Yesterday, 25 workers died in a horrific mine accident in Montcoal, West Virginia. Four of the workers remain missing and rescue efforts are underway as I write this. Despite the many advances we have made over the last two hundred years, mining remains one of the most dangerous professions in the world. My grandfather, for a time, worked as a coal miner in the Virginia appalachian mines, as did his father. My heart goes out to the families of those who have lost loved ones in this tragedy.
.
And, in news that should shock no one, the Democrats in the Virginia blogosphere have not even waited 24 hours before turning this story about tragic deaths of miners in West Virginia into a tool to bash Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. Over at Blue Virginia, Lowell Feld writes “The fact is, Ken Cuccinelli and others in Virginia government – overwhelmingly Republican – are deeply in the pocket of Massey Energy and Don Blankenship, far more concerned with doing their bidding than in protecting workers, the environment, etc.” Ben Tribbett at Not Larry Sabato argues that Cuccinelli should open an investigation on Massey Energy’s mine in Tazewell, Virginia, and basically daring him not to.
.
This is pathetic. We have no idea what happened at this mine yet. Recovery operations are still underway. The bodies of the dead aren’t even cold yet, much less buried, and already the Democrats are out with their claws, trying to turn this against the Attorney General. Have they no shame? Have they no sense of what is right and appropriate? We have no idea what is going on here, yet they are quick to point the fingers at the Attorney General.
.
Why? I have no idea. Regulation of mines – particularly the health and safety – is generally handled at the federal level, by the Mine Health and Safety Administration of the Department of Labor. They are primarily responsible for regulating health and safety in mines, and the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977. While states aren’t preempted from regulating mines, if the provisions of the state law contradicts federal law, federal law wins. Why aren’t Lowell and Ben attacking Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis? She’s in charge of mine safety at the federal level. Why focus on the Attorney General of a state where the accident didn’t even occur?
.
I am sick and tired of Democrats using tragedies to advance their political agenda. They do this every time there is a mass shooting (gun control). They do this every time there is a natural disaster (global warming). As Rahm Emanuel says, “don’t waste a serious crisis.” So instead of being respectful, mourning the dead and letting the investigation determine what exactly happened, they rush out to condemn whichever Republican is at the top of their hit list. It’s wrong and it’s deplorable. Lowell even went so far as to ask “why, in the year 2010, we are still stuck in a 19th century energy economy (coal and other fossil fuels) instead of a 21st century one (energy efficiency, wind, solar, geothermal, etc.)” It’s just ridiculous.
.
Both Ben and Lowell should apologize to the families of the victims in West Virginia and to the Attorney General for not even waiting a day before trying to turn a tragedy into political fodder. And people wonder why so many are disgusted by politics?
.
UPDATE: President Obama just spoke on the accident – he asked people to pray for the safe return of the missing workers and “sending the deepest condolences” to the families. He didn’t mention Ken Cuccinelli. Go figure.
![[Post to Twitter]](http://www.tooconservative.com/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-twitter.png){kind=icon}
Apr 06th by Brian S
In addition to the sleaze component these guys don’t even care about the facts.
Last I looked West Virgina had Democrat Senators, and a Democratic Governor and Attorney General, as well as a majority Democrat House Delegation and substantial Democratic majorities in the state legislature. I mean, do you really think if there are serious issues that need to be addressed that Robert Byrd, as frail as he is, would hesitate a moment to support the miners in his state?
And oh, there’s that little detail about West Virginia splitting off from the mother state during the Civil War.
Brian, you would have been a great blogger a century ago. You could have complained about the liberals exploiting the factory fires in Chicago and New York to create fire codes.
Ben Tribbet is a (word i shall not mention here) tool.
Brian,
You’re right about this. As tragic as the mining accident is, Ben’s attack on Cuccinelli for it is mean-spirited, stupid and, frankly, counterproductive. It’s not like Ken Cuccinelli hasn’t been giving Dems legitmate targest to attack on a weekly basis. Ben’s in danger of becoming the “boy who cried wolf” on the Cuccinelli front.
Actually the adoption of fire codes goes back two centuries — but why should we let facts get in the way of wisdom and insight?
And the Republicans didn’t use 9-11 as a political tool? Let’s be honest here……
Ben, this isn’t a hundred years ago. We have layers upon layers of regulation at the federal and state levels to address the issues of mine safety. You guys aren’t arguing in favor of greater mine regulation (if that would even be possible). You’re using the tragedy to attack a Republican you don’t like.
.
