The mining disaster at the Upper Big Branch coal mine in West Virginia is a reminder that there are still dirty dangerous jobs in this country where you might clock in to work, then clock out permanently. Particularly when your employer is more concerned with profit than safety.
Massey Energy, which owns the non-union mine, has a history of violations for not properly ventilating methane gas -- last year it was fined $382,000 dollars for ventilation issues. The cause of the blast at Upper Big Branch has not yet been determined, however, in any mine explosion methane is almost always the culprit.
The CEO of Massey, Don Blankenship, is virulently anti-union and presided over a bitter drawn out strike at other Massey facilities in 1985. The company has had some record making profits. It also holds some records for largest fines for safety and environmental violations: In 2006 it paid a record 4.2 million dollars in civil and criminal penalties after two miners died and it was found that safety violations contributed to their deaths. In 2008 it paid a 20 million dollar settlement for violations of the Clean Water Act. Naturally, Blankenship thinks that global warming is a fallacy cooked up by crazies.
It's too early to tell what happened in West Virginia that possibly killed 25 workers One thing we do know is more concerned with profitability than safety and the external costs of its operations on the rest of us.
http://2politicaljunkies.blogspot.com/2010/04/massey-energy-hundreds-of-safety.html
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/4/5/854434/-at-least-7-dead,-19-missing-after-W.-VA-mine-explosion
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