Conservative Lawmakers Shaft Mine Safety
Conservative Lawmakers Shaft Mine Safety
31 coal miners have died on job this year, compared with 22 deaths in all of 2005. The House is set to take up the Senate-passed mine safety bill, but conservative lawmakers are resisting inserting three amendments offered by Rep. George Miller (D-CA) that would strengthen workplace safety for miners:
– Require the Federal Mine Safety and Health Administration to randomly check self-rescuer devices upon which miners’ lives depend in an emergency to ensure they are in working order;
– Provide that the air stored underground for trapped miners under the Senate legislation last for a minimum of 48 hours through a chamber or cache; and
– Provide that communication and tracking devices required under the Senate legislation be required in 15 months rather than the 3 years specified.
Rep. Charlie Norwood (R-GA) attacked Miller for “delaying” the bill, Rep. Shelly Moore Caputo (R-WV) called the amendments “totally unreasonable,” and Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA) said Miller is being “irresponsible.”
These amendments target key weaknesses in mine safety. For example, only one miner in the Sago mine died in the initial blast. The other 11 died waiting for rescue. The Senate verison of the bill currently requires only enough breathable air to last miners for a vague “sustained” period of time. The West Virginia Mine Safety Technology Task Force, like Miller, recommends 48 hours worth of air.
The WV task force has concluded Miller’s amendments are feasible with existing technology and the families from the Sago disaster support them. The only thing “irresponsible” in this situation is the conservative resistance to strengthening legislation that would save miners’ lives.
Confined Space has more.
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And yet they run screaming from Capital Hill when a car backfires!
Make them start holding conressional session in a mine shaft and lets see how soon they fix that problem. Ban on flag what?
June 2nd, 2006 at 12:21 pmTo be fair, isn’t it also a conservative trying to add them in? Although if hes a california Repub, hes prob. more RINO then Con.
June 2nd, 2006 at 12:25 pmConservatives don’t care about OSHA standards…
…workplace/worker safety…
…unions…
…or human life…
…all they care about is…
…profit margin…
…and the dumb a*s voters in red state West VA…
…keep right on voting for the people who keep them impoverished, politically impotent, endangered and enslaved…
June 2nd, 2006 at 12:26 pm“Ban on flag what?”
I’m confused how it relates?
June 2nd, 2006 at 12:26 pmshould any of this really surprise us anymore? I mean really. They have gone so far as to take warning labels off of food products (mercury in tuna anyone?), refused all containers shipped from overseas be checked BEFORE they reach our ports, low balled money to fight terror in the most targeted areas, they even want to test pesticides on humans, for God’s sake…..how much more is it going to take. They have been caught wire tapping - seems to have been forgotten. Now they want our “surfing” habits from the web. They arrest people for exercising their right to protest. They STEAL elections. They BALD FACE LIE about EVERYTHING. and most of all they REFUSE TO ACCEPT GLOBAL WARMING as reality. GREEDY, DISHONORABLE, LYING, WAR MONGERING, PSYCHOPATHIC, SOCIOPATHIC, NASTY, AND JUST PLAIN MEAN….
That is what the republican party has become.
June 2nd, 2006 at 12:29 pmSquishy Poop,
You can’t see the sarcasm in the statement, figures.
June 2nd, 2006 at 12:32 pm2. I think the gist is - with all the corruption that needs to be dealt with - they will placing an amendment on the ballot to ban burning of the flag.
Actually I predicted this weeks ago. I read a lot of things into what the fringe far right are upset about - and that is EXACTLY WHAT BUSH IS ADDRESSING.
June 2nd, 2006 at 12:33 pm“Ban on flag what?â€
I’m confused how it relates?
Comment by squegeeboo #3
diversion…queasybooger…
…like “Defense of Marriage” amendments…
…get it?
June 2nd, 2006 at 12:33 pmA Rep from WV calls the amendments irresponsible? Wow, which mine companies are lining her pockets?
June 2nd, 2006 at 12:34 pmI’m confused how it relates?
Comment by squegeeboo — June 2, 2006 @ 12:26 pm
They’ve been talking about banning flag burning, right? Most of us, and rational people, consider it to be not only a violation of the Constitution but not where they should be spending their time - especially considering how little they actually work. So, if we put them in an environment that is reality based - such as Iraq, or down a mine shaft - where people are dying - then maybe they will get their priorities straightened out and stop worrying about inane laws like banning lfag burning.
Capisce?
June 2nd, 2006 at 12:36 pmThat is what the republican party has become.
Comment by madashell — June 2, 2006 @ 12:29 pm
Yep… Well said!
June 2nd, 2006 at 12:39 pmUnbelievable, thanks got it now
“Most of us, and rational people, consider it to be not only a violation of the Constitution but not where they should be spending their time - especially considering how little they actually work.”
June 2nd, 2006 at 12:39 pmBut consider what happens when they work. Maybe it’s better to keep them debating stupid stuff.
Mexicans, Iraqis, coal miners, whatever…
June 2nd, 2006 at 12:41 pmmaybe those reps are too busