Well-bush was responsible for the miners' deaths,too

[w8liftinglady]

http://www.mindfully.org/Energy/2004/Coal-White-House9aug04.htm
snip

Safety and environmental regulations often shift with control of the White House, but the Bush administration's approach to coal mining has been a particularly potent example of the blend of politics and policy.

In addition to Mr. Lauriski, who spent 30 years in the coal industry, Mr. Bush tapped a handful of other industry executives and lobbyists to help oversee safety and environmental regulations.

In all, the mine safety agency has rescinded more than a half-dozen proposals intended to make coal miners' jobs safer, including steps to limit miners' exposure to toxic chemicals. One rule pushed by the agency would make it easier for companies to use diesel generators underground, which miners say could increase the risk of fire.

snip

[NVMojo]

1. Bush and his greedy profit cronies need to pay out of the asshole

for the hell they've wrought on this nation in the past few years ...

[BlueCollar]

2. outstanding article

worth reading

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. couple this with the rise in non-union mines....

Somewhere the ghost of John L. Lewis is moaning in sorrow. (For those who don't know who he was, check out the United Mine Workers union)

[ngGale]

4. Very sad, Congress should worry about ....

taking this subject up too. More loss of life on *'s watch...another 'great job' from one of his cronies?:sarcasm: :cry:

[curt_b]

5. More on Lauriski & MSHA

http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/2721

Trapped Miners’ Employer, Feds Left Worksite Unsafe
by Brendan Coyne

"Meanwhile, federal government’s appetite for mine safety enforcement has been dwindling. According to an AFL-CIO analysis, the Bush administration cut 170 positions from MSHA and has not proposed a single new mine-safety standard or rule during its tenure.

Additionally, many regulations aimed specifically at mine safety have been eroded or done away with under the Bush administration, including a 2000 rule titled "Escapeways and Refuges." The rule required all mines to have at least two separate exit paths but was altered shortly after Bush took office by then MSHA head David Lauriski.

Lauriski, a former mining-company official who took over MSHA in 2001 and resigned at the end of Bush's first term, pulled the rule "in light of resource constraints and changing safety and health regulatory priorities," according to official data compiled by the government watchdog OMB Watch. The regulation is one of seventeen aimed at making mining less dangerous undone by MSHA since 2001."

[H2O Man]

6. There is a chapter

in Robert Kennedy, Jr's book "Crimes Against Nature" called "King Coal." The book documents "how George W. Bush and his corporate pals are plundering the country and hijacking our democracy." I was thinking about it as I watched the terrible news this morning.