Blood For Coal

The mining disaster in West Virginia that took place in West Virginia yesterday didn't have to happen. Twenty-five miners died in an explosion caused by the release of dangerous gases was a disaster in the making nonetheless, as Massey, the company that owned this mine south of Charleston, had been cited for safety violations in the past fifteen years totalling two million dollars. When Massey wasn't challenging these fines in court, they happily paid them knowing it would have cost more to actually comply with safety regulations. More are still trapped inside.

Thanks to federal legislation and strong unions, many coal mines have quite commendable safety records and treat their employees as valuable team members, but several others have pretty much done as they please, ignoring workers' safety in the interest of maximizing their profits. Today's coal mines aren't about going right under the land surface and digging out lumps of coal in the mine walls. Much of the coal is father below ground - it's of inferior quality - and it's more dangerous to get to. Reform of the coal mining industry actually brought mine deaths in 2009 to a record low since mine safety legislation was passed in 1977, with only 34 fatalities. Yesterday's explosion caused 25 deaths alone, and it's only April.

Hopefully, this tragedy will encourage a tougher enforcement of federal mine laws, which had lagged in the Bush years. But coal companies still hae a lot of political influence in many states dependent on mining.