Coal Cruel World - part II, Two Months After the Explosion

"Every social injustice is not only cruel, but it is economic waste."
William Feather
American Publisher and Author
1889 - 1981

In an NPR interview on 'Morning Edition' on May 27th, Frank Langfitt spoke with miners, former miners, and federal Mine Safety and Health Administration inspectors who told story after story of their experiences with the Massey Energy mine that was the site of a deadly explosion on April 5th, 2010.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127200527&sc=emaf

Miners and inspectors described chronic failures by Massey management not only to practice the required safety measures in the Upper Big Branch mine, but to attempt to deceive safety inspectors about compliance. In the interview miner Gary Quarles made the statement to a House of Representatives hearing on the disaster, "When an MSHA inspector comes onto a Massey mine property, the code word goes out, 'We've got a man on the property'".

Quarles son died in the Upper Big Branch mine disaster, one of the 29 miners to do so.

Former Massey miner, Mike Shull, told a similar story about responding to the inspector alerts by fixing violations, and complying with regulations just ahead of the inspectors. Shull described the leisurely response to inspection warnings: "You probably had an hour and 15 minutes to get ready, so we didn't move at no fast pace.[We]Just got things legal."

Another miner from Massey, Ron Flutey, Jr., described routine failures to hang the plastic curtains that were important to prevent coal dust circulating, which was important both to prevent explosions, and to prevent miners contracting black lung. In Fluty's vernacular speech, he said, "Usually didn't never hang no curtain unless somebody showed up".

Massey claims it cooperates with the government inspections; perhaps they have drastically different definitions of regulatory compliance. CEO Blankenship told senators in another hearing that Massey didn't put profit over safety, and "doesn't tolerate reckless behavior".

Statements from miners and inspectors would suggest they don't tolerate it, they require it.

Blankenship's claims didn't prevent a recent discovery by inspectors who prevented the alerting of mine staff, a discovery of miners who were not ventilating mines in violation of safety standards. Blankenship indicated those miners were fired. More likely the miners were being scapegoated, being blamed for carrying out the orders of management, with Blankenship claiming innocence, and ignorance of the violations.

As a result of the recent disaster, miners now have begun tipping off inspectors about violations. MSHA coal inspector Kevin Stricklin describes the new 'blitz' of inspections, "We captured the phone and we went underground and unfortunately in all three of these cases, we found the anonymous tips were true".

Blankenship claims Massey only hires miners who have the right attitude about safety. That would be in obvious contradiction to their safety record, and to the findings of inspectors once the 'alert' process used by Massey to circumvent useful safety inspections is disrupted.

It is useful to ask the question why would miners opt to avoid safety measures that are intended to keep them healthy and alive? Who would benefit from that? Massey would benefit by saving time and money not complying, putting greater coal production and profits ahead of lives.

To quote Inspector Ken Stricklin, speculating on why the miners would go along with the failure to follow safety regulations, "I think some of them must do it because they fear they won't have a job".

Another inspector, Terry Scarboro, who had inspected mines for 14 years, including Upper Big Branch and other Massey mines, made this statement, "Is there any way Don Blankenship doesn't know this is going on? No, there's no way. He knows it's going on. All management knows it's going on and the employees are guilty and they know it's going on."

Scarboro went on to describe the inspection policy of Massey and some other mine operators, "It's a cat and mouse game. You catch me, I'll fix it. If I can get ahead of you and fix it before you catch it, then you didn't see it."

In this cat and mouse game, apparently there are some rats, at least one 'big cheese', and 29 dead miners who got caught in the trap of this mining disaster.

Between June 2006 and the April 5th, 2010, the date of the disaster, the Upper Big Branch mine had over 500 citations for safety violations. Those would be the violations they were unsuccessful in hiding from inspectors. Of the 500, 300 were in the most serious category "significant and substantial". Of those 300 most serious safety citations, approximately 100 claim high negligence or reckless disregard for safety standards.

Earlier this week, the first attempt to inspect the mine by the civil and criminal investigations took place. The inspection was covered by the Beckley, West Virginia Register-Herald : www.herald-register.com/todaysfrontpage/x1358969217/Dangerous-gases-delay-mine-teams-at-Upper-Big-Branch

The FBI is conducting the criminal investigation looking into alleged "willful criminal activity" by the mines operators, directors, officers and agents, and includes possible bribing of inspectors. Presumably we may assume that bribery would be by the mine operators, and not the miners whose lives are protected by safety regulation. I'm waiting for CEO Blankenship to deny knowledge of that too, if the proof emerges of bribery, and then to fire somebody lower down as the next scapegoat.

Just as some companies have proven 'too big to fail', I'm waiting to see if Blankenship is 'too big' to jail, as a result of the criminal investigation and any subsequent prosecution. Blankenship seems to be positioning himself for denial of responsibility. With a big money political spending guy like Blankenship, the buck appears to only stop with him when it hits his bank account.

Coal Cruel World - Part I

"Politics, a strife of interest masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage."

"Corporation, an ingenious device for obtaining profit without individual responsibility."
- Ambrose Bierce
American journalist and satirist
1842 - 1914

A mining disaster is defined as a mine accident, including coal mining accidents, where there are five or more fatalities, according to the United States Mine Rescue Association's website, which identifies it as the largest mine rescue organization in the world. In the current mining disaster media frenzy, I found this web site one of the few sources that was both expert, and non-political :www.usmra.com

Context:

The same website identifies that the worst mine disasters in our history were around a hundred years ago where hundreds died in a single accident. Looking at approximately the last 50 years, where regulation and technology combined improved on those statistics, deaths in the worst mining disaster hovered around 100, plus or minus. From 1951 to 2010, the fatalities occurring in mining disasters started diminishing from triple digits. In 1951, only 10 disasters involved deaths in double digits, including the one this month in West Virginia, with the worst occurring in 1968, with 78 deaths. A dozen more disasters in the last 50 years involved loss of life in the single digits.

