168 Safety Violations = $3,600.00 (From dKos)

[ohio_liberal]

(snip....)

So I looked at the Mine's violations, and I found a lot of them. A heck of a lot. Most for about $60 (less than a speeding ticket), some for as much as $200 at some times and wow, there was even one for $440! Now that's tough enforcement!

In reality, the slow creep away from enforcement, led by people like Cass Ballenger and Petetr Hoekstra and their GOP allies is what really caused this. Just think, what is more profitable?

Paying a total of $3,600 for 168 fines or paying a couple hundred thousand to fix those problems?

Sad as it is, it's more profitable to pay those cheap fines, especially when you know the inspectors are going to come ahead of time anyways.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/1/3/111733/1034

:( :cry:

[acmejack]

1. This really pisses me off!

I hope it opens the eyes of some of the deluded (it is no longer PC to refer to them as sheeple).

[ProfessorGAC]

2. Somebody Is On The Take

A $60 dollar fine? I've been around industry for a long, long time, and i've never heard of any gov't agency fining someone $60. The owners of this mine are obviously paying somebody off. This stinks to high heaven.
The Professor

[ohio_liberal]

3. Washington Post article goes into some of the violations

But in MSHA's reports, 18 of the 46 most recent violations were listed as "significant and substantial." Among the problems cited: inadequate safeguards against the collapse of the mine roof and inadequate ventilation to guard against the buildup of deadly gases.

Other inspection reports over the past two years fault the mine for "combustibles," including a buildup of flammable coal dust and a failure to adequately insulate electric wires. Sparks from electrical equipment can ignite coal dust and methane gas, triggering fires and explosions.

The mine is contesting some of the violations, while agreeing to pay more than $24,000 in penalties to settle others.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/03/AR2006010301433.html

[ProfessorGAC]

4. Well, That Settles It

Now i believe more than ever that someone was paid off. Significant and substantial violations carry with them, by OSHA and MSHA regulations, criminal penalties for failure to comply after first offense.

The only way they got away with this is bribery.
The Professor

[back2basics909]

5. $3,600....

... the price of 12 lives.

[hatrack]

8. Which works out to a tidy $300 per life

Easy to calculate, huh?

:mad: :mad: :mad:

[don954]

6. what the hell?

when i was in the tower industry we would get a 10,000$ fine just for someone forgetting to use a hard hat, non negotiable. Evidently they knew who's back to scratch...

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

7. Rachel Maddow was talking about this earlier and also how the company

that owned the mine, made it a practice to buy bankrupted mines that had no unions to contend with. By doing so, the workers had absolutely no leverage as to the safety issues being resolved. I hope that the families in turn, bankrupt the owners for every dime they have, and that the owners are thrown into prison for negligent homicide.