Appeals kept Montcoal mine operating

[Hubert Flottz]

Appeals kept Montcoal mine operating

By Ken Ward Jr.
Staff writer

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Last year, federal regulators studied the safety record of Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch Mine to see if the operation should be put on a "pattern of violations" status, a move that would shut down mining sections each time inspectors found serious violations.

U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration officials decided the company hadn't met the agency's complicated criteria for deserving such a stepped-up enforcement action.

Upper Big Branch met nine of MSHA's 10 criteria for a pattern of violations, said agency spokesman Carl Fillichio. It had at least 20 serious citations, it had two orders citing "imminent harm" to miner safety, and had violation rates worse than the national average.

But when MSHA did its review, in September 2009, Upper Big Branch did not meet a final standard: That it have at least one "withdrawal order" issued by MSHA inspectors for serious and substantial mine safety violations. Read More...

http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201004110319

Turns out that Upper Big Branch Mine didn't have a single "withdrawal order". It had 16 of them that were tied up in appeals. The deadly loophole cleared the way for the legal murdering of twenty nine coal miners. The bottom line was all that mattered to Massey Coal. It still is. They will spend twice as much money on PR, than they will spend making their operations truly safe for the coal miners and the coal mining communities. They talk the talk, but the records show that they will go to extremes to avoid walking the walk.

[Omaha Steve]

1. K&R!

[Loki]

2. You know that if that mine was closed because of safety

violations, Massey would turn around and take it out on all the miners and their families by not paying them, they probably had no paid time off accumulated to cover them, plus he's just such a sorry piece of shit he would probably close all the stores he owned. I've said it before and I'll say it again, since the SC of the US confirmed "personhood" on corporations, this corporation and it's CEO need to be charged with murder, plain and simple and we'll just see how much of a person a corporation is. Close this company, reorganize and give the company back to the miners as controlling shareholders. It's theirs, they have paid for it in blood.

[Hubert Flottz]

3. Massey spends tons of money for TV time to bragg about what

a fine company they are. Their record tells a far different story.

[DainBramaged]

4. Sounds like they used Toyota tactics........

[Hubert Flottz]

5. Check out what Don thinks is "Important" to spend money on...

instead of making sure his "Friends Of Coal" have a safe place to work...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x452512

[DainBramaged]

6. Now we know where the money went.....