Like I said before, the Democrats control the Mine Safety and Health Administration. Instead of accusing AG Cuccinelli, why aren’t you calling on Labor Secretary Hilda Solis to prosecute Massey to the fullest extent of her powers?
.
Before you start blaming Bush for all of this, the Bush Administration happens to have the record for biggest single fine given to an energy company for mine safety violations. And under the Bush Administration’s regulatory regime, the number of mine fatalities shrank consistently.
.
You guys aren’t even waiting to see what happened – it MUST have been Cooch’s fault. While I’ve been critical of him too, this is ridiculous. This crosses the line, and you know it. It’s unseemly.
Brian, I’m not arguing for new laws. I am asking Ken Cuccinelli to ENFORCE the laws instead of turning his head the other way while this company stuffs $10,000 in his pants.
Ummmm….yeah….last time I checked Ken Cuccinelli was the Atty Gen for VIRGINIA….not West Virginia….did West Virginia re-integrate into the Commonwealth while I was asleep last night? What the heck does Ken Cuccinelli have to do with the way West Virginia sets mine safety standards?
Jay- he has nothing to do with what happened yesterday. My post was about whether that tragedy would cause him to enforce our state laws against a facility here in Virginia owned by the same company- with WORSE safety ratings.
Both the Democratic party and the Republican party have blood on their hands from coal money. That’s no secret. Massey would rather pay a thousand fines than change the way they mine coal. That’s no secret either. There are things that someone like Cuccinelli could do, if he were so inclined. But we know he isn’t, and never was.
Ben, again, why aren’t you making the same posts about Hilda Solis? She’s got just as much responsibility for enforcing federal mine safety and health laws against Massey here in Virginia as Cuccinelli does. Cuccinelli does not run the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy here in Virginia – they’ve got the primary control.
.
Do you have any evidence that Cuccinelli is not enforcing the laws here? Do you have anything other than innuendo and a VPAP.org fundraising report?
.
Stop exploiting the tragedy in West Virginia to continue your vendetta against Cuccinelli. You know I have called Cuccinelli out when I’ve felt he deserved it – he doesn’t deserve it here.
I agree with Brian! Tragedies should not be exploited for political gain! Also, BARACK OBAMA WAITED SIX HOURS TO SAY ANYTHING AFTER THE FORT HOOD SHOOTINGS AND HE SHOULD RESIGN IMMEDIATELY.
Don’t mix up my post and Lowell’s. I didn’t attack Cooch- I called on him to do something about the Tazewell County mine and explained why he was unlikely to do so. Lowell attacked the AG. I’ll save that for when Ken refuses to do anything on this (which I expect).
Same thing goes for Hilda- but it sounds like she is going to focus on this issue now Brian from her quotes this am. I hope Cooch does the same.
Does this mean that if the Xmas Bomber had been successful, you would NOT have tried to pin it on Obama? Now that’s ironic.
I can not speak to MME in Virginia but the feds enact USEPA regulations and delegate to the state to administer and enforce. I suspect the same process applies to mine safety. The accountability for non-enforcement largerly rests at the state level. If the state regulatory program is so lax that the USEPA does not think its laws will be effectly enforced they CAN step in but NOBODY like that and it is a rare occurance – at least with environmental laws.
So saying “Or is he going to ignore safety warnings even after yesterday’s tragedy and hope by 2013 that Massey continues to reward him with large political contributions for his efforts to help in their legal actions against the EPA?” isn’t an attack?
.
Massey has already been put on notice by MSHA for their practices at Tazewell – why should Cuccinelli get involved at this point? The Feds are already doing that. If the Feds can’t compel these guys to do what they should be doing already, what can Cuccinelli possibly do?
.
I don’t have a problem with holding him accountable, but you’re jumping the gun here.
I asked a question. That’s not an attack. Yet.
Eric, MSHA is not allowed to delegate to state agencies their enforcement functions. http://www.dol.gov/compliance/guide/msha.htm
.
“The Mine Act does not give MSHA the authority to cede its responsibilities to states or any other political subdivisions.”
Right Brian, which is why we have our own mining laws for our own Attorney General to enforce. If he could get his head out of his ass long enough to do it.
Ben, that’s like saying “when did you stop beating your wife?” is just a question.
Mining is a dirty business – in many ways.
Brian — the point is, Massey has been put on notice a hundred times. A thousand times. If someone in a position like Cuccinelli (or Solis, or Byrd, or insert-politician-here) doesn’t hold their feet to the fire, nothing will change. At best, we’ll get some money from them in fines. That might be good for the government coffers, but it does nothing for the mining families who pay the biggest price.
