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Here in West Virginia we are seriously interested in reforming the coal mining industry - whether easing it out entirely or at least improving the pollution of the air and water due to mining practices - but the most important reform necessary is mine safety.
There have been many regulations passed over the years to improve mine safety including inspections, improved methods and both labor and management responsibilites. One year ago today, however, a company called Massey Energy and an inspection system that was basically ignored, was responsible for an explosion in the Upper Big Branch Mine, Montcoal, WV (about 30 miles south of Charleston.)
Ken Ward Jr. at Coal Tattoo is even more indispensable today (if that's possible) than ever with several important posts up.
One of the many problems with Acting Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's rally for mountaintop removal is he comes across more as a lobbyist for the mountaintop removal companies than as a governor for all of West Virginia.
With the news coming out about how preventable the Upper Big Branch disaster was that killed 29 workers, why is Tomblin not organizing a rally for worker safety? Or does he only organize rallies that mountaintop removal companies want and the mine companies don't want him out there calling for protection of miners?
Via Ken Ward Jr. at Coal Tattoo, there is a moving piece on NPR about the ongoing grief of those killed because they were Upper Big Branch miners:
But Gene Jones believes speaking out is critical, especially as public memory of the tragedy fades. Jones, 50, lost his identical twin Dean in the explosion.
"We're just going to be forgotten," Jones says, while mine disasters are "going to continue and continue and continue to go on. We need it fixed."
snip
Gene and Dean Jones were so close in their mother's womb doctors detected just a single heartbeat.
"I was 10 minutes older than Dean," Gene said. "It's like part of me is gone."
"I think about him every day," Gene said from a conference room at Appalachian Power in Beckley, where he works as an electrical engineer. His hazel eyes welled with tears. "So I work a lot not to think about it."
An obituary Gene wrote for his brother that includes an image of Dean, broadly smiling, sits on the table. If it wasn't for Dean's mustache, the twins would look exactly alike.
Still, when Gene looks in the mirror he sees his brother. "When people see me they see me and Dean," Gene adds, referring to Dean's widow Gina and their now 14-year-old son Kyle. "When Kyle sees me he sees his daddy some and when he listens to me talk, he probably thinks, 'Whoa, that's my dad!'"
Nick Rahall voted in support of the Robert C. Byrd Mine Safety Protection Act. Alan Mollohan did not show up to vote on it. Shelley Moore Capito voted against it. The bill after all, would close loopholes that allow mines repeatedly in violation to continue to operate unsafely. The lives of the miners have less value than the profits of the mine owners and their shareholder dividends.
Ward reprints an excerpt from the moving obituary Gene wrote for his brother that highlighted the relationship Dean had with Dean's son Kyle.
His beautiful son, whom he loves with every fiber of his being, is also waiting. They will have dinner together and then they will spend the evening together. They love "The Andy Griffith Show." He has purchased his son all the episodes on DVD, and they watch them over and over. They love watching old westerns, the kind that he grew up watching as a boy. They love the Steelers. He has filled his son's whole room with Steelers' memorabilia. They love WVU football and basketball. They love to wrestle and play and their beautiful golden retriever joins in the play. They are constant companions, bonded in a way that most do not know. His son is sick. His son has cystic fibrosis, a progressive and debilitating illness, for which there is no cure. He has spent many sleepless days and nights pleading for his son's life and health. He adores him and wants to be there for him. He wants to comfort him in hard times and laugh and play with him in good times. He wants his son's life to be full and blessed. He will lead him safely to manhood. They will blow out the candles together on his May 1st 14th birthday; since last year his son was too ill to have a birthday cake. They are best buddies. His greatest ambition was to be a good father.
His greatest ambition was to be a good father. There's little I can think of more important or that has more value than being a good father.
As Gene points out, the more than $12 million that Massey CEO Don Blankenship will receive for simply retiring from the company is four times more than the settlement offered by Massey to the families of the dead. Blankenship's putting profits over the lives of the people was more valuable to Massey than the lives of the miners.
In a way, it's really the story of America in the 21st century. From the tax cuts for the wealthy that will lead to a budgetary trap down the road that will lead to cuts in Social Security and Medicare to the telecom immunity supported by Sen. Jay Rockefeller that allowed Bush administration officials and telecom executives immunity for breaking the law to spy on all of us, Americans are losing out to the powerful. The wealthiest get away with crimes of such scope that it is hard to fathom. The rest of us are losing our financial security, our hope and our liberties and many are cheering on our collapse because they cannot comprehend how they have been swindled.
