Soledad O'Brien vs Robert E Murray (repug coal champion) this morning [View all]
Recap w/ paraphrasing:
Murray: Obama has ruined the coal industry. I personally know the people I've had to lay off and this is a human issue!
Soledad: Clean air is also a human issue. Besides, all the regs you've named were either enacted during the Bush admin or are not enacted yet due to court challenges. How has Obama ruined the coal industry?
Murray: That's incorrect. Coal production is down since "Barrack" (pronoucing it like an Army dorm) Obama took office.
Soledad: But according to the USDOE, coal production is up 4% since Obama took office.
Murray: That's incorrect. Besides, this is a human issue. I know the people I've had to lay off...
Soledad: Well, the regs you've named cannot be the cause, as I've just explained...
Murray: It's Obama's fault!!
Soledad: Well, you've donated $150,000 to the GOP this year alone, so are you sure this isn't about politics?
Murray: That's incorrect!!! *sputter*
video here! http://www.mediaite.com/tv/coal-plant-ceo-insists-his-issues-with-obama-arent-political-adds-that-obama-is-bad-for-america/
Of course, you might remember Mr Murray from the Utah Mine Disaster:
In 2006, the mine was cited for several safety violations, including lacking the required number of escape routes.[7] However, its 64 violations and $12,000 in fines was a relatively good safety record and on par with similar-sized mines throughout the country.[8][9] Murray said that the safety violations were trivial and included violations such as not having enough toilet paper in the restroom.[8] In addition, a practice[10] referred to as retreat mining was being conducted in some portions of the mine in which the coal had been removed by room and pillar method. The extraction of material literally creates a 'room' while the ceiling is supported by the 'pillars' of coal that remain. Retreat mining refers to the common practice of removing the pillars while retreating back towards the mine entrance.
On March 10, 2007 the north barrier pillar suffered from a rock burst, in which pressure causes material from the walls and ceiling to explode inward into the excavated spaces. No miners were injured and all equipment was recovered from the affected area, but the partial collapse closed off that area and forced the mine to instead extract coal that had a higher ash content. The company depended on the low-ash coal to meet its contractual obligations, however, so on March 21 a meeting was held in which it was decided to return to the south barrier pillar. This pillar was adjacent to the north barrier pillar. The March 10 event was never officially reported to MSHA, as required by law. Robert Murray claimed to be unaware of the incident but minutes of the March 21 meeting, released in January 2008, revealed that he had in fact known about it
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