The right is in fully sympathy with the families of those poor miners, as they should be. But some are also blaming the media for the mess the mining company's spokespeople made of the initial blunder that led family members to think all but one miner had survived, followed by the horrifying revelation that all but one of the 13 miners had perished. On the radio this morning, the fill-in host for Laura Ingraham lashed out at one miner family member who declared she'd defninitely be suing.
I'm not one to defend the mainstream media. I know they can be headline graveling, administration toadying putzes at times. But not all the time. And in this case, I'm with TV Newser in saying they were only part of the problem (and not the biggest part) despite their typical saturation coverage, which probably provoked the over-eagerness on the part of spokespeople to get the "good news" out.
Pity, though, that few on the right have the temerity to criticize International Coal Group, the company that owned that clearly unsafe mine, which had been cited 21 times last year alone, for allowing combustible materials to build up in the area where men were working miles below the ground. There were 273 citations for safety violations at the mine in just the last two years. (Michelle Malkin inches toward criticizing the company, and has a roundup of RW blogosphere reax).
So who is this stellar example of the efficiencies of the Ownership Society? Here's a bit of what the company had to say about itself in a June 15, 2005 SEC filing:
The company was formed by WLR and other investors in May 2004 to acquire and operate competitive coal mining facilities. As of September 30, 2004, ICG, Inc. acquired certain key assets of Horizon through a bankruptcy auction. These assets are high quality reserves strategically located in Appalachia and the Illinois Basin, are union free, have limited reclamation liabilities and are substantially free of other legacy liabilities. Due to our initial capitalization, we were able to complete the acquisition without incurring a significant level of indebtedness. Consistent with the WLR investor group's strategy to consolidate profitable coal assets, the Anker and CoalQuest acquisitions further diversify our reserves. On or about the same time as the Anker and CoalQuest acquisitions, we will complete a corporate reorganization. With the proceeds of this offering, we expect to retire substantially all of our debt, including debt assumed through the Anker and CoalQuest acquisitions, and, thus, we will be strategically well-positioned. In fact, the company is being modest. It acquired Sago and the other Appalachian mines union-free after bankruptcies forced those mines to void their union contracts. A contract spelling out safe working conditions sure would have come in handy for those 13 men trapped 2 miles below ground in a soup of carbon dioxide...
Family members of the dead miners have been telling the news media they and their loved ones knew the mine wasn't safe. That didn't deter International Coal, which had the benefit of being regulated by its friends in the Bush administration; friends like former coal industry executive and lobbyist David Lauriski, the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety, who, along with ex-mining industry bigwig Gail Norton at Interior, is one of several former energy industry honchos at work in the regulatory agencies of the president government. According to the folks at the Project for the Old American Century:
Shortly after taking office, Lauriski bragged to a group of coal industry executives that his regulatory agenda "is quite a bit shorter than some past agendas." Indeed, death warrants usually tend towards brevity. Part of Lauriski's abbreviated agenda is to reduce the number of times a mining company has to sample coal dust levels inside the tunnels, a move that is certain to increase incidence of black lung disease. And yes, Lauriski wants to get rid of the chest X-ray program that tests miners for black lung disease. Lauriski also wants to slash the number of mine inspectors by 25 percent. Nice work if you can get it. There's also this guy:
Stan Suboleski: Mine Safety and Health Review Commission Suboleski is an executive with the A.C. Massey Coal Company which, according to the United Mineworkers, has one of the worst safety records in the industry. Massey is also the company responsible for the annihilation of more than 70 miles of streams in eastern Kentucky when 300 million gallons of coal sludge spilled from one of its mines. It was the worst ecological disaster in the US since the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Stan's appointment was a recess appointment, meaning that his appointment was made during a senate recess, freeing him from requiring senate confirmation hearings.
I suppose we should be thankful that at least this time, Mr. Bush didn't say the company heads and regulators were doing one heck of a job... Dubya's tender words for the families aside, his administration is the one that initiated new rules that quadrupled the amount of coal dust mining cmpanies could legally expose their employees to (oh, what a little Bush pioneering can do). And clearly all those citations and fines from the government agencies supposedly regulating the coal mining industry came to dust at International Coal. They kept right on trucking without fear of real reprisals from the friendly regulators at the Bush administration, and their workers -- with no union contract to back them up -- had two choices: go into the mine and take their chances, quit, or get fired.
Unfortunately, they don't have those choices anymore.
Mind you, I'm not saying that unions are perfect. But there are certain industries -- particularly those of the 19th and 20th century variety -- that still need them. This is one.
Update: Here is the single most ridiculous thing I think I've ever read. Ever. I'm not even sure why I'm linking to it. Wow. We really do have some pieces of work down here in Florida... Dude, I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you just posted that to get Michelle Malkin's attention. Also, California Conservatives beautifully captures the uneasy feeling I've long associated with getting one's news from Geraldo. Update 2: ThinkProgress has more on the administration's absentee oversight of the coal industry...
Update: Apparently, Mr. Lauriski is no longer doing one heck of a job. Got himself in a little jam over some no-bid contracts it seems ... go figure... No replacement has been named so far...
Tags: News, miners, mine, industry, tragedy |
