"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.
Of course he knows it is going on. The problem is guys who manage to work their way up to CEO are usually very politically and legally savy. About the only way they will get him to do jail time is if someone else high up in the company talks. The one who talks will be out of a job and good luck getting someone else to hire you after you sent your last boss to jail. Blankenship should go to jail for this but if I had to place a bet on it I would bet that he doesn't.
ReplyDeleteTHis country is run by and for the benefit of corporations, who are themselves run by and for the benefit of large shareholders and their corporate executives.
ReplyDeleteIf we chose to change the course of our country, we must first decide that we have regard for the plight of corporations, but only so long as that concern doesn't come ahead of the concern and needs of the average person. Off-shoring, going to Walmart, NAFTA, and a raft of other collosal mistakes, have lead us to a very, very bad place. We look away when 30 people die in a mine because we are so beholden to cheap energy, to oil companies, that we don't want to consider what it did to get the oil or coal. WE have no regard or concern for how the coal company's lobbyists control legislation or influence oversight or, through nepotism, control/comprimise inspections by tipping off the mines to be inspected.
If you want change, look within.
Tuck, Pen, thank you for your comments.
ReplyDeleteWe need to balance the needs for energy at an affordable rates, and the need for the protection of lives.
If it is true as alleged that Blankenship and the rest of the officers and management knew and approved of the safety violatons for a quick buck, at the expense of loss of life, then we need to have a mechanism that DOES hold them accountable, including criminal penalties such as jail.
I would point out to my friends who are willing to trust the free market to make every necessary adjustment to market forces that there is disaparate power here, between the mine owners and operators and the miners and inspectors. One that nothing except a certain minimal level of outrage by our citizens seems to be able to cause change.
The irony of it is that in the rush to short term profits, this has - as reflected in my leading quotation - also resulted in significant damage to the mine itself as well as loss of life.
This parallels not only the alleged loss of life and the horrendous, overshadowing damage of BP resulting from allegations of safety shortcuts, but also has parallels to the short term gain tradeoffs over long term profits in the financial industry.
I am a big fan of the economic analysis of the writers of 'Freakenomics', both the best selling books and the continuing columns. They look not at how we think things should work, what makes people act in certain ways, including but not limited to financial decisions, compared to what we think is how they work. The two are often different.
The free market is not sufficient to prevent BP, Upper Big Branch, the recent financial debacle, or events like the stock market crash of 1929 and the resulting great depression.
We need to look at how people make decisions and choices realistically. We need to put human life ahead of profit - and enforce that it will happen in the face of greed and temptation.
Not rely on an economic theory that has failed to work as expected.
DG, there are places the free market works great and places it cannot. The coal mine, for example, you have absolutely no idea where the fuel to run the power plant you get electricity from comes from. You might not even have a choice of power companies much less who they buy fuel from. The power companies could decide not to buy from an unsafe mining operator but they are probably just looking at the price of coal and there is a good chance they are buying from a third party and also have no idea where the coal comes from. In a situation like this there is not enough information for the free market to do anything about unsafe mining practices.
ReplyDeleteWal-Mart is an entirely different problem. Anyone who walks in the store can look at the product label and see it was made in China. If you know of someplace else to buy a similar product made in the US you can walk out and go there instead. The problem is about 99% of Wal-Mart's competitors also manufacture in China so it is hard to find a US made alternative. What is really sad about this is I remember when Sam Walton was still alive and CEO of Wal-Mart. They advertised that everything in the store was made in the USA. As soon as his kids took over that went out the window and next to nothing in the store is made in the USA.