"We're just going to be forgotten," Gene Jones says, while mine disasters are "going to continue and continue and continue to go on. We need it fixed."
Jones could just as well be talking in general about the middleclass and the poor as well as about miners.
The current system is about propping up the wealthiest and making sure the scales of justice are tilted in their favor to the point there is no justice.
Dean Jones was a good human being. But if the people in power truly respected him and the other 28 miners, the Robert C. Byrd Miner Protection Act would have passed unanimously so that no other teenage sons would have to miss their fathers because the mining company put profits over people and those responsible for doing so would be given jail sentences instead of tax cuts and millions in bonuses.
The American Dream still exists for those fortunate enough to be in the wealthiest 2 percent who control half of all the nation's wealth. For the rest of us, the disasters are going to continue and continue, but it's not going to get fixed.
Activist icon Mother Jones once said pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living.
Peace be with the Jones family and all those who died to provide higher profits to cover Blankenship's exit bonus.
"I was deeply saddened to learn that the result of the blast that occurred at the underground Pike River coal mine in New Zealand has claimed the lives of all 29 miners.
This is devastating news and our hearts and prayers go out to the families of the miners and all of the rescue teams that had worked so tirelessly."
Tomblin went on to say he's asked state officials to be in constant contact with those in New Zealand for possible assistance.
Tomblin says coal mining communities share a unique bond. He says the tragedy is also felt in West Virginia.
Ken Ward Jr. at Coal Tattoo marks the anniversary with memorials to the 29 killed. Here's just one as an example:
Joe Marcum was married to Kathy Maynard Marcum for 39 years. For 35 of those years, he was a coal miner.
The 57-year-old was a member of the Church of the Living God and a charter member of the Lenore Volunteer Fire Department since 1982.
He leaves behind two daughters, Kathy Jo Marcum and Garnet Marcum Murphy, many nieces and nephews and an extended family.
The Democrat known as "Joe Bug" also was a mainstay in Mingo County politics.
Halcy Hatfield of Elk Creek, a longtime friend and former member of the Mingo County Commission, said the 57-year-old Marcum owned a trailer near the mine site and sometimes stayed there instead of making the hour-plus drive home.
"He was a tough man. Hard worker," Hatfield said. "He's going to be badly missed by the whole community. A lot of people looked up to him and depended on him and he always came through."
Ward did a good job in remembering our fellow West Virginians who lost their lives. Peace be with them and may their families be comforted by their memories of their loved ones.
"Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal." ~From a headstone in Ireland
New York Times editorial points out the efforts by Democrats to pass mining safety improvements are being met with resistance by Congressional Republicans:
As investigations proceed into the biggest mine disaster in 40 years, Congress is its usual study in partisan obstruction, with Republicans in no hurry to rectify lethal workplace risks laid bare by the disaster. The majority Democrats' reform measure, endorsed by the Obama administration, would crack down on reckless mining companies with stronger monitoring and criminal penalties, subpoena-empowered investigations, and protections against the dismissal of miners who dare to complain about risks to life down below.
Congressional Republicans, echoing the message of Big Coal, complain that there's a rush to make new law. One of their authoritative colleagues, Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, finds the need for action now obvious. The proposal he co-sponsors aims at repeat offenders of mining regulations, like Massey Energy, that game the penalty system with extended legal appeals. It also would require better tracking of methane and coal dust and crack down on the practice of advance warnings when federal investigators approach.
If the Big Branch disaster were a terrorist deed, Republicans would be jamming the hopper with legislative antidotes. But dead miners? No rush, although it's clear that existing regulations are porous, underenforced and in crying need of repair by a responsible Congress.
No surprise here. The GOP always puts the owners ahead of the safety of the workers. So far this week, Republicans have opposed helping the unemployed, helping homeless veterans, and improving financial reforms.
The good news is Don Blankenship may finally be on his way to Federal Court.
The bad news... it's for the wrong reason.
The Charleston Daily Mail's Ry Rivard reports that Massey Energy is suing the U.S. Mine Health and Safety Administration (MSHA) for allegedly violating due process rights because they feel there is not an adequate process to challenge MSHA decisions.
The suit does not mention the Upper Big Branch (UBB) disaster specifically, but references issues related to mine ventilation, which are at the forefront of the ongoing UBB investigation.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the coming weeks. It seems like Massey is using the courts as part of its public relations strategy and attempting to shift the debate from their culpability to some complexities about regulations.
It reminds me of the advice my departed grandfather used to offer, "If you can't dazzle them with your brilliance, baffle them with bullshit."
