Sago raises red flags for mine oversight (lack of)

[rodeodance]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20060106/ts_csm/aminesafety;_ylt=AgHoUCqFHWOBSsQW0UrSfJKs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b2NibDltBHNlYwM3MTY-

Sago raises red flags for mine oversight

By Mark Clayton and Amanda Paulson,
Staff writers of The Christian Science Monitor Fri Jan 6

BOSTON AND TALLMANSVILLE, W.VA. - Nearly half of the 208 safety citations levied in 2005 against the Sago coal mine where 12 men died this week were "serious and substantial."

Federal inspectors found 20 dangerous roof-falls, 14 power wire insulation problems, and three cases of inadequate ventilation plans, among the 96 major violations.

Sago's "S&S" violations, which rose fourfold in 2005 over 2004, form a pattern that worries safety experts, who say it raises serious questions about mine management - and the efficacy of government inspections.

Despite major safety strides in recent decades, mining remains one of the nation's most dangerous jobs. And it's not unusual for mines to be cited for violations of the 1977 Mine Safety Act. But Sago's record, some say, should have raised red flags.

[burrowowl]

1. Since RayGun

Oversight of mines by the gov't has been abyssmal and it hasn't gotten worse since.
Diddly-squat finds are't going to change anything either, mining company and all company CEOs, CFOs, etc. should be liable to criminal and felony charges. In Italy a dioxine charge and knowledge by the company sent several top executives to PRISON!
In the U$ corporations are treated like persons but sans liability of a person. Ithink that not only should the Chief Officers be held liable but also the Board of Directors and hell why not direct major share holders.

[rainbow4321]

2. Coal recruiters worrying new generation won't enter coal mining field..

Think they could at least wait til the funerals are over before they start their complaining.


Coal companies meet the military, military meet coal companies..and you can all thank the chimp regime for your "recruitment" problems.


http://wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=4318787

Coal companies, already hurting for new miners, could find it more difficult to recruit additional employees after the tragic deaths of 12 miners in West Virginia this week, officials said Wednesday.

Kentucky and West Virginia together need an additional 4,500 coal miners immediately, according to estimates from the U.S. Department of Labor. But many of the positions are going unfilled because of a lack of a qualified or willing labor force

"There's no question about it," he said. "We're trying to introduce a new generation to mining. It's difficult to overcome the images from West Virginia."

<snip>

"Half of the work force is expected to retire in five to seven years," Higginbotham said. "High school graduates can go into the mining industry and earn $40,000 to $50,000 a year. This provides an opportunity for a good life."

[blonndee]

8. Reminds me of Hatfield's first press conference after the miners were

confirmed dead. A reporter asked him how he would describe his company and he went on and on about how the company was growing and how it would continue to thrive. Sickening.

[nanddk]

11. just real life

[blonndee]

12. What? Is that supposed to be insightful commentary?

"Just real life." What the fuck does that mean, anyway?

[cmd]

26. I heard that same conference, blondee

That was one of the most disgusting display of corporate propaganda I've ever heard. Hatfield puffed up like a peacock and bragged about how well the company was doing.

[rodeodance]

16. we can always rely on the illegal immigrants.

[Lindacooks]

3. I think the mine officials who ignored those warnings and

didn't do anything because of their money worship should be made to spend a year or four working in the same mines they neglected.

Maybe then we'd see some improvement in safety and working conditions. Those assholes need to put their butts on the line.

[PerceptionManagement]

4. Did you see the handwritten note from the miners as they died?

It was heart breaking.




http://perceptionmanagers.blogspot.com/

[nanddk]

5. yes, it was heartbreaking

buy yall aren't from around here are yeah?

[Lex]

6. Hi nanddk.

Welcome to DU. :hi:

[cmd]

27. I don't understand your comment

please explain further for this eastern Ohio coalminer's daughter. I don't think it matters where someone is from. People from all over the world can express their feelings.

[blonndee]

7. and why weren't these mines shut down till the problems were

resolved? I don't know anything about mining really, but I can't imagine serious safety problems going UNRESOLVED while workers continue to work in such unsafe conditions!!!

[BlueCollar]

15. the FAA isn't doing much either

might be bad for the low-fare business....know what I mean?

[rodeodance]

17. WV forsake unions and their safety concerns for the sake of shareholders.

[rodeodance]

19. Sec. of Labor's spin on this problem.

http://www.thinkprogress.org/?tag=Administration
I posted this ealier, but would like to combine to have a serious discussion on this issue.

Chao’s Spin on Sago: We Saw the Problem,
We Just Didn’t Do Anything About It


Appearing on MSNBC this morning, Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao tried to defend the administration’s record on mine safety enforcement, stating that federal inspectors had “increased their inspections by about 84 percent.”

