25 Coal Miners Died, but Massey CEO Calls Mine ‘Safe’

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2010/04/07/25-coal-miners-died-but-massey-ceo-calls-mine-safe/

by Mike Hall, Apr 7, 2010

As mine rescue teams wait for more ventilation bore holes to be drilled into Massey Energy Co.’s methane gas-filled Upper Big Branch Mine , the company CEO claims that hundreds of mine safety law violations don’t mean the mine is unsafe. On Monday, 25 miners died in an explosion and four remain unaccounted for in the mine.

Massey CEO Donald Blankenship denies the mine was “improperly operated” and even boasts, “Our creativity on safety is second to none.” Mine safety experts and the families of the dead miners are incredulous—and outraged—over his safety claims.

In 2009, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) proposed nearly $1 million in fines for more than 450 safety violations at the nonunion mine in Raleigh County, W.Va. Just last month, MSHA cited the mine for 57 safety violations that included repeatedly failing to develop and follow the ventilation plan.

Kevin Stricklin, MSHA’s administrator for coal mine safety, told the Charleston Gazette that Blankenship’s claims are impossible to believe.

We know it wasn’t operating safely, or we wouldn’t have had an explosion. It’s quite evident that something went very wrong here. All explosions are preventable. It’s just making sure you have things in place to keep one from occurring.

Tony Oppegard, a lawyer and mine safety advocate from Kentucky, told the Gazette:

Clearly, there were red flags here, and the safety record was not very enviable. And those types of citations really show a culture that is not committed to safety and not committed to protecting the miners who work there.

FULL story at link.

[Brickbat]

1. I hope this gets those miners to stand up.

[dflprincess]

7. It should get all workers - including those of us in cubes - to stand up

if this had happened in France the workers would have shut the country down.

[Oregone]

2. OH COME ON!

If you look at the video long enough, its clear one of the miners had an RPG

[malaise]

3. Jeff Goodell is on with Rachel

She read some great stuff before he joined her.

Common to most discussions is the view that miners would have more rights if they were unionized.

Here's another article

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/us/07westvirginia.html
<snip>
In the past two months, miners had been evacuated three times from the Upper Big Branch because of dangerously high methane levels, according to two miners who asked for anonymity for fear of losing their jobs. Representative Nick J. Rahall II, a Democrat whose district includes the mine, said he had received similar reports from miners about recent evacuations at the mine, which as recently as last month was fined at least three times for ventilation problems, according to federal records.

The Massey Energy Company, the biggest coal mining business in central Appalachia and the owner of the Upper Big Branch mine, has drawn sharp scrutiny and fines from regulators over its safety and environmental record.

In 2008, one of its subsidiaries paid what federal prosecutors called the largest settlement in the history of the coal industry after pleading guilty to safety violations that contributed to the deaths of two miners in a fire in one of its mines. That year, Massey also paid a $20 million fine — the largest of its kind levied by the Environmental Protection Agency — for clean water violations.

sp.

[theHandpuppet]

16. When you're a union miner...

... you can report safety violations without fear of losing your job or, if not outright losing it, being "reassigned" to the dirtiest, most dangeorus jobs for being a "troublemaker".

[Hissyspit]

4. Telling: "our creativity on safety"

What a shit he is.

[WillyT]

20. Yeah... Here's Their Creativity In Communication...

:mad:

[Supply Side Jesus]

5. Corporations should be treated the same as people.

So let Charge, jail, convict, and execute the Corporation for the MURDER of 25 employees.

[obxhead]

6. +1

[NotThisTime]

14. Charge, convict and jail for murder, agreed....

[gratuitous]

8. Sure that mine is safe

Just don't expect Don Blankenship to go down there.

[Omaha Steve]

10. LOL

That is about the only funny thing of this entire tragic story.

[City Lights]

11. He should be invited to appear on an episode of Undercover Boss.

In fact, I think I'll suggest it to CBS.

[Canuckistanian]

9. "creativity on safety"?

What, like duct tape and string? Or does he mean 'creative ways of ducking safety inspectors'?

If he isn't up on charges for this - I'll understand completely how the system works.

[Mari333]

12. again, that is for the courts to decide...he will have his ass sued off

every family has probably been contacted by hordes of lawyers..this is going to be one huge mfucking lawsuit..
he can shit bricks and call it gold, doesnt make it so

this will go slowly but steadily thru the court system and when all is said and done, this guy will be toast.

[theHandpuppet]

15. But then in the real world...

Blankenship OWNS the courts. Sorry, but we've seen how that works here in WV.

[CanonRay]

17. He took the Chief Justice

of the W.Va Supreme Court to the French Riviera. No conflict there. :wtf:

[Mari333]

18. have you ever met the lawyers at Corboy and Demetrio In Chicago?

believe me, once they are through with this guy, and Ill bet you a dollar they are down there (they handled the Tylenol murder case and many huge cases), this guy will be toasty toast.
It goes through federal court, takes years, but this asshole will lose everything. and I will be glad to watch it.

[City Lights]

13. What a greedy sack.

Do tell, Blankenship, if hundreds of safety law violations don't mean the mine is unsafe, what do they mean?

[madokie]

19. Another reason we all should be in the streets at every chance supporting our Labor Unions

without them we workers, or used to be worker in my case, have nothing. Anyone that thinks the ole boy that is the owner of the company he works for has his best interest in mind has a better think coming.