Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Tragedy in the Mine

How is it that despite the Mine Safety and Health Administration, all sorts of regulations, and after the Sago mine disaster, it could happen again?

Massey Energy has blood on its hands, the Big Branch Mine had a history of safety violations, as reported here. The attitude is the same as ever, miners are expendable. You know what should be done? Shut the mine down, permanently, shut Massey down. No matter how much Massey donates to local communities, it can never erase the blood shed by 25 miners.

Yet, it's not just Massey, but the politicians who support coal who are to blame. They fight for an industry because they say they value jobs. Apparently, these politicos don't value lives as much as jobs. Again and again, problems in the mines are ignored until it is too late.

Why? Because to really make the mines safe it would cost too much money for the coal companies and might cause job cuts. The politicians want to have it both ways, protect the industry, protect the miners.

And we shouldn't forget the friends of Massey and Don Blankenship, like John Yoder, who is running for a place on the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. Yoder accepted money from Blankenship during his last state senate campaign.

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