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While Miners Wait 1,500 Feet Beneath Solid Rock, Owner Blasts Mine Safety |
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The owner of the Utah mine, where six coal miners remain trapped following a mine collapse Monday morning, spoke out against mine safety improvements proposed following 2006’s Sago Mine disaster that killed a dozen miners.
As of Thursday afternoon, rescuers continued to drill a two-and-a-half-inch hole from above to communicate with the mines and deliver food and water if the six are still alive. Efforts to reach the site via the mine shaft where the collapse occurred could take another week.
Robert Murray, CEO of Murray Energy, the parent company of Utah American, which owns the Crandall Canyon Mine near Huntington, also continues to blame an earthquake for the collapse, despite seismographic evidence to the contrary.
He also denies that the practice called “retreat” mining was involved in the collapse, even though Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) officials confirm retreat mining has been used at the mine, in the area where the miners were working. In retreat mining, pillars of coal hold up an area of the mine’s roof. When that area is completely mined, the company pulls the pillar and grabs the useful coal, causing an intentional collapse.
Murray says the miners were not engaged in retreat mining and denies that retreat mining caused the accident. But the Salt Lake City Tribune reports MSHA Director Richard Stickler said that ”retreat mining has been done at this operation.”
These new reports on Murray follow his rant Tuesday against the Mine Workers and unions that press for strong workplace safety laws.
In January 2006, when states were considering new mine safety laws in the days following the deadly Sago tragedy, Murray told the Columbus Dispatch the proposed tougher new safety rules in Ohio calling for better communication tools for miners underground and establishment of a mining emergency center were
…seriously flawed, knew jerk reactions…I resent these politicians playing politics with my employees safety.
Meanwhile, Murray is sticking by the earthquake theory, even though the Salt Lake City Tribune reports scientific evidence doesn’t back him up. It reports:
On Tuesday however, Rafael Abreu, a geologist for the U.S. Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Venter in Colorado, said a 3.9 magnitude event recorded Monday lacked the wave forms characteristic of a naturally occurring earthquake.
“What we are seeing is a mine collapse.”
This morning, the Washington Post reported that Robert M. Friend, MSHA’s assistant director, said
that while the cause of the collapse is still undetermined, it is clear that “there was retreat mining where these miners are.” Of Murray’s denials that retreat mining played a role, Friend said, “I can’t speculate as to what he meant.”
The Associated Press reports that government mine inspectors have issued 325 citations against the mine since January 2004. Of those, 116 were what the government considered “significant and substantial,” meaning they are likely to cause injury.
3 Comments
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Methinks he doth protedt too much.
I’m still waiting to see if it will be revealed whether or not he has been using illegal labor. I understand some of the people involved, either the miners themselves or their families, cannot speak English. It would seem to me that the inability of a miner to speak English would put the entire crew at risk. If I were a miner I would be doing the protesting if I were asked to work with people who could not speak or understand English. Coal mining is dangerous enough without adding an inability to communicate into the mix!
August 12, 2007
I cannot help wondering what would happen if the entire work force of the United States went on strike, on the same day, at the same time. If the nation were informing that they would not return to work until new health and safely laws, enacted by Congress and signed by the President, along with appropriate punishments; what would happen.
What would happen if the vast majority of American workers and those in the military stood together and simply refused to obey; would the private corporations and the politicians give in? Would they keep their word? If all those people simply informed them that the first time the laws were not enforced, the guilty pardoned or excuses made with insignificant punishment fines; the majority of Americans would stop working again: What would they do? Could the corporations run away to another country? Today as unions are fighting for freedom and dignity, are erupting worldwide? Would our Politicians start over somewhere else in the world?
It is a dream, I know, yet the thought of stopping the rising death toll and disablement of American workers is such a glorious dream. The thought of American soldiers returning from defending their nation obtaining the help and care they need without going begging and homeless is another dream. Are all humans so entrenched in obedience that they cannot or will not stand together for the good of all?