Massey
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Safety ‘#1 priority,’ coal chief Blankenship assures Congress
Poor Don Blankenship. The Massey Energy CEO had to sit quietly through a Senate hearing yesterday while the head of the United Mine Workers called his company’s safety performance “deplorable,” and West Virginia’s finger-wagging, Democratic senator, Robert Byrd cried “shame” on Massey’s “alarming record.” But in his first appearance before Congress since 29 Massey miners […]
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They’re still blowing up our mountains and there still oughta be a law
Cross-posted from iLoveMountains.org A month ago, before the nation’s attention was drawn to the tragedies at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia and the oil rig off the Louisiana coast, the EPA issued a blockbuster announcement about a strict new guidance for the permitting of mountaintop removal mines in Appalachia. The announcement left many people — reporters, politicians, […]
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Obama blandly invokes ‘American Dream’ in tribute to miners who were denied it
This weekend there was a memorial service for the 29 miners killed in the explosion at Massey’s Upper Big Branch mine. President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin (D) all spoke. I found Obama’s address infuriating. Look, obviously, it’s a memorial service. The focus was on the miners and […]
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Mining industry invests in politicans; stopped mine safety laws
A bill to help rescue miners in emergencies and protect miners’ safety was defeated in Congress three years ago. After passing the House, the bill, called the S-MINER Act, died in a Senate committee. Mining interests, who were opposed to this bill, gave twice as much money in campaign contributions to House members who voted […]
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Don Blankenship called safety regulators ‘as silly as global warming’
Cross-posted from the Wonk Room. The death toll from Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch mine explosion last week has reached a total of 29 miners, the worst coal disaster in 40 years. When the disaster occurred, Massey was contesting millions of dollars in major safety violations levied against the mine. At his Labor Day anti-union […]
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Before the Massey mine disaster, there was Crandall Canyon
I’m reposting an essay I wrote in 2007 about another mine disaster. It’s relevant to what’s happening now in West Virginia. In March 2007, I testified before a House subcommittee on energy and mineral resources about the impact of climate change on public lands. There were seven witnesses, and one was Robert Murray, founder of […]
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Another tragic iceberg awaiting Massey’s titanic violations: Brushy Fork Dam
Hope must die last in the coalfields, as our prayers go out to the families of the missing four coal miners and the 25 killed in the recent Montcoal mining disaster in West Virginia. But as heroic rescue teams attempt to reach the missing miners, another potential disaster instigated by reckless Massey Energy regulatory violations […]
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Massey’s mine in Montcoal has been cited for over 3,000 violations, over $2.2 million in fines
Cross-posted from Think Progress. Massey Energy is actively contesting millions of dollars of fines for safety violations at its West Virginia coal mine where disaster struck yesterday afternoon. Twenty-five miners were killed and another four are missing after a explosion took place at 3 pm Monday at Massey subsidiary Performance Coal Co.’s Upper Big Branch […]
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1,000 WVU students petition college to flunk big coal barons
Calling on their campus to move beyond coal — and use previously donated coal company contributions to honor fallen Crandall Canyon coal miners, not MSHA-fined coal barons Bob Murray and Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship — the West Virginia University Sierra Student Coalition presented over 1,000 petition signatures to WVU president Jim Clements today. The […]