Brian, your posts just get better and better. Ben, and the other Anti-Cooch D’s are obviously out of line with this attack but they keep posting and embarrassing themselves…
Gretchen, if that’s the case, then it’s time for more action to hold these companies criminal liable for killing their employees. If that’s not possible under the current law, it should be made possible. I’m fine with that.
Fines are completely worthless. When you have a company like Massey that violates safety regulations repeatedly it becomes pretty clear that they have made a calculation that paying the fines is cheaper than the cost of running a safe mine. Apparently, the safety of their employees doesn’t enter into that calculation.
.
Screw fines. Individual human beings made these coldly calculated decisions. How about we put them in a prison cell. Then other people who lack any sense of morality might not be so quick to place additional profit above human life.
Brian,
2 Democratic bloggers do not represent Democrats as a whole. I take umbrage at the statement that: “and already the Democrats are out with their claws” and “I am sick and tired of Democrats using tragedies to advance their political agenda.” If you have a problem with what these two individuals said, take it up with them specifically and not Democrats generally.
*
That said. You make good points. The violations mentioned are federal ones. Why is the VA AG relevant? Are the cases of individuals at this company willfully violating the Virginia’s Coal Mine Safety Laws? And wouldn’t that be a referral from DMME anyway?
Brian,
The sickness here is deeper than you think. This is not about Cuccinelli or even the poor men killed, it’s about Massey not knuckling under to forced unionization. Big Labor has sought to destroy Massey, and NLS knows damn well Hilda Solis (who got her seat in Congress when union bosses went after her predecessor in a Dem primary) will do ANYTHING to use this to ruin Massey and Blakenship.
This does not mean Massey may not be culpable. Hell, I don’t know, but neither does anyone else and these full-on politicized Lefties don’t care to know.
Ciao
RIP
It’s sad that you have Dems here defending this by saying “you would have blamed Obama” for something that wasn’t his fault. Yes, some Republicans would have done that. They would have been as wrong as Dems are now in attacking Cuccinelli for something that doesn’t have anything to do with him. do educated people really think the “You acted like a jerk, so I’m now allowed to act like a jerk” defense is valid?
Not Russ Moulton, that is one of the more ludicrous comments I have read on this subject. You take others to task for ranting that this is about Ken Cuccinelli (which it is not) and then you go on a rant about “forced unionization” (which this is also not about).
.
You allege a damned interesting way that others are attempting to “destroy” Massey. Destruction through lax regulation? That doesn’t make a great deal of sense.
.
Massey has been cited repeatedly for violations related to venting of combustible gasses prior to this mine explosion. They chose to pay the fines and do nothing to correct the problem. It is pretty hard to spin that into a conspiracy of “Big Labor” to “destroy” the company. If you have an ounce of objectivity about labor management relations you might consider that advocating for a safe workplace is something unions do effectively. Had these miners been represented by the UMW they might have had an effective advocate to pressure the company to behave responsibly (and legally) and correct the safety violations of which the company was well aware.
.
It is companies like Massey that give capitalism a bad name. Most companies don’t display this type of callous disregard for their employees.
No, Steve, it is only if Republicans were as sleazy as political ambulance-chasing Dems that we’d be blaming Obama for this, since it is the FEDERAL government which is primarily responsible for mine safety and regulation. And we would have done blindly, in ignorance, which is pretty much how members of the Democrat Party play the game (and for them, it is primarily a game: a game in which the goal is more power).
Were any of the miners gay? Maybe that’s why Chooch won’t get involved.
Don Blankenship takes tremendous personal pride in being virulently anti-labor. But I’m sure he welcomes all conservatives doing their own politicization of this awful story by blaming “Big Labor.”
Brian – Thank you so much for that great post and your continued reasoned answers and arguments on this very sensitive.
*
Mining is dangerous. People travel miles into mountains to extract coal, where there are explosive gases and the potential for cave-ins. My mother’s grandfather and father were coal miners, her grandfather died in an explosion circa 1919 and her father (my grandfather) survived 2 accidents – a gas explosion and a cave in. He retired when he was 42 after working in the mines for 30 years, he had black lung and a myriad of other health issues. If he were here he would be the first to tell you, coal mining is damned safe compared to his times. Mining will never be totally “safe” – it is impossible. It’s like hoping for a risk free shuttle mission – astronauts are strapping themselves to rockets and people want guarantees. It is insane!
*
These families are being exploited, plain and simple. These vulture politicians will take advantage of almost any disaster – natural or man-made – and try to spin it. There is no shame – we have miners still trapped – (let there be a miracle!) – and bodies that have not been identified. 25 families in shock and these vultures could not wait. It’s disgusting!