It is true that inspectors increased their inspections at Sago, but Chao neglected to mention what the inspections found. Federal investigators repeatedly documented the unsafe conditions at the mine:

.........

And each day, the evidence continues to mount that federal mine safety overseers, despite knowing about the problem, turned a blind eye to it:
........

Spinning statistics isn’t going to make mines any safer. Enforcing the laws will.

[Hotler]

28. Have you ever heard of "Greed"?

That's why the mine wasn't shut down till problems were fixed. Closing the mine for a week or two would have cost the owner tens of thousands of dollars in lost profits, and we can't have that can we? The wallet of "The Man" is always more important than the life of a worker. Most worker compensation laws are protection for the employer "The Man". Employees are disposable, injure one, kill one, throw them away and get a new one. The gilded age and the robber baron mentality of the CEO's "The Man" has never left the coal industry.

[YvonneCa]

29. On PBS Newshour last night...

...Mark Shields connected what happened at the SAGO mine to high level Bush administration de-regulation policies. I emailed him a thank you!
:patriot:

[rodeodance]

35. should have added--and a lack of unions in these mines.

[barb162]

43. Yeah, Deregulation is a way for business to get away with

murder of and injuring workers. And Elizabeth Chao, Sec. of Labor, oh man , I can't stand her!!!! Business, because it is by nature amoral and geared to making the largest buck for shareholders , will take advantage of no rules almost EVERY time. Only in a few situations, like DuPont in its early years, would you see true caring for worker safety

[barb162]

9. OSHA rules and enforcement under the pugs is terrible

OSHA needs to be beefed up!

[YvonneCa]

31. See post # 29. n/t

[nanddk]

10. Sago Mines

50-60,000 is a big did I say BIG number in west virginia? It may not be a big number in a big city , but it West Virginia it is big..

[blonndee]

13. 50-60,000 what? Please be clearer. Your posts are very

uninformative and vague. I'm interested in what you have to say, but you need to articulate your points much more clearly.

[nanddk]

14. well apparently you can't read them all here

trying but getting censored ahhh

[Comadreja]

18. Mine deaths down under Bush?

Freepers are making much of figures that indicate mining fatalities have gone down during the Bush years. Any contrary data to this claim?

[rodeodance]

20. overall deaths have gone down over the years.

[FogerRox]

39. underground fatalities are on a long term down trend

but Injuries at the SEGO mine went from 8 in 2004 to 14 in 2005. While production dropped by about 30k tons--

In 2004 the SEGO mine had 8 NFDL Operator Injuries. In 2005 14 NFDL Operator Injuries. Yet production went down from 396,754 tons in 2004 to 366,043 tons in 2005.

from here

http://www.msha.gov/drs/ASP/MineAction.asp

total Production in tons went from 1996: 943,289,908
to 1,079,065,684 in 2000.
2001: 1,130,332,538 tons
2004: 1,112,423,556 tons

but underground mine production went from
1993- 348,436,286
2000- 373,754,882
After peaking in 1998 @ 419,653,258

2001- 380,919,546
2004- 367,147,343

from-

http://www.msha.gov/STATS/PART50/WQ/1978/wq78cl02.asp

While underground mines injuries went from 7,350
in '93 to 3,382 in 2004.

from -
http://www.msha.gov/STATS/PART50/WQ/1978/wq78cl08.asp

while underground fatalities are here--
http://www.msha.gov/STATS/PART50/WQ/1978/wq78cl05.asp

US fatalities-- see graph-- a downward trend http://www.msha.gov/MSHAINFO/FactSheets/MSHAFCT10.HTM

The funny thing is when coal production peaked in '98, fatalities did not have a corresponding peak.

[rodeodance]

21. The Mike Brown of MSHA. (Mine Satety and Health Admin) good article.

time to leave the mining families in their grief and do some serious critical reporting.

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/01/06/the-mike-brown-of-msha/
The Mike Brown of MSHA.

Bush’s former head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration, David Lauriski, resigned after “60 Minutes” revealed that “the agency had improperly awarded no-bid, single-source contracts. Two of those companies had ties to Lauriski and one of his assistants.” A permanent replacement has yet to be confirmed. 5:03 pm

MHSA and the Sago Mine Disaster
How Many Brownies are there in this Administration?

by Scott Lilly
January 6, 2006

The terrible story from West Virginia that blanketed the nation’s television screens this week should be a further reminder of the cost of corrupt and incompetent government. There is virtually no one who will argue that the Sago Mine was operating at an acceptable level of safety. USA Today this morning reports that the mine
“had been cited for hundreds of federal safety violations since it opened in 1999, government records show. Among the infractions were at least 16 related to failures to prevent or adequately monitor the buildup of explosive gases in the mine.”

