From Paul J. Nyden's Gazette article published November 23, 2008
"Reforms written in miners' blood"
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - When people talk about the history of mine safety, there is "before Farmington," and there is "after Farmington."
"Up until then, there was no rock dusting, no controlling the mine dust, which is basically gunpowder," said Gov. Joe Manchin, whose uncle John died in explosions that rocked Farmington No. 9 before dawn on Nov. 20, 1968.
That was untrue, at least according to William Poundstone, Consol's executive vice president for operations who reportedly said, the workings [at the Farmington mine] were heavily rock-dusted, which may account for the lack of fire and violence at the "front" of the mine from which the 21 men escaped safely.
Manchin's public proselyting over a lack of a "miracle" due to "unanswered prayers" may be little more than just another clever coalocrat governor's way of shifting the blame away from himself for not at least making certain that regulations were enforced. His public supplication for mercy on those miners certainly reminds me of how Arch Moore blamed the Buffalo Creek disaster on God whilst shirking all responsibility for his own lack of oversight.
But I digress. Of the Farmington disaster, Manchin went on
"These were horrific explosions. The air was so bad. The fires were so hot. There was no way mine rescuers, the bravest people I have ever been around, could go past certain points. Changes were much needed."
Those "beyond certain points" Manchin references were where Consol simply chose not to rock-dust. So if Manchin's present lamentations produce a sense of déjà vu, it could be because it was only just a little over a year and a half ago that he went on to wail "Unless there is a tragedy such as these, nothing happens," Manchin said. "Why does human nature wait until we have such catastrophic tragedies?"
Why INDEED, Governor? Too bad that he never got around to posing that question to his lame WV Board of Coal Mine Health and Safety. Yet I strongly suspect that there are standing regulations which should have prevented those deaths at Upper Big Branch, had they but been enforced.
Now don't get me wrong. Whether or not someone in Manchin's administration chose not to enforce is only a part of the problem, because the primary responsibility still lies with the employer to provide safe working conditions. Whether or not Blankenship can hide behind his corporate logo for criminal negligence as he did during the Aracoma felony convictions is yet to be seen.
We still have to sort out the cause of the Upper Big Branch disaster. I suspect that like the investigations after the Sago incident, Massey will challenge the right of the UMWA to send in a team of experts to help the families of the victims sort out what actually caused the incident. It will likely take a request from either an active miner from Upper Big Branch or at least a victim's family member before a judge will be persuaded that the Union's involvement is necessary to make certain that there's no cover-up.
If you think Manchin will offer the non-union miners of that operation any whistleblower protections to step forward and testify against any scofflaw coal operator, then you obviously missed the video of him kissing up to the WV Coal Association's #2 statehouse bagman -er "lobbyist".
Since Manchin has already proclaimed that God flatly refused to save all those miners from the state's shoddy regulatory oversight, let us all now pray for a paradigm shift away from a coalocratic theocracy and further ask God to guide us towards justice for the victim's families and diligent oversight for the surviving fellow miners.
That would truly be a miracle, because by now it is quite obvious that neither Manchin, nor his Administration, nor even his coal-sponsored legislature will ever deliver us from evil.
Do I hear someone say Amen? |
