Kentucky’s Rand Paul: Coal Mine Disasters ‘Unfortunate,’ Regs Don’t Matter

by Mike Hall, Aug 4, 2010

Ending federal oversight of mine safety “takes us back to when 12-year-old kids could work in the coal mines,” says a Kentucky miner.

Was the deadly explosion that killed 29 coal miners at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch mine one of those “accidents and unfortunate things that do happen no matter what the regulations are?” Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican U.S. Senate candidate, seemed to think so when asked this week about federal mine safety laws.

Wrong, Paul. With more than 800 mine safety violations and an atmosphere of intimidation and fear that kept miners from speaking out, the blast was no “accident” or “unfortunate thing.”

Paul is the same far-right extremist who touts “tough love” for the jobless, questions the federal government’s right to enforce the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and wants to abolish most of the federal government. He made those comments to Details.com.  He said that Washington shouldn’t have the power “to be making rules” about mine safety. It should be left to the local folks because, well just because.

That statement, says Tony Oppegard, a Lexington attorney, former Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) official and current mine safety advocate, is just plain “idiotic.”  He told the Lexington Herald Leader that Paul’s comments show a

lack of understanding of Eastern Kentucky, the region’s economy and of the history of underground coal mining in the region, where for generations coal operators strongly opposed efforts by workers to form unions. In Harlan County, deadly battles over union organizing helped earned the county the nickname “Bloody Harlan.”

Working conditions in underground mines are dangerous enough with federal and state rules, Oppegard said. If the industry were unregulated by government, “There would be a bloodbath,” he said.

That’s what happened in 1931, writes Jonathan Miles in his Details profile of Rand,

when miners, working 12-to-16-hour days without any safety or wage regulations, tried to unionize. Beatings, shootings, bombings, and tear-gas attacks followed, much of the violence perpetrated by the local sheriff’s department, which was controlled by the coal companies. Eventually, after four people died in one gun battle, federal troops were brought in to keep the peace. Bloody Harlan has been cited as a major reason for the passage of the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, which gave the federal government the power to regulate labor contracts and is anathema to everything Rand Paul stands for.

In a telephone conference call with reporters yesterday, several Mine Workers (UMWA)  officials and members said federal mine safety regulations, such as ventilation rules and roof-support standards, have made mining safer over the years. Bernie Alvey, a UMWA miner told reporters that coal miners

depend on federal legislation to keep us safe in the mines. I hate that it happens that we have these catastrophes in the coal mines, but they always bring on new laws that keep the rest of us safe later on.

Tim Miller, a UMWA District 12 representative said that all Rand

talks about is deregulation and the local authorities having total control over any regulation. I think that takes us back at least 100 years, back to when 12-year-old kids could work in the coal mines.

Paul’s campaign is backed by coal companies and he could be the beneficiary of several large coal companies, including Massey, that are considering forming a group to funnel campaign cash into this fall elections to defeat mine safety advocates including Paul’s opponent, Jack Conway.

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