So why didn’t somebody do something? The answer to that is directly attributable to the individuals in whose hands the safety of miners and other workers has been placed by this administration and the prevailing mind set within the administration on any issue in which business interests differs from those of workers.

A year ago last November, President Bush’s appointed head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration, David Lauriski, resigned his position citing family reasons. His resignation came shortly after a Labor Department Inspector General report confirmed a CBS “60 Minutes” report that under his direction the agency had improperly awarded no-bid, single-source contracts. Two of those companies had ties to Lauriski and one of his assistants.

[rodeodance]

22. Bush adm. cut funding for mine inspections (see below).

from the Thinkprogess link:

....The administration’s efforts with respect to mine safety cannot be explained solely on the basis of relaxed regulation. The enforcement of the remaining regulations has also been under attack. As Carol Raulston, a spokeswoman for the National Mining Association, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette yesterday, “What we have seen that is different with the Bush administration is that they put a little more emphasis on working with mining companies….”

One way of working with the mining companies is to cut fines. Peg Seminario of the AFL-CIO estimates that the average fine per violation levied against Anker Group Incorporated, the company that operated Sago Mine, was about $247—little more than a minor expense of doing business.

A second means of cutting back on enforcement is cutting back on inspectors. Last February, President Bush asked the Congress to appropriate $280 million for MSHA, cutting the number of full time positions in the agency by 146. That proposal was approved by Congress just before Christmas on narrow votes in both Houses. Subsequently Congress approved a 1 percent across the board cut to all agencies, cutting the MSHA’s budget by an additional $2.8 million and leaving it about $10 million below the FY 2005 funding level after adjusting for inflation. As a result of Congress’s action, the cut in mine inspections will be even deeper than the level proposed by the White House.

What is even more disturbing is that this is not a problem that simply affects mining. At the time that David Lauriski was going out the door, a new Bush appointee to be acting director of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, an agency responsible for the workplace safety of most Americans who don’t work in mines was coming in. Jonathan L. Snare brings credentials to OSHA that should give pause to any working family watching television coverage of the Sago Mine disaster.......

[rodeodance]

23. Snare (new OSHA Bush appointee)--is another 'Brownie"

......What is even more disturbing is that this is not a problem that simply affects mining. At the time that David Lauriski was going out the door, a new Bush appointee to be acting director of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, an agency responsible for the workplace safety of most Americans who don’t work in mines was coming in. Jonathan L. Snare brings credentials to OSHA that should give pause to any working family watching television coverage of the Sago Mine disaster.

Before arriving at the Labor Department, Snare was a lawyer and lobbyist in the Texas-based firm of Jackson and Walker, LLP, a firm claiming to specialize in, among other things, “appropriate discipline of employees” and “union avoidance campaigns.” Among his clients was Metabolife International, the leading provider of the weight loss supplement Ephedra, which was eventually banned after the Food and Drug Administration received numerous reports of deaths linked to its ingestion. A criminal investigation of the company was launched following an FDA request to the Justice Department to determine if the company had made false statements regarding the supplement. Since then Metabolife and one of its cofounders has pleaded guilty to numerous counts of tax evasion. Twelve million Americans had been using the supplement before the FDA action.

[rodeodance]

24. "no end to the number of Michael Brown “act-a-likes"---Why is not the

media reporting on this stuff!!!! Damn.


While Snare’s lobbying activity involved him in some health and safety issues—although rarely on the side of consumers or workers—he seems to have spent much of his time on politics. He served as Election Operations Vice-President of the Republican National Lawyers Committee, General Counsel to the Texas Senate Redistricting Committee and General Counsel to the Republican Party of Texas.

There seems to be no end to the number of Michael Brown “act-a-likes” that can be found in the Bush administration. The corruption that is at the base of the remarkable fundraising machine assembled by this White Hose and their allies in Congress drives an ever increasing wedge between the interests of ordinary Americans, such as the miners who died this week in West Virginia, and the special interests that currently fuel the good life in Washington.

[stop the bleeding]

30. rodeodance check out these threads from GD in the last 3 days - ties in

with this.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x54143

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x65231

[rodeodance]

37. thanks, I will.

[YvonneCa]

32. See post #29. n/t

[pinniped]

25. NBC reported that a 35,000 amp lightning bolt may have struck the mine.

Man, just wait until that kook Robertson hears about that.

[FogerRox]

41. yeah well - the SEGO mine was shut down for the holidays and

might have not been Vented properly when the 1st shift went down.

