25 miners killed in blast in West Virginia

This is a couple of days old, but since no one else has posted it, I thought I'd put it here.

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MONTCOAL, W.Va. – Rescuers held out slim hope Tuesday that four missing coal miners might have survived when a mine repeatedly cited for improperly venting methane gas exploded, killing 25 people in the country's deadliest underground disaster in a quarter-century.

This mining company had 600 violations in a year and a half, and yet it paid only $382,000 in fines--a drop in the bucket for companies like this.

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The missing miners might have been able to reach airtight chambers stocked with food, water and enough oxygen for four days. But rescue teams checked one of two chambers nearby, and it was empty. The buildup of gases prevented them from reaching the second chamber. Officials said they were 90 percent sure of the miners' location.

Things don't look good for the trapped miners. Even if they could reach one of those airtight chambers, rescuers may not be able to reach them in time due to the poisonous gas.

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The company's chief executive said the mine was not unsafe, but federal regulators planned to review its many violations.

No, there's nothing unsafe about a mine with methane gas build-up. And the explosion that killed 25 people (or more)? Nobody could have known methane gas was flammable. [/sarcasm]

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Some grieving relatives were angry because they learned their loved ones were among the dead from government officials, not from Massey Energy executives.

Sounds about right. Kill 25 or more people because you're more interested in your profits than in keeping the people whose work earns you those profits safe. The ignore the needs of those dead people's relatives to learn from the company itself what happened. Why should the executives care? They've gotten what they wanted, and they can always get more miners if they want them.

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Michelle McKinney found out from a local official at a nearby school that her 61-year-old father, Benny R. Willingham, was among the dead. He was due to retire in five weeks after 30 years of mining.

This is just...there are no words. It's nothing short of tragic when a person who has worked so long and is so close to retirement is killed on the job. And it could have been prevented if Massey had fixed its safety problems.

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Massey Energy, a publicly traded company based in Richmond, Va., ranks among the nation's top five coal producers and is among the industry's most profitable. It has 2.2 billion tons of coal reserves in southern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, southwest Virginia and Tennessee.

Blankenship said the mine was "not thought to be unsafe by the agencies or the company."

Reality disagrees with you.

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Methane is one of the great dangers of coal mining. In mines, giant fans are used to keep the colorless, odorless gas concentrations below certain levels. If concentrations are allowed to build up, the gas can explode with a spark roughly similar to the static charge created by walking across a carpet in winter.

But...but if mining companies install giant fans, they might sacrifice some profits!

Then there's this:

West Virginia Mine Owner Accused of Putting Safety Second
You don't say.

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Massey has had problems elsewhere, too. In 2006, two miners were killed in a fire at Massey's Aracoma Alma No. 1 mine. Massey settled a wrongful death lawsuit for an undisclosed sum, and its subsidiary Aracoma Coal Co. paid $4.2 million in civil and criminal penalties.

Testimony showed Massey CEO Don Blankenship suggested firing two supervisors for raising concerns about conveyer belt problems just before the belt caught fire.

"Massey has a history of emphasizing production," said Pittsburgh lawyer Bruce Stanley, who represented the miners' widows. "I'm concerned that they may not have learned the lessons of Aracoma."

I'm concerned, too. In fact, I'm more than concerned...this company not only didn't learn, they forgot what they'd known in the first place.

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In an interview less than 24 hours after the disaster at Upper Big Branch, Blankenship insisted the mine is no more dangerous than others of comparable size, and he defended the company's track record in a perilous business.

"It's natural that the enemies of coal would view Massey as the primary enemy," he said.

Bawww...they're picking on me! They think I should put safety ahead of profits! Quick, call a wahmbulance!

Seriously, safety counts. You can whine about picking on you all you want, but at least 25 people are still dead.

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"I've never seen that many for one mine in a year," said Ellen Smith, editor of Mine Safety & Health News. "If you look at other mines that are the same size or bigger, they do not have the sheer number of `unwarrantable' citations that this mine has."

And yet Blankenshit insists that his mine is no more unsafe than any other.

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Massey became a political and industrial powerhouse under the guidance of Blankenship, who rose from poverty to become one of corporate America's highest-paid and least apologetic executives, a guy who proudly displays in his office a TV set with a bullet hole from a striking union miner's rifle.

