barker (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 120 comments)
on Friday, August 17, 2007 at 4:48:29 PM
Safety Enforcement Often Benefits the Corporate Entity
Robert Stickler is a well known entity in WV. A WV native, he has a history in this state of being the friend of corporate interests rather than acting as an advocate for mine safety. His appointment has really rubbed a good part of the population wrong.
There is also a history of a lack of enforcement in mine safety regulations both in deep mines and strip mines and this fact doesn't compel compliance.
After the Sago mine disaster, the mine, which like the mine in Utah was found to be in violation of a number of state and federal regulations before the disasters occurred, fines were being paid and this can be a long process. Owners are given time to fix the problems.
Even after the Sago deaths, which had a great impact on this state, the legislation passed to help mitigate the potential of similar accidents from occurring, was ultimately watered down, no doubt by the Big Coal lobbies and I imagine this is standard operating procedure.
The reasoning was that if lightning, an act of God, hadn't struck the mine, the violations would not have, at least on that day resulted in death.
When I saw Bob Murray protesting too much about how seismic activity unrelated to mining was the cause of the cave in, in other words an act of God, it sounded all too familiar.
by
CD Rodgers (6 articles, 1 quicklinks, 15 diaries, 88 comments)
on Friday, August 17, 2007 at 5:50:20 PM
I only have one thing to say. lock up these bastards and throw away the key. put them away for 20 years, on bread and water. jail is to nice for them. lock them up in a Dungeon. all wealthy people associated with our president dysfunction Brain Bush.
by
vincent passiatore (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 167 comments)
on Friday, August 17, 2007 at 6:24:45 PM
fRANK, yOU ARE CORRECT. oPEN PIT MINING IS SAFER. However, open pit mining is not really cost effective when you have 2000 ft. of cover. By the time you drilled and blasted 2000 ft. of cover off of a 6 or 8 ft vein of coal you would have already invested maybe 50 times more in the mining than the coal would be worth. Besides that, since when did the Corporate Right Wingnuts start caring about safety. The clown that authorized the rescue was hand picked by Bush and the mine owner is a loyal friend of the GOP Always do your homework before you start throwing stones Frank
Sincerely, Bill Vanderbilt
by
wiliam vanderbilt (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 8 comments)
on Friday, August 17, 2007 at 9:36:01 PM
What greedy big business will say next is that in order to compete in the new global economy mine safety regulations need to be completely ignored. What ever practices make the most profit must be used. All unions need to be eliminated and pay dramatically reduced. If that makes mining a job Americans just wont do implement a new guest worker program for mining, Nobody will care if the mine collapses on them.
Its sad to watch this progression as greedy corporations take control of our country and try to turn the clock back 100 years to a time when workers had no rights and the middle class was yet to be invented. Sad indeed, when looking out for the welfare of your fellow Americans gets you labeled as a protectionist who's compassion will surely destroy the economy.
Americas corporations are a much bigger threat to the future of our democracy than terrorists. I think the dept. of homeland security should wiretap and arrest them for anti American activity.
by
Gary Denson (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 215 comments)
on Friday, August 17, 2007 at 9:43:03 PM
Why is anyone still surprised? The mine, a symptom.
I got a chill reading Rob's intro to todays blogs. So, at this point only a few are interested OR brave enought to even comment on the current "war" I find this chilling. As an X pat what has hit me the most is the apathy of Americans, I even find this in old friends and relatives. Especially the rele's. I hadn't been in contact with them for some years and through the net . . . I mentioned "the war", gently but against Monty Python's advise, never heard from them again, I could feel the chill across the ocean. With reguards to current finincial situation, is it crumbing now or in a while. Sorry but America can't work if it is run by politicians not leaders and punk money boys. What goes around . . . sorry America but it stills comes around. Don't want to hear any sniveling when it happens. Funny isn't it but I still believe the VAST majority want their kids to grow up in a world of peace. I've been all over the world and found nothing but love, except of course for a few officious minions. Hate only breeds more hate.
by
davy (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 240 comments)
on Saturday, August 18, 2007 at 3:14:20 AM
Bush mine safety official walks out of Senate hearing into Sago disaster
By Samuel Davidson and Jerry Isaacs 27 January 2006
David Dye, the acting director of the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), walked out halfway through a two-hour Senate hearing Monday on the Sago Mine disaster, refusing to answer questions about his agency’s failure to enforce safety regulations that might have saved 14 West Virginia miners who were killed in two separate accidents this month.
Dye rejected a direct request of US Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania and chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee that oversees the mine safety agency, to stay for the full hearing and respond to issues that might arise from the testimony of other witnesses. Dye claimed the hearing had “diverted” him and other MSHA officials from more pressing matters, including a mine fire in Colorado, which, he conveniently did not mention, had been burning since November.
[... read the whole thing!]
by
Blue Pilgrim (0 articles, 3 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 997 comments)
on Sunday, August 19, 2007 at 7:58:43 PM
15 comments
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