*
BTW, In no way am I condoning Mining companies overlooking danger or putting their employees at risk.
(Okay, I confess to laughing out loud at BlackOut’s post.)
JY_ of course you realize that SOME Repubs are just as sleazy as SOME Dems, right? Virtue has no political party. Neither does vice. Republicans have made charges about Obama that were equally as stupid as this charge about Cuccinelli.
It’s primarily about power for both sides, unfortunately. Dems, however, at least give lip service to caring about good government. Repubs admit that they hate government and then govern in a way that makes you understand WHY someone would hate government.
Doesn’t anybody remember what the Attorney General does in Virginia? He is the Commonwealth’s lawyer. As such, he has almost no enforcement or criminal investigative powers (although he does handle certain criminal appeals). Investigations of this sort are normally handled by the local Commonwealth’s Attorney, who is an elected official. In Tazewell, that’s a guy by the name of Dennis Lee. Why doesn’t someone ask him why he’s not enforcing the law?
If Ben and Lowell don’t like coal, they should refrain from using any product or service that could be derived from coal. Maybe they can grab a copy of an Algore book and live in the woods like the Unabomber.
Brian, look at Va Code § 45.1-161.95. The AG only has authority to intervene if the local Commonwealth’s Attorney declines to prosecute a violation of the Coal Mine Safety Act and the Director of DMME formally requests the AG’s assistance. The AG cannot begin an investigation on his own. But as always, Ben won’t let the facts get in the way of a good story.
If speaking out for mine safety and against corrupt corporations and politicians (on both sides) makes me a vulture, then I’m willing to live with it. What I couldn’t live with is saying nothing at all.
Gretchen, it definitely does not make you a vulture. That description might correctly be applied to those who knowingly ignore safety violations because they have determined it is cheaper to pay fines than to address the problems. If you weigh a slightly higher stock price against the safety and lives of miners and decide the slightly higher stock price is more important I think vulture fits quite nicely. And politicians who enable this sort of thing could be described that way too.
.
Corporations don’t commit crimes. But people who work for them sometimes do. Couldn’t we pass some laws that would put those folks in cells?
Who called you a vulture Gretchen? Don’t put words in my mouth, I was talking about the opportunistic politicians – but if the shoe feels good, wear it.
[...] Kilo Brian at Too Conservative has noticed this as well. I am sick and tired of Democrats using tragedies to advance their [...]
Actually, I haven’t heard a peep out of politicians of any kind, except to say that they are truly sorry about the tragedy. The Virginia and WV blogs are full of the news, but few others are. Even liberal blogs like Tapped, which has a good labor union record, don’t have a single post (at least as of earlier this afternoon.) I wish I DID hear them saying something! We need more vultures!!
How many of you “experts” have ever been into a mine? How many have even seen a picture of a mine entrance?
My grandfather crawled into the mine at the beginning of his shift and crawled out at the end. Never stood up the entire time.
I was more fortunate. I was a modern miner. Rode a mantrip in and out, stood in relative comfort, if you ignore the constant wet conditions, while I worked.
One of you claimed that Massey is completely unconcerned with safety. That’s hogwash and you probably know it. Anyone with an ounce of common sense knows that safe workers are more productive workers. Anyone who has ever worked in an industrial or mining environment, and I’ve worked in both, know that citations pile up like so many autumn leaves whenever OSHA or MSHA perform an inspection. Most are minor, but due to the legal language the report never reads like a minor infraction. Most violations are due to some minor unsafe action of a worker, yet the company gets the citation.
I’ve worked in the mine involved. It is one of Massey’s largest operations, so it stands to reason there are more violations per inspection. Remember though, every mine, like every industry, will have violations any time OSHA or MSHA comes around. I felt as safe as a miner can feel in that mine.
The purpose of Brian’s article was to point out the shameful actions of Lowell and Ben, two people who wouldn’t know a coal mine if they fell into one. Yet each seems intent on using this tragedy to attack their political target of the moment.
That, Ben and Lowell, is reprehensible.
Alton, I don’t disagree with anything you said, and also found it very insightful.
.
However, Chooch deserves all the sh*t he can get, no matter what it is. It hopefully keeps him busy from doing stupid things. So for that, I applaud anyone who throws heat that way.
Mr. Foley, I’ve never worked in a mine so I will defer to your superior knowledge as someone who has. And what you say about those citations may be exactly right. I don’t know. Although I admit that your characterization of them sounds a bit too easily dismissive to me.
.