He freely spent millions of dollars from his personal fortune to help install a West Virginia Supreme Court justice, a maneuver that led to an important conflict-of-interest ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court, and on a failed bid to elect a Republican majority in the state Legislature.

This explains a few volumes. Seriously, how can a working person hope for basic safety when the guy in charge can buy himself a state Supreme Court justice? Oh, but Blankenshit rose from poverty, so it must be okay! Why, if those dead miners wanted to live, they should have bought themselves some politicians, too! It's their own fault they're dead--they should have clawed their way out of poverty. They just didn't try hard enough!

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Operating nonunion mines across southern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky and southwestern Virginia, Massey more than doubled its profit to $104.4 million in 2009 from the year before, despite slumping demand for coal amid the recession. The company expects to be shipping 2 million tons of coal a year to India by next year.

Massey has managed to push the United Mine Workers union out of all of its operations except for a single processing plant.

Blankenship's hard-driving approach was illustrated in a 2005 memo in which he told mine workers that if their bosses ask them to build roof supports or perform similar tasks, "ignore them and run coal."

And this, boys and girls, is why we need unions. Otherwise, we're totally powerless in the face of these money-grubbing POS CEOs.

CEOs like Blankenshit work in safety and comfort while the people who do the work that earns the profits labor in excessively unsafe conditions. But I guess that's the price we have to pay for cheap coal. What are a few lives next to millions in profits? [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Like I was saying to my dad last night, things like this make me glad I'm not a coal miner. The families of those 25 miners who were killed must be traumatized beyond words.... [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

It gets worse. Not only have rescuers been unable to get to the chambers where someone might have survived (the mine is full of poisonous and explosive gases), but now Fred Phelps wants in on the action.

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Also Thursday morning, protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., were headed to the Upper Big Branch mine to convey their view that the explosion was a result of e-mail messages allegedly sent from West Virginia threatening the church, according to the church’s Web site. The church said it had received the threats about a trip to West Virginia and Virginia that was scheduled to begin Thursday.Members of the church, which is led by Fred Phelps, have attracted attention recently by appearing at funerals for soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan and carrying signs saying the soldiers’ deaths were God’s way of punishing the United States for its tolerance of homosexuality.

I would ask if Fred Phelps has any sense decency, but I think I already know the answer. Fred Phelps and the other members of the Westboro Baptist Church wouldn't know decency if it fucked them up the ass.

My anti-corporate rhetoric is validated yet again, good show.

Lady Anne wrote:

It gets worse. Not only have rescuers been unable to get to the chambers where someone might have survived (the mine is full of poisonous and explosive gases), but now Fred Phelps wants in on the action.

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Also Thursday morning, protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., were headed to the Upper Big Branch mine to convey their view that the explosion was a result of e-mail messages allegedly sent from West Virginia threatening the church, according to the church’s Web site. The church said it had received the threats about a trip to West Virginia and Virginia that was scheduled to begin Thursday.Members of the church, which is led by Fred Phelps, have attracted attention recently by appearing at funerals for soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan and carrying signs saying the soldiers’ deaths were God’s way of punishing the United States for its tolerance of homosexuality.

I would ask if Fred Phelps has any sense decency, but I think I already know the answer. Fred Phelps and the other members of the Westboro Baptist Church wouldn't know decency if it fucked them up the ass.

Wait...what? The miners were killed because someone threatened Phelp's beloved church? And dead soldiers = punishment for homosexuality? Why the hell does this guy equate unfortunate tragedies with DIVINE PUNISHMENT for offending him? I just...I knew Phelps was bad, but really? [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Yorokobi wrote:

Wait...what? The miners were killed because someone threatened Phelp's beloved church? And dead soldiers = punishment for homosexuality? Why the hell does this guy equate unfortunate tragedies with DIVINE PUNISHMENT for offending him? I just...I knew Phelps was bad, but really? [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

You don't get it, do you? They want attention; the WBC are real life trolls. The more attention you give them, the worse they become.

Real-life trolls or not, that's still such a kick in the stomach for those poor miners families.

WHY CAN'T WE ALL PLAY NICE? [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] (I mean...besides the fact that Phelps and Co. are doing it for the lulz...)

Lady Anne wrote:

It gets worse. Not only have rescuers been unable to get to the chambers where someone might have survived (the mine is full of poisonous and explosive gases), but now Fred Phelps wants in on the action.

Just when I thought the situation in West Virginia had hit rock bottom already... [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]