Ken Ward Jr. at Coal Tattoo asks an interesting question in how the investigation into the Gulf of Mexico oil well explosion is public, but the investigation into the Upper Big Branch disaster is behind closed doors.
So why can the Obama administration do this for an oil industry catastrophe and not for a coal-mining disaster?
The cynical part of me thinks it's because the nation has for decades seen West Virginia as a national sacrifice zone and they don't want to know what happens here.
"As we seek to understand how and why the Upper Big Branch disaster occurred, we might also re-examine conventional wisdom about the future of the coal industry in our state." U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd.
The recent explosion at the Upper Big Branch coal mine in my home county of Raleigh, which killed 29 West Virginians and injured 2 others, has brought West Virginia statewide sorrow and worldwide attention.
Reflecting on President John F. Kennedy's death, Robert F. Kennedy once said, 'Tragedy is a tool for the living to gain wisdom.'
As we seek to understand how and why the Upper Big Branch disaster occurred, we might also re-examine conventional wisdom about the future of the coal industry in our state.
Americans depend mightily on our coal to meet their energy needs. Coal is the major source of electricity in 32 states, and produces roughly half of all the electricity consumed in the United States.
As West Virginians, our birthright is coal. The ancient fossil is abundant here, and is as emblematic of our heritage and cultural identity as the black bear, the cardinal, and the rhododendron.
Indeed, the coal severance tax codifies the philosophy that the coal belongs to all West Virginians, and that they deserve meaningful compensation for its extraction. This philosophy has also been embraced nationwide, through the Black Lung Excise Tax, the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fee, and several other existing and proposed programs that provide additional compensation to the people and places that produce our coal, oil, gas, and other energy resources.
Coal brings much needed jobs and revenue to our economy. But the industry has a larger footprint, including inherent responsibilities that must be acknowledged by the industry.
First and foremost, the coal industry must respect the miner and his family. A single miner's life is certainly worth the expense and effort required to enhance safety. West Virginia has some of the highest quality coal in the world, and mining it should be considered a privilege, not a right. Any company that establishes a pattern of negligence resulting in injuries and death should be replaced by a company that conducts business more responsibly. No doubt many energy companies are keen for a chance to produce West Virginia coal.
The industry of coal must also respect the land that yields the coal, as well as the people who live on the land. If the process of mining destroys nearby wells and foundations, if blasting and digging and relocating streams unearths harmful elements and releases them into the environment causing illness and death, that process should be halted and the resulting hazards to the community abated.
The sovereignty of West Virginia must also be respected. The monolithic power of industry should never dominate our politics to the detriment of local communities. Our coal mining communities do not have to be marked by a lack of economic diversity and development that can potentially squelch the voice of the people. People living in coal communities deserve to have a free hand in managing their own local affairs and public policies without undue political pressure to submit to the desires of industry.
We have coal companies in West Virginia which go out of their way to operate safely and with minimal impact on our environment. Those companies should be commended and rewarded.
But the coal industry has an immensely powerful lobby in Washington and in Charleston. For nearly a hundred years they have come to our presidents, our members of Congress, our legislators, our mayors, and our county commissioners to demand their priorities. It is only right that the people of West Virginia speak up and make the coal industry understand what is expected of it in return.
The old chestnut that 'coal is West Virginia's greatest natural resource' deserves revision. I believe that our people are West Virginia's most valuable resource. We must demand to be treated as such.
As I know from personal experience, no work place can be made entirely safe, particularly with heavy equipment involved and the details on this latest death are not in yet.
The only thing we can do as a people is to make work places as safe as possible. That is something that the federal and state governments, the workers and the owners should all be in agreement on.
But now it appears that Massey officials are using intimidation to silence people with information about the Upper Big Branch disaster.
Alarmed by reports that Massey Energy officials are intimidating miners and their families, the Department of Labor announced today that it is launching a "supplemental" investigation into last month's Upper Big Branch mine disaster -- in which witnesses can remain anonymous.
The department's Mine Safety and Health Administration said in a statement that "Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis called for this additional investigation group to provide a safe, confidential venue for the general public, family members of the victims and miners to speak freely to MSHA investigators about the mine explosion without fear of retaliation or the need to reveal their identity."
"We are clearly concerned about fear and intimidation by the company," an administration official told HuffPost.
Everyone is innocent until proven guilty, but trying to silence witnesses and critics is a sure sign that many people in this state who have committed illegal acts or turned a blind eye to violations have much to fear themselves.
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