All of which suggests that while mining is inherently dangerous, despite the inherent dangers, it is possible to reduce these accidents dramatically. It may not be possible to completely eliminate fatalities; but as there are companies that have fewer accidents and do not have mining disasters at all, it seems reasonable to expect we can reduce accidents to fewer than we currently experience, and to eliminate or nearly eliminate mining disasters. But, only if we want to do so, if we decide it is important to do so.

Cross referencing Mining Disasters (not just accidents) with Mining Safety Legislation
using data from the Worst US Mine Disasters page of the USMRA, and the site History of Mine Safety and Health Legislation, from the US Department of Labor website

Disasters

through 1875
19 Coal Mine Disasters
no fatality data
no safety legislation

1876 - 1900
101 Coal Mine Disasters/ fatalities exceed 2000 / year
1891, legislation prohibited mines from employing children under 12,
first minimum ventilation requirements in underground mines;
only applied to mines in the US territories

1901-1925
305 Coal Mine Disasters/ no complete disaster fatality information;
*total fatalities for the 3 worst coal mining disasters in US history, 884
1910, legislation creating the Bureau of Mines, as part of the Dept. of' the Interior.

1926-1950
2 disasters* no stats available for all disasters, only the 2 worst, 1940 - 1950/274 fatalities*
1941, authority for inspections, Bureau of Mines
1947, first federal safety regulation

1951 - 1975
5 disasters /197 fatalities
1952 Federal Coal Mine Safety Act, limited enforcement provisions
1966 amended to apply to all underground mines
1966 Federal Metal and Non-Metallic Mine Safety Act,
first standards, expanded investigations and inspections
1969 Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act
strengthened health and safety standards, monetary and criminal penalties
addresses black lung

1976 - 2000
13 disasters /183 fatalities
1977 Federal Mine Safety and Health Act
Created the Mine Safety and Health Administration under the Dept. of Labor,
Created the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission
Expanded the rights and protection of miners,
produced a drop in fatalities from 272 in 1977 to 86 in 2000

2001-2010
5 disasters/ 64 fatalities +4
2006 Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act (MINER)

According to the Unites States Mine Rescue Association, "Mine accidents have declined dramatically in number and severity through decades of research, technology, and preventive programs. Today, mine accidents resulting in five or more deaths are no longer common. However, preventing recurrence of disasters like those of the past remains a top priority requiring constant vigilance by management, labor, and government."

What I found was that legislation typically occurred - almost exclusively occurred - as a result of outrage over the worst coal mining disasters; a few occurred in response to outrage at overall coal mining deaths. The conclusion from the disaster statistics, the fatality statistics, and the examination of legislation progressing chronologically, is that the Free Market mechanism is useless in providing protection to those who labor to do the dirty and dangerous work of mining. Regulation has made consistent differences not only in reducing disasters but in smaller coal mining accidents; it reduces not only fatalities, but injuries and illness. Allegations of putting profit ahead of safety have been made against some coal mining companies, including the Massey Energy Company which owns the Upper Big Branch Mine where the most recent disaster has occurred, in a mine with a list of safety violations as long as my arm, and a large amount of unpaid fines.

Is it possible, in the current divided Congress, to pursue better legislation, better enforcement? Certainly it is difficult. Republicans and Conservatives can be counted on, as they have at all of the other legislation, to claim it is anti-business, and that the free market should be allowed to prevail to solve all problems. They seem less willing to address the issue of people dying as the Free Market operates - or that it has failed to operate to benefit anyone except mine owners and operators in the long history of coal mining in the United States.

One of the questions to ask while writing a blog post is "what do I want" from writing this. I want effective regulation that protects miners. I want it to be as business friendly as possible, but it should also address the problem that we are as dependent on coal to provide electricity as we are dependent on oil for other industries. Since financial penalties appear to be less effective than we might wish, short term, I want to see jail time for the executives who make the decisions about safety compliance become one of the consequences for miners dying or suffering injuries in accidents, where mine operators are negligent in complying with safety regulations that cause the accidents and deaths.

President George W. Bush was criticized for being pro coal industry corporations, many of which were generous Republican doners, and lax on safety enforcement, including the 2006 Sago mine disaster. President Obama has chosen pro-union people for his administration, although they have not been appointed soon enough to be very effective so far, and huge problems exist which have not been addressed by the Obama administration. For this Obama should also be sharply criticized. People have died, in another of the worst coal mining accidents in our recent history. We need to take the politics out of safety regulation; we need to stop putting either profits or politics ahead of miner's lives.

The coal that was easier to extract from the ground has nearly all been removed and used. In the short term, mining the coal remaining, like the other fossil fuels, oil and natural gas, is going to be increasingly more dangerous to those who work to bring it to the surface; increasingly the extraction is becoming more dangerous to the environment of the communities where these resources exist underground. We also need long term solutions that address the increasing dangers, and the decreasing fossil fuel resources, switching over to safer renewable energy alternatives.

One of the renewable alternative resources pioneered by the University of Minnesota is a solution to two problems - energy, and cleaning our waste water. The U of MN came up with an algae that cleans waste water, and at the same time, produces a safe bio-fuel bi-product, a single solution to two problems at the same time. The cost of sewage treatment has been a large one to communities, and sewage is, clearly, one of the ultimate renewable resources. But even if we don't embrace this possibility as a solution, we need to look closely at our options, because every one of us who demands cheap electricity, much of which is produced by burning coal, is also a part of the coal mining disaster problem. We need to have the will to make the effort to be part of the solution.