Nobody is ever going to make working in a mine safe. Gasses release, some toxic and even fatal, cave-ins occur, water floods in, fires rage, equipment crushes and maims, coal dust destroys lungs, explosions malfunction – all of this often a mile or more away from the point of entry. Picture the faces of anxious and grieving relatives that you’ve seen around even mine disaster story ever reported. Early April wasn’t a good time for miners. Two stories made the headlines, proving the point beyond all doubt.
China: “From the start, China’s latest coal mine disaster seemed likely to end as so many others had in a country where an average of seven miners die every day: a failed rescue effort, grieving relatives, few if any survivors… But then, more than a week after the half-built Wangjialing mine in northern China was flooded with millions of gallons of water, rescuers heard taps on a metal pipe. They furiously pumped water out of the shaft and sent glucose injections down through a pipe. By late [April 6th], rescuers had dragged 115 men up to safety, though 38 others remained missing… Survivors said they had strapped themselves to shaft walls with their belts so they would not drown, hung there for days, then jumped into a mine cart that floated by. Others said they ate bark from the pine pillars used to construct the mine.” April 6th New York Times.
West Virginia: “Dangerous gases forced rescue crews to abandon the search [April 8th]for four coal miners missing since an explosion killed 25 colleagues in the worst U.S. mining disaster in more than two decades... Rescue crews had been working their way through the Upper Big Branch mine by rail car and on foot early Thursday, but officials said they had to turn back because of an explosive mix of gases in the area they needed to search… ‘We think they are in danger and that's the whole intent of evacuating them from the mine,’ said Kevin Stricklin of the Mine Health and Safety Administration… The rescuers made it to within about 1,000 feet of an airtight chamber with four days worth of food, water and oxygen where they hoped the miners might have sought refuge. They did not make it far enough to see the bodies of the dead or determine if anyone had made it to the chamber.” April 8th AolNews.com. The next day, smoke and fire stopped rescuers again. Hope faded for any survivors.
Demon coal is usually the culprit – and as I have blogged before, “clean coal” remains a myth – but our constant need for vital metals and minerals reminds us that this dangerous occupation is likely to remain with us for continuing generations, even as we advance technology and employ more robotic machinery and fewer miners. The harsh reality is that to mining companies, their miners are simply expendable. To the owners, it’s simply a balance of how much they are willing to pay for safety against the fluctuating price of coal on the open marketplace. In much of the world, it is cheaper to bribe a mine inspector (or higher-ups not to pass or enforce safety legislation) than to fix the problem. In the United States, “King Coal” uses a legally sanctioned bribe, particularly in states where mining is one of the leading employers and sources of tax revenues; we call this “campaign contributions.” The results are the same.
The April 8th Washington Post supplies some of the numbers: “Mining companies and related trade groups have sharply increased their lobbying efforts in recent years, tripling their spending from $10.2 million in 2004 to nearly $31 million in 2008, according to a review of lobbying disclosures by the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP), a watchdog group… Mining firms and their employees have also donated more than $13 million to federal lawmakers since 2005; 74 percent of that money went to GOP candidates and about half came from industry political action committees… The United Mine Workers of America, by contrast, donated less than $1 million to federal candidates during the same time period, according to CRP data. All but 1 percent of that went to Democrats.”
The West Virginia mine was a part of huge Massey Energy, a company with a checkered past of numerous safety violations and strong anti-union efforts: “The mine… was shut down temporarily for safety violations 29 times last year, some of them for ventilation infractions, Stricklin said. Massey was cited for 515 safety violations at the mine in 2009 and 124 so far this year.” Los Angeles Times, April 9th. Plus this from the April 9th Washington Post: “A surge in the number of challenges to mine safety citations has clogged a federal appeals process, allowing 32 coal mines to avoid tougher enforcement measures last year, government safety officials said [April 9th]… Five of those mines are owned by Massey Energy, which is contesting more federal safety fines than any other coal mining company in the nation, according to data and federal officials. By contesting the citations, the 32 mines were able to avoid falling into a ‘potential pattern of violation’ category, which would have brought closer scrutiny and moved regulators a step closer to the ability to restrict or shut down operations.”
But Massey’s willingness to “pay the price” politically is anything but ambiguous: “The company's chief executive, Don Blankenship, is a highly active GOP fundraiser and bankroller who is known for his outspoken opposition to labor unions; the Upper Big Branch Mine [the site of the above disaster] is not unionized… CRP calculates that individuals and PACs connected to Massey Energy have contributed more than $300,000 to federal candidates in the past two decades, 91 percent of which went to Republicans. Top recipients include current Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who has collected $13,550 from Massey-connected contributors, records show.
“Blankenship contributed the federal maximum of $30,400 last year to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and he has supported Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and GOP Senate candidates Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Rob Portman of Ohio… The Massey Energy chairman garnered national attention in 2004 when he contributed $3 million to the campaign of a West Virginia judicial candidate, who later played a pivotal role in overturning a $50 million judgment against Massey Energy. The U.S. Supreme Court later ruled that the judge should have recused himself from the case.” The April 8th Post. But then again, miners are expendable… Profits appear not to be.
I’m Peter Dekom, and the America I know is about equal justice under the law.
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