[YvonneCa]

33. Here's my LTTE to PBS Newshour. Mark Shields gets it...

>>>>>

Thank you, Mark Shields, for your comments about how the de-regulation policies of this administration are a factor in what happened at the West Virginia mine (Sago). I believe, and have said repeatedly, that there is a pattern followed by the Bush Administration that is VERY negatively impacting our country.

De-regulation is one example (with the Sago Mine result, as well as the Enron mess...yes, I am a California resident). Other examples are the 'ownership' society, also known as privatization, which they want to impose on every industry and government program, from education to Social Security, from tax reform to the military, from interpretation of the law to the Constitution. When they make a legal decision or set a policy, the result 'trickles down' in a way that is disastrous for our country. NSA wiretaps and torture are but the most glaringly negative results.


I believe this administration wishes to undo programs and court decisions all the way back to the social safety net programs of the New Deal. What a sad thing for our country! We need new leadership in this country...leadership which will chart a new course, using the BEST values of our country as a guide. (There's a great book on this called "The Fourth Power", by Gary Hart ). Thank you for speaking out on the News Hour tonight.



>>>>>>>>


:patriot:

[rodeodance]

36. nice. thanks for the post.

[rodeodance]

34. story says that "A high proportion are substantial." (violations)

Taken separately, the number of violations and the variety of issues involved are not particularly troubling, says Mr. Mc-Ateer. Indeed, accumulations of coal dust and electrical and ventilation problems are not unusual in coal mines. But taken "as a package," three issues stick out about the violations, McAteer says:

• The number is on the high side for a coal mine of that size.

• A high proportion are substantial.

• The 2005 total was more than triple the 68 tallied in 2004.

Despite this record, the entire mine was never ordered closed for a safety overhaul.

"I've seen other mines with as many or nearly as many violations," McAteer says. "But these are substantial ventilation, roof control, and emergency escape violations. If you look at the direction going, you see both federal and state numbers increasing."

[IndianaGreen]

38. Enforcement of Mine Safety Seen Slipping Under Bush (Common Dreams)

Published on Saturday, January 7, 2006 by Knight Ridder

Enforcement of Mine Safety Seen Slipping Under Bush

by Seth Borenstein, Linda J. Johnson and Lee Mueller

WASHINGTON - Since the Bush administration took office in 2001, it has been more lenient toward mining companies facing serious safety violations, issuing fewer and smaller major fines and collecting less than half of the money that violators owed, a Knight Ridder Newspapers investigation has found.

At one point last year, the Mine Safety and Health Administration fined a coal company a scant $440 for a "significant and substantial" violation that ended in the death of a Kentucky man. The firm, International Coal Group Inc., is the same company that owns the Sago mine in West Virginia, where 12 workers died earlier this week.

The $440 fine remains unpaid.

Relaxed mine safety enforcement is widespread, according to a Knight Ridder analysis of federal records and interviews with former and current federal safety officials, even though deaths and injuries from mining accidents have hovered near record low levels in the past few years.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0107-06.htm

[Nothing Without Hope]

40. ***This was one of the articles cited in another thread on this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x65231
thread title (1-6-06 GD): NYT: "Coal's Power Over Politicians" - Fight Bush for stronger unions!

This CS monitor article is cited in Reply #5 in that GD thread, and there are others in the opening post and reply thread. I wish there were a way for us to keep discussions on the same subject together so that we don't have to keep re-inventing the wheel. But as long as DU is in this format, with such short-lived visibility on the Greatest Page, we can only post links to older threads and try not to lose the ground already covered when the discussion is started again in new ones.

I'm glad this discussion is continuing and I hope interested people will check out the articles in both threads.

By the way, important points about the Sago mine are that it is a "scab mine," without a labor union (it's in the CS Monitor article) and that the total cost of paying the fines was very small compared to the income from the mine, so that it's actually profitable to just let the violations accumulate. (The numbers are in the older thread in Reply #13:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x65231#65825)

Also, don't miss the Hannity/Colmes interview with Spadaro, who pulls no punches in telling the truth about how the Bush Administration allowed mine safety to deteriorate because they side with the companies. It's cited in the other thread, and part of it is excerpted there in Reply #12:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=65231&mesg_id=65783

There are other relevant and useful links in that older thread as well, for example links and info on House and Senate bills intended to facilitate and protect labor union formation. That is at the end of the opening post. The bills are called the Employee Free Choice Act (S.842/H.R.1696); for more info and links, go to the OP of the older thread.

There is a lot of valuable information and discussion that gets lost because DU's format allows threads to effectively die after only a day, when they often are at their most useful and comprehensive. That's why I try to cross-link older and newer threads when I can, so we don't lose so much.

[cantstandbush]

42. Republicans: The party of deregulation and no regulation.

That's why big business loves them so.