Obama Orders National Mine Safety Review & Is Bringing In The Feds To Investigate Massey's Owners

[Turborama]

Run time: 06:06 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DupuRI4jBTU   Posted on YouTube: April 15, 2010 By YouTube Member: whitehouse Views on YouTube: 166   Posted on DU: April 15, 2010 By DU Member: Turborama Views on DU: 688

 

Obama Orders National Mine Safety Review, Says Miners Owed Assurance and Accountability

ABC News' Sunlen Miller Reports: After receiving a preliminary report on the West Virginia mining tragedy, President Obama today said that the people of West Virginia, and miners cross the country, deserve more than just prayers after a tragic accident.

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Flanked by Labor Secretary Solis, Mine Safety and Health Administrator Joe Main, Deputy Administrator Greg Wagner, and MSHA Administrator Kevin Stricklin, who he had just met with moments before privately in the Oval Office, the president reported back on the preliminary investigation looking into what caused the explosion at Massey Energy Company’s upper Big Branch Mine.

“This investigation is still ongoing and there is still a lot that we don’t know,” Obama said, “but what we do know is that this tragedy was triggered by a failure at the Upper Big Branch Mine. A failure first and foremost of management, but also a failure of oversight and a failure of laws so riddled with loopholes that they allow unsafe conditions to continue.”

=snip=

“For a long time, the mine safety agency was stacked with former mine executives and industry players. The industry is now run, I’m proud to say, by former miners and health safety experts like Joe Main and Kevin Stricklin. Even so, we need to take a hard look at our own practices and our own procedures to ensure that we’re pursuing mine safety as relentlessly as we responsibly can.”

The president said that he refuses to accept any number of miner deaths simply “a cost of doing business.”

Full article: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/04/obama-orders-national-mine-safety-review-says-miners-owed-assurance-and-accountability.html

For Immediate Release April 15, 2010

Remarks by the President on Mine Safety

Rose Garden

10:39 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning, everybody. On April 5th, the United States suffered the worst mine disaster in more than a generation. Twenty-nine lives were lost. Families have been devastated. Communities have been upended. And during this painful time, all of us are mourning with the people of Montcoal and Whitesville and Naoma and the Coal River Valley. The people of West Virginia are in our prayers.

But we owe them more than prayers. We owe them action. We owe them accountability. We owe them an assurance that when they go to work every day, when they enter that dark mine, they are not alone. They ought to know that behind them there is a company that’s doing what it takes to protect them, and a government that is looking out for their safety.

In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, I asked the officials standing with me -- Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, and Joe Main and Kevin Stricklin with the Mine Safety and Health Administration -- to lead an investigation into what caused the explosion at Massey Energy Company’s Upper Big Branch mine. I asked them to report back with preliminary findings this week.

We just concluded a meeting, where they briefed me on their investigation. I want to emphasize that this investigation is ongoing, and there’s still a lot that we don’t know. But we do know that this tragedy was triggered by a failure at the Upper Big Branch mine -- a failure first and foremost of management, but also a failure of oversight and a failure of laws so riddled with loopholes that they allow unsafe conditions to continue.

So today I’ve directed Secretary Solis, Assistant Secretary Main, and Administrator Stricklin to work closely with state mining officials to press ahead with this investigation -- so we can help make sure a disaster like this never happens again. Owners responsible for conditions in the Upper Big Branch mine should be held accountable for decisions they made and preventive measures they failed to take. And I’ve asked Secretary Solis to work with the Justice Department to ensure that every tool in the federal government is available in this investigation.

But this isn’t just about a single mine. It’s about all of our mines. The safety record at the Massey Upper Big Branch mine was troubling. And it’s clear that while there are many responsible companies, far too many mines aren’t doing enough to protect their workers’ safety.

And that’s why yesterday Governor Manchin announced that West Virginia miners will take this Friday off from coal production so they can mourn their loss, but also reevaluate safety procedures. He also called for additional inspections in West Virginia mines. The federal government is taking sweeping actions as well. Starting today, we’ll go back and take another look at mines across this country with troubling safety records, and get inspectors into those mines immediately to ensure they aren’t facing the same unsafe working conditions that led to this disaster.

Second, I’ve directed Secretary Solis, Assistant Secretary Main, and Administrator Stricklin to work with Congress to strengthen enforcement of existing laws and close loopholes that permit companies to shirk their responsibilities.

Stronger mine safety laws were passed in 2006 after the Sago mine disaster. But safety violators like Massey have still been able to find ways to put their bottom line before the safety of their workers -- filing endless appeals instead of paying fines and fixing safety problems.

To help ensure that mine companies no longer use a strategy of endless litigation to evade their responsibilities, we need to tackle the backlog of cases at the Mine Safety and Health Review Commission.

And to help hold companies accountable, I’ve also asked Secretary Solis to streamline the rules for proving that a mining company has committed a pattern of violations -- so that we can empower the mine safety agency to take essential steps to keep miners safe. If a mining company consistently violates safety standards, they should be subjected to the tougher enforcement that comes with being placed on an updated Pattern of Violations list.

Third, we can’t just hold mining companies accountable -- we need to hold Washington accountable. And that’s why I want to review how our Mine Safety and Health Administration operates. For a long time, the mine safety agency was stacked with former mine executives and industry players. The industry is now run, I’m proud to say, by former miners and health safety experts like Joe Main and Kevin Stricklin. Even so, we need to take a hard look at our own practices and our own procedures to ensure that we’re pursuing mine safety as relentlessly as we responsibly can. In addition, we need to make sure that miners themselves, and not just the government or mine operators, are empowered to report any safety violations.

I think we all understand that underground coal mining is, by its very nature, dangerous. Every miner and every mining family understands this. But we know what can cause mine explosions, and we know how to prevent them. I refuse to accept any number of miner deaths as simply a cost of doing business. We can’t eliminate chance completely from mining any more than we can from life itself. But if a tragedy can be prevented, it must be prevented. That’s the responsibility of mine operators. That’s the responsibility of government. And that is the responsibility that we’re all going to have to work together to meet in the weeks and months to come.

Thank you very much, everybody.

[Petrushka]

1. K & R

:thumbsup:

[sasquuatch55]

2. Don't forget to investigate Mitch McConnel and his wife!

nt

[Stumbler]

3. That's all well and good, but..

why do we always have to wait for a terrible tragedy that results in death before it's time to review how screwed up our current policies are? Not just safety regulations w/ coal mining, but food handling and processing, nuclear power safety, & safety regs regarding imported "goods" from foreign nations. We've got A LOT of work to be done, and it's a shame if we have wait for a couple dozen people to die before we decide it's time to do something.

[sasquuatch55]

4. Because there's alot of money to be made in the mean time!

Lobbiest payouts must stop, and term limits placed on politicians. Greed and payoffs mean you don't need to do what is ethical. We are dispensible tools to these assholes, yet many will line up behind them in support. Go figure.

[NJmaverick]

5. K & R!

[mucifer]

6. K and R But, I wish the mine owner would be put in a maximum security prison for

the rest of his life.