I suppose what we need to do is compare how Massey’s safety record stacks up against the record of other companies in the industry. That would give us a more accurate picture of what sort of company it is. If it has far more (and far more serious) violations than most other mining companies we can infer from that they don’t have a proper concern for safety and are not a responsible operator. If they are in line with the average than they may have been unfairly characterized.
Thank you for your comments Alton!
Blackout, Cuccinelli is a clown. Nothing will deter him from crusading against homosexuals or whatever bug he has up his ass at any given moment. But bringing him into this simply distracts from the important issue at hand which is mine safety. Twenty five human beings are dead. If it is through negligence, we have a responsibility to do what we can to prevent it from happening again.
Correction: vultures = political pundits, soon to be followed by politicians. If you want to hang with the vultures Gretchen – feel free!
That particular mine had less citations than the average mine for 2009.
All of you know someone who works in another industry. Ask them what an OSHA inspection is like. It gets pretty nit-picky, believe me. An inspection by MSHA is much more detailed and occurs much more often. If there is a real danger to employees found during an MSHA inspection, the mine is immediately shut down. That’s it. Everybody out except the experts who are responsible for fixing the problem. I assure you Don Blankenship does not want to be alerted to the fact that one of his mines is shut down. I know this from experience as I was called in to make an electrical repair at one of Massey’s mines in the wee morning hours, after the mine had been down for a few hours. He was not a happy man the next day.
And, since some here insist on bringing it up, could someone tell me if Cuccinelli advised all state agencies they must immediately fire all gay employees, or did he just advise them that they could not use their sexual orientation as a reason not to fire them?
*
That is two entirely different things, I don’t care who or what you poke at in your bedroom, you’ll have to agree.
This has nothing to do with labor. Although, as I said over on NLS, I’d feel more comfortable if the UMWA was on site there, following up behind MSHA and the state inspectors. Regardless of what you think about unions, the UMWA has a great safety program, and they are one of the best unions for workplace safety programs out there. They were very good folks to work with when I was at DOL, and I think they could have done some good in WV had Massey been union.
Alton, check out my post here on the sexual orientation business – http://www.tooconservative.com/?p=6601
Don’t fool yourself Brian. The UMWA is, and has been, a good friend of miners. However, today’s Massey non-union miner knows he can take complaints straight to MSHA, or even to Don Blankenship, and receive action on any safety issue. Sure, a non-union miner in a small contract-coal company may experience repercussions from a safety related complaint, but I’ve never heard of it happening at Massey, TECO, AEP, or any of the larger companies.
Alton, it wasn’t me who said Massey puts production ahead of safety. It was Massey CEO Don Blankenship:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/us/07westvirginia.html?hp=&pagewanted=all
You’re welcome to call Don & tell him that’s hogwash & he probably knows it.
I read that when you posted it Brian, and I agree in principle. But somehow I think my phrasing of the question is more apt to eliminate the shrillness coming from all sides on this issue.
Actually Green, I was referring to Gretchen above, but I’ll bite at your bait. Your reference is to one line quoted in a news story. Show me the entire memo, and if it says that Massey is unconcerned about safety, I’ll retract my statement.
Alton, my family has been in West Virginia for eight generations now. We have done everything possible in regards to working the coal fields. We’ve lost family members in mining disasters. Many in my family were beaten by guards for attempting to unionize. My family grew up in the abject poverty of the coal fields, and a few are there yet. I grew up in a world where people did not have limbs. I still get a sick feeling when the siren goes off, even when I know it is only a test. My grandfather died of black lung. My grandparents stripped their farm and I played on the shale face, hunting for fossils — the kinds that could be big enough to collapse a roof and break a man’s back. I’ve swum in rivers polluted by mine run-off. I’ve been in more than a few abandoned coal mines (not with my parents’ knowledge!) I wrote a novel about coal mining for young people, and have spent the past three years of my life travelling through West Virginia talking with coal miners, their children, and their wives (and occasionally a husband!) My husband interned with the United Mine Workers.
So yeah, I know a coal mine from a hole in the ground!
It is obvious that Alton and Gretchen have walked the walk here and know of what they speak. I too have spent many a day underground in some very large mines operated by different companies]. I was involved with research for degasification and respirable dust control. All of my work was as a contractor to Bureau of Mines. However, I went through much of the same safety training and worked with MSHA on many occasions getting my development test equipment approved for permissibility. I have a good understanding of what causes fires and explosions underground and know enough that there are many many possibilities for what happened in WVa.I would have to say that we must wait until we know the probable cause before it is fair to blame anyone or anything. I know that the mining companies where I worked did respect there good employees and would not be flipent about their safety.
