More evidence of violations in West Virginia mine explosion

[Hannah Bell]

Already a huge body of evidence has emerged that justifies the criminal prosecution of Massey CEO Don Blankenship and other top officials at Massey Energy. In addition, evidence exists that top MSHA officials are also criminally responsible for failing to carry out their responsibility to ensure miners’ safety...

In December of last year, mine safety officials cited Massey for disregarding a previous order to redirect dirty air that was coming off a conveyor belt tunnel away from the area where miners were working. In March 2010, safety officials found that Massey still had not corrected the problem. In addition, they found that airflow was half of what was needed to prevent the buildup of explosive methane gas and coal dust...

Since 2006, when MSHA began a somewhat more aggressive inspections and citations policy following the Sago mine disaster, Massey Energy officials carried out a deliberate policy of challenging citations. The aim was to bury the small number of Labor Department judges under a pile of appeals.
More important to Massey than not having to pay the small fines was the fact that an appealed citation would not be considered when establishing a “pattern of violations” that could lead to the mine being closed down...

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/apr2010/mass-a13.shtml

[theHandpuppet]

1. This is why I've said...

... there may be laws, but there is no justice.

"More important to Massey than not having to pay the small fines was the fact that an appealed citation would not be considered when establishing a “pattern of violations” that could lead to the mine being closed down..."

[Hannah Bell]

3. yep, sneaky stuff

[maryf]

2. The chart says a lot

as always its about the money, not the people...