Louisville Courier Journal Bemoans "Coal's Lethal Cost", And I *SIGH*.
Coal's lethal cost
The tragedy unfolding at a Massey Energy Co. coal mine in West Virginia is a haunting reminder of the human price the nation pays for cheap energy — and of the unslackened vigilance that government regulators must exhibit toward an industry that routinely evades the demands of the law and even of basic human decency.
As of Tuesday evening, the deaths of 25 miners by a massive underground explosion blamed on methane gas had been confirmed. Four others were missing, and rescue attempts were on hold while crews drilled 1,000-foot bore holes into the depths of the mine to release methane and carbon monoxide so that recovery teams could re-enter the tunnels.
The disaster stands now as the worst since 27 miners perished in a fire at Emery Mining Corp.'s operation in Orangeville, Utah. If the four missing miners are dead — and the odds against their survival are long — the Massey accident would be the worst since 38 men were killed by a coal-dust explosion in December 1970 at Finley Coal Co. near Hyden in Eastern Kentucky.
The immediate task — as grim as it is familiar — is to proceed with the rescue operation, comfort grieving families, bury the dead and secure the mine for the investigation that must follow. Answers to why methane built up to lethal levels and what ignited the gas can come later, but they must be sought aggressively.
What is already known, however, about Massey operations is shameful. The Upper Big Branch mine, where Monday's explosion occurred, was the scene of individual fatal accidents in 1998, 2001 and 2003. The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration's Web site indicates the mine was cited for 515 violations last year alone, and The Associated Press reported that federal inspectors levied fines of more than $382,000 in the past year for repeated serious violations involving the mine's ventilation plan and equipment at Upper Big Branch.
Massey is also infamous in Kentucky. In October 2000, 300 million gallons of slurry spilled from a Massey impoundment in Martin County and polluted hundreds of miles of Kentucky and West Virginia rivers and streams. The company paid a $200 million civil penalty.
The company certainly cannot claim poverty as a defense. Massey, which operates the Upper Big Branch mine through a subsidiary, ranks among the nation's five largest coal producers and is one of its most profitable. It is reported to hold 2.2 billion tons of coal reserves in West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee.
Moreover, Massey's controversial chief executive, Don L. Blankenship, has poured money into political initiatives and campaigns to produce a cozier environment for the company and the coal industry. In 2004, he financed an exorbitant $3.5 million campaign that elevated a little-known but coal-friendly Republican lawyer onto West Virginia's supreme court. He has poured even more millions into GOP campaigns for the state's legislature and spearheaded union-busting efforts in the coal industry.
For eight years, of course, the coal industry received the velvet-glove regulatory treatment from the Bush administration that it had paid for, and especially from Labor Secretary Elaine Chao.
President Obama's choice to lead MSHA, Joe Main, has a strong safety and enforcement background. He now has the opportunity to show that no stone will be left unturned in investigating the Massey disaster — and that the Obama administration will have zero tolerance, backed up by a willingness to shut down operations of even the biggest and richest operators, for unlawful violations that put miners' lives needlessly in peril.
Only then can Americans say that the miners at Upper Big Branch did not die in vain.
The tragedy unfolding at a Massey Energy Co. coal mine in West Virginia is a haunting reminder of the human price the nation pays for cheap energy — and of the unslackened vigilance that government regulators must exhibit toward an industry that routinely evades the demands of the law and even of basic human decency.
As of Tuesday evening, the deaths of 25 miners by a massive underground explosion blamed on methane gas had been confirmed. Four others were missing, and rescue attempts were on hold while crews drilled 1,000-foot bore holes into the depths of the mine to release methane and carbon monoxide so that recovery teams could re-enter the tunnels.
The disaster stands now as the worst since 27 miners perished in a fire at Emery Mining Corp.'s operation in Orangeville, Utah. If the four missing miners are dead — and the odds against their survival are long — the Massey accident would be the worst since 38 men were killed by a coal-dust explosion in December 1970 at Finley Coal Co. near Hyden in Eastern Kentucky.
The immediate task — as grim as it is familiar — is to proceed with the rescue operation, comfort grieving families, bury the dead and secure the mine for the investigation that must follow. Answers to why methane built up to lethal levels and what ignited the gas can come later, but they must be sought aggressively.
What is already known, however, about Massey operations is shameful. The Upper Big Branch mine, where Monday's explosion occurred, was the scene of individual fatal accidents in 1998, 2001 and 2003. The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration's Web site indicates the mine was cited for 515 violations last year alone, and The Associated Press reported that federal inspectors levied fines of more than $382,000 in the past year for repeated serious violations involving the mine's ventilation plan and equipment at Upper Big Branch.
Massey is also infamous in Kentucky. In October 2000, 300 million gallons of slurry spilled from a Massey impoundment in Martin County and polluted hundreds of miles of Kentucky and West Virginia rivers and streams. The company paid a $200 million civil penalty.
The company certainly cannot claim poverty as a defense. Massey, which operates the Upper Big Branch mine through a subsidiary, ranks among the nation's five largest coal producers and is one of its most profitable. It is reported to hold 2.2 billion tons of coal reserves in West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee.
Moreover, Massey's controversial chief executive, Don L. Blankenship, has poured money into political initiatives and campaigns to produce a cozier environment for the company and the coal industry. In 2004, he financed an exorbitant $3.5 million campaign that elevated a little-known but coal-friendly Republican lawyer onto West Virginia's supreme court. He has poured even more millions into GOP campaigns for the state's legislature and spearheaded union-busting efforts in the coal industry.
For eight years, of course, the coal industry received the velvet-glove regulatory treatment from the Bush administration that it had paid for, and especially from Labor Secretary Elaine Chao.
President Obama's choice to lead MSHA, Joe Main, has a strong safety and enforcement background. He now has the opportunity to show that no stone will be left unturned in investigating the Massey disaster — and that the Obama administration will have zero tolerance, backed up by a willingness to shut down operations of even the biggest and richest operators, for unlawful violations that put miners' lives needlessly in peril.
Only then can Americans say that the miners at Upper Big Branch did not die in vain.
Labels: News reporting
posted by KYJurisDoctor at 1:01 PM
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