Dan brought up an interesting point about the repeated fines, raising in my own mind the question of why that mine hadn’t been shut down temporarily to fix safety problems. Looks like Alton Foley answered that question right on the nose. Very valuable blog exchange, I would say. Thanks to both.
When Ben was a young tyke, his “environmentalist” Daddy told him how coal mining wasn’t needed because you could just get energy from the plug! Fortunately for Ben, Daddy John’s lessons were reinforced by what he learned at Robinson High School. Besides, as Daddy said, when those miners come up from the ground, they look like those black beast people that they used to have to whip on the Tribbett plantation.
.
It is just as well that Ben and his gal-pal Joey stay away from coal mines. The farts generate enough methane to create a huge explosion hazard!
Simple fact: Republicans want less regulation; Democrats want more. Would less regulation avert an incident like this – NO. Would more, most likely YES. What about food safety, pet food safety, toothpaste safety, drywall safety, or car safety?
The republican model of free markets running crazy for big business profits may go for a while but will eventually break down. (crash and burn) As mine regulations decrease starting with Reagan and the Bushes the miner injuries increase.
Right now the only real safety programs are with the UNWA. Look up mine
safety union vs non union. This is from the Slate
Perhaps more fundamentally, union mines instill—and can at times reward—a greater sense of collective responsibility than nonunion mines. In stark contrast to the Sago disaster, on Jan. 29, the lives of all 72 unionized miners trapped in a Saskatchewan potash mine were saved after a devastating, toxic machine fire trapped them underground. When the workers reached the surface more than 24 hours later, virtually all of them credited the emergency training they had received—including practices and rehearsals. Their union—Communications, Energy and Paperworkers—had pushed for this training, and the union had also agitated to allow miners to earn paid time to prepare for underground disasters.
Hey once in a while unions and regulations save lives and better our country.
Union guy, there’s not much more regulation to do when it comes to mining. Almost everything is regulated – it’s one of the most heavily regulated industries. I don’t see anyone arguing for less, and, like I said, it’s hard to push for more.
.
I’ve made no bones about my support for the labor movement – in a good number of situations, far more than Republicans give them credit for, unions can provide services that are hard to beat. Mine safety is one of those areas and I can’t say enough good things about the UMWA’s efforts when it comes to mine safety.
As someone who has grown up in the Coal Community as my family was involved in mining for many generations I do understand how horrible this is on the families and the mining community in general. Through my family, I saw what Sago did to the coal community but I have also witnessed the joy at rescues such as Quecreek. Coal mining is a dangerous profession and one that is full of hard work. To exploit this as a political move is disrespectful and pathetic. This town will never be the same after a loss of so many miners and it certainly is not a political pawn.
As for the Union Guy comment, yes, the UMW has done good things but I also have seen the damage they can do to the mining community and mining companies. I have seen far more useful regulations come out of career industry guys who know what they are doing as opposed to Union folks who push for useless regulation and burdens on coal companies. For example, the decision to pass Miner act I in 2006 regulated that coal mines had to have wireless two way radio communications inside and out. That’s a great idea but wireless signals cannot penetrate hundreds of feet of rock. Over the protests of industry folks, this law was passed and to date it has yet to be implemented because of its difficulty in design.
More regulation would not have adverted this disaster. Sometimes these things just happen and it is horrible and scary to think but it’s a fact.
That’s right David, sometimes despite heavy regulation things just happen. Deeming them an “accident” brings all kinds of baggage – but it is what it is. I think Brian is spot on here as well and I am no fan of big labor unions. Regulation has a point of diminishing returns.
For Immediate Release Contact Eddie Vale 202-637-5018
STATEMENT BY AFL-CIO PRESIDENT RICHARD TRUMKA ON
THE WEST VIRGINIA MINE ACCIDENT
April 6, 2010
The thoughts and prayers of America’s workers are with the families of those lost today at Performance Coal Company’s Upper Big Branch mine. We pray for the safe rescue of those still missing and for the safety of the courageous mine rescue team members.
As a third-generation coal miner, I know too well the dangers these brave men and women face every day as they work to provide for their families. Forty years after the passage of the Coal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1969, mine safety has improved, but mining remains a dangerous occupation. Unfortunately, it has taken tragedies and miners’ deaths to get safety improvements.
However, this incident isn’t just a matter of happenstance, but rather the inevitable result of a profit-driven system and reckless corporate conduct. Many mining companies have given too little attention to safety over the years and too much to the bottom line. Massey Mine, and its CEO, Don Blankenship, have been cited for over 450 safety violations in this mine. Massey paid over $1 million in fines in the past year alone – and has failed to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars more in fines that it is contesting.
