Dozens More Massey Mines Cited Unsafe-41 Other Mines Racked Up 2,074 Safety Violations Since January

[babylonsister]

Dozens More Massey Mines Cited Unsafe
Some 41 Other Appalachian Mines Have Racked Up 2,074 Safety Violations Since January

By Mike Lillis 4/8/10 6:00 AM


The federal investigators readying their probe into the massive explosion that killed at least 25 West Virginia coal miners this week might take note: The dozens of other active tunnel mines owned by the same energy company have run up thousands of safety violations this year alone, according to a review of federal records by TWI. Hundreds of those citations target the same problems with ventilation and methane buildup that many suspect sparked the West Virginia disaster.

Massey Energy — the Virginia-based coal giant that owns the Upper Big Branch mine, the site of Monday’s tragedy — also controls 41 other underground coal mines currently active in Appalachia. Investigators have cited those projects for 2,074 safety violations since the start of the year, according to federal documents. The citations run a spectrum, but hundreds charge mine operators with failing to maintain air quality detectors, failing to ensure proper ventilation, allowing combustible material to accumulate, and a host of other infractions related to miner safety.

At the Upper Big Branch — where rescue teams were still searching Wednesday night for four missing miners — investigators had cited 124 similar safety violations this year. More than 50 of them were issued in March alone.

On Wednesday, the Mine Safety and Health Administration, a branch of the Labor Department, sent a team to Upper Big Branch to begin investigating whether the conditions cited in those violations sparked the explosion.

“The very best way we can honor is to do our job,” Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said in a statement announcing the team.

But as those officials prepare to look backwards in search of what went wrong at Upper Big Branch, a growing chorus of voices is urging policymakers to examine also the corporate culture that, they say, has led companies like Massey to disregard worker safety in the name of profit-making.

“This incident isn’t just a matter of happenstance, but rather the inevitable result of a profit-driven system and reckless corporate conduct,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in a statement. “Many mining companies have given too little attention to safety over the years and too much to the bottom line.”

more...

http://washingtonindependent.com/81604/dozens-more-massey-mines-cited-as-unsafe

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. alternet has a new insight into this scumbucket

CEO of Mine Where 25 Workers Were Killed Is a Teabagger
This post originally appeared on Hullabaloo.

Well, well, well … looks like our Mining CEO is a teabagger. Karoli at C&L writes:

Meet Don Blankenship, CEO of Massey Energy Company. Blankenship is also on the Board of Directors of the US Chamber of Commerce. In this speech above, he denies climate change, derisively refers to Speaker Pelosi, Senator Reid, and others as “greeniacs”, and calls them all crazy. Watch the speech, you’ll see. In his mind, “the greeniacs are taking over the world.”


http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/04/07/ceo-of-mine-where-25-workers-were-killed-is-a-teabagger/


Why are we NOT surprised?

[Bitwit1234]

2. I do not understand why he is not right this minute

being indicted for murder. If this was anyone else with all this violations, and safety record he would be. But it seems the more violent and common you are the more you get off with what ever mayhem you commit.