Mourning in Bush America: Greed Is Good

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/08/24/mourning-in-bush-america-greed-is-good/

by Tula Connell, Aug 24, 2007

The six Utah coal miners still remain trapped after the Crandall Canyon mine collapse 22 days ago. And the three men who died trying to rescue the six miners are just being laid to rest. But owner Robert Murray was ready to move on—and make money.



After disappearing from the public for a few days last week, Murray was back, not to offer reassurances to the families of the trapped miners or expressions of regret for the length of time their loved ones have been buried, not to give condolences to the families of the deceased rescue workers or to proffer other basic civilities, but to assert that it’s time to start mining other sections of the mine. After all, what’s a few lost miners when there’s more profit to be made?

Even officials at the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) could not contain their outrage over Murray’s comments.

“We were shocked that the subject was even brought up,” a spokesman for the agency said late Tuesday. “MSHA remains 100 percent focused on the rescue effort.”

And this response to Murray’s remarks from Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, as noted by Square State:

“That’s totally unacceptable. There will not be business as usual until there is closure.”

Following the outcry from federal officials, state lawmakers and family members, Murray now says the mine never will reopen.

But greed at the expense of all else, including workers’ safety and even lives, has been a hallmark of Murray’s career (see here and here). (And when he does spend money, he tends to fund the worst of the worst Republican campaigns.) As safety advocate Ellen Smith noted, at Murray’s Powhatan No. 6 mine in Ohio, Murray was

in big arguments with the Mine Safety and Health Administration officials over problems they had there, over citations he got, over the fact that they wanted to close down a longwall section to make the mine safer. And we have meeting notes where he was screaming, “You’re costing me $15,000 an hour! I’m losing tens of millions of dollars!”

Murray’s egregious behavior makes him an easy target. But he’s the open sore on an internally rotting body whose smell is apparent, but whose source is less so.

FULL story at link.

[muntrv]

1. Make Murray a miner.

[pinto]

2. Geez. At his very first presser after the cave in he was ranting about global warming and the press,

of all things, while the families - who had no idea if their loved ones were alive or not - watched. It was wretched.