Blankenship’s attitude towards workers is showcased in a memo addressing safety concerns in his mines. In the memo, he told his superintendents to put coal production first because, “[T]his memo is necessary only because we seem not to understand that the coal pays the bills.”
While we are all discussing and recognizing these important issues today, we must be mindful to address them every day until all working people can go to jobs in safety. Strict enforcement of regulations by the Mine Safety and Health Administration and the additional protections a union membership brings are key factors to improving worker safety, and we will work to achieve that goal. In the meantime, let’s continue to pray for the safety of the missing miners.
###
Well, take Rich Trumpka’s press release as gospel, please! You don’t need to tell me mining is dangerous, I know, I have seen it 1st hand.
sorry to get to the party so late, but here goes…
this post and my position is not about political gain, it’s about basic worker safety. for my first 20 years in the fire department we traded places with the miners on annual deaths, the primarily through our union IAFF.org we reduced our annuals while the miners were the uncontested leaders in workplace deaths.
this tragedy has nothing to do with Cooch. he’s so inept if he tried to screw with safety it would get better.
the current state is mine safety and this terrible incident is Bush’s legacy. he eviscerated OSHA and the MSHA. he cut budgets, eased up on inspections, allowed many more appeals, and generally was a pimp for coal companies. and Massey was a primary benefactor.
congress added some tough laws after a few mid term bush disasters, but the bush appointee (an anti-union coal company executive) in MSHA was an excellent foot dragger.
O’s appointment of Joe Main was finally approved 11/09 (all that vexing filibuster stuff) and he immediately started to rebuild the agency. sorta like making FEMA work again.
this is Bush’s baby, and the baby of the greedy, especially that SOB Massey CEO who stated in a document acquired in another court case, “production is the top priority over all others including safety.”
b
Looks loke there’s some merit to the union rumor after all.
What won’t the Unions do to rake in their swill? After seeing the SEIU in action, I hope people get a real snootfull of what these malcontents are after.
“What won’t the Unions do to rake in their swill?”
.
One could just as easily ask, “how many lives will Massey Energy endanger to rake in their swill”.
.
I get it Monk. You are reflexively anti-union. I don’t expect you to acknowledge what Brian wrote about the positive role the UMWA plays in workplace safety. That is an inconvenient fact that is not consistent with your anti-union ideology. But if you could take your ideological blinders off for just a moment you might be able to realize that pointing out that Massey is an irresponsible operator that has a demonstrated disregard for safety is not an indictment of the entire industry. Nor is it expressing either a pro or anti union position.
.
This company pleaded guilty to criminal charges in the death of two miners just four years ago. Not civil. Criminal. They have made choices to put the more rapid extraction of coal ahead of operating safely and within the law. They have made a calculation that some amount of additional profit is more important than the safety of miners. If paying a fine and continuing to operate in an unsafe manner yielded more money than correcting safety issues, they chose the money over worker safety.
.
It is a shame to watch people use their antipathy toward unions in general as an excuse to defend the indefensible actions of Massey. Massey gives honest, responsibly run businesses a bad name.
.
The irony is that you are making the case for the union’s role in ensuring safety. Massey is a non-union shop. Those miners didn’t have the UMWA nudging MSHA to act more forcefully to get Massey to address the identified safety violations.
.
Companies like Massey are why unions exist and are needed. If you want to make unions go away (which you seem to) then you need to make criminal companies like Massey either go away or act with some sense of responsibility. Something they have shown little inclination to do.
“the current state is mine safety and this terrible incident is Bush’s legacy. he eviscerated OSHA and the MSHA. he cut budgets, eased up on inspections, allowed many more appeals, and generally was a pimp for coal companies.”
*
OK. So what you’re saying is that even though you guys have been controlling all the levers of power for almost a year and a half you are so incapable of governing that you couldn’t even affect necessary beaurocratic changes that would have prevented this terrible tragedy. Perhaps if you hadn’t focused all of your energy on creating a monsterous 3 trillion dollar entitlement program you could have tended to the day-to-day operations that would have actually saved lives. How many more lives will your incompetence cost?
Cato, you illustrate exactly why this should not be turned into a political football. I sure don’t want to be talking about George W. Bush over this. I want to keep the spotlight trained on the actions of Massey Energy and the pattern of their behavior when it comes to safety issues.
.
Whether it was the SEC or MSHA, we all know the Bush administration had little taste for enforcing existing regulations and weakened them pretty much where ever they could. So what! We can’t save lives (or people’s investments) in the past. We can only do that in the present and the future.
.
Let’s simply look at those past mistakes and make the proper changes going forward. Twenty-five miners died. And maybe they didn’t have to. Seeing that more don’t die needlessly in the future should be the priority.
.
I’m sure Mr. Blankenship would just love for the country to be arguing over the virtues of a past administration or the merits of organized labor rather than focusing on the way he does business. Let’s not do him that favor. Let’s keep the spotlight on Massey Energy.
Cato, the Republicans in Congress took their sweet time confirming Hilda Solis (and they are still rather petulantly holding many Obama appointees hostage) so it’s disingenuous for anyone here to fault her for inaction in her relatively short time in office. George Bush did indeed eviscerate almost every regulatory agency in the federal government for eight long years, and we are seeing the sad results. Food safety, drug safety, industrial safety are areas where lax regulation and inspection have potentially severe consequences. So maybe next time some liberal proposes a mine regulation, a conservative, thinking of this and other mining disasters, will seek to make it better or more effective, and to pass it, not to defeat it. It is a proper role of government to regulate commerce to ensure health and safety, and more Republicans should embrace that role and help to ensure it is done properly, respecting workers, consumers and business owners.
One more thing. Alton, I also come from a mining family, and I know what coal dust smells like. According to reports, there were clear known problems with the ventilation in this mine. Supervisors knew about the problems. Men having to go into the mine were scared. It’s also been determined that the escape routes were not properly ventilated.
Dozens of people are killed every year in all kinds of workplace accidents. Usually workplace accidents happen because someone has put short-term profits ahead of safety. Businesses can be made both safe and profitable, but too often the two goals are put at odds by rigid attitudes, and the language I’ve seen quoted from Blankenship was that kind of rigid language. The coal industry has inherent dangers, and mine owners have a duty to take every risk to their miners as seriously as if it was to themselves. It does not sound right now as if these owners did any better than the owners of the Sago mine. You all here might want to read the wikipedia entry for the Sago mine. That was 2006.
“Cato, the Republicans in Congress took their sweet time confirming Hilda Solis (and they are still rather petulantly holding many Obama appointees hostage) so it’s disingenuous for anyone here to fault her for inaction in her relatively short time in office.”
*
So what? Blaming the confirmation process for your incompetence is a delusional position. Your whiney and petulent attempts to blame everything on Bush ring hollow – the man is a distant memory. You wanted to lead, and you were handed large majorities and the Presidency in 2008 to do so. Now it seems all you want to do is cry about how hard it is. A year and a half is a long time. Instead of frittering away your time on ideological legislation, perhaps it’s time to reflect on how you could have more wisely invested that time. The problem with your side is you never seem able to take responsibility for your own (in)actions. You want to make this a political issue, fine, but you don’t get to pretend that you weren’t afforded ample time to fix problems.
The 2006 laws governing this industry at the Federal level are full of loopholes. They seem almost by design, these loopholes…
In the mining industry fixing problems usually takes regulations and enforcement. Republicans don’t like either of those things, Cato, and argue hard against them. They call it ideological legislation.
Whatever you say, Bush dismantled or rendered nearly disfunctional many regulatory agencies, and it takes more than a few months to fix that, especially when there is delay in getting the top positions filled.
Beyond that, got to strongly disagree with those who say this mine was no worse than most. According to a Friday Washington Post front page article, a former federal regulator said the mine’s number of serious violations was “off the charts,” at almost 12 times the national average. The mine had to be evacuated 64 times since 2009. Ventilation violations 2-3 times the national average. Last March a test showed that it was circulating less than half the volume of air needed to keep down the volume of coal dust and methane. In January, for three weeks a foreman allowed air to flow the wrong way in a ventilation system, despite a citation.
Like I said, every time I hear a Republican say that we have too much regulation, I’m going to think of this mine.
[...] tried to use the West Virginia coal mine disaster to bash McDonnell and Ken Cuccinelli. After calling them out on it, I thought that, at the very least, they might choose to take the high road the next time [...]
[...] As I noted three weeks ago, coal mining remains one of the most dangerous jobs in America. I sincerely hope that the inspection efforts the Obama Administration is undertaking in response to the Big Branch mine disaster earlier this month will help make these mines safer for the men and women who work them. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the lost men. [...]
[...] tried to use the West Virginia coal mine disaster to bash McDonnell and Ken Cuccinelli. After calling them out on it, I thought that, at the very least, they might choose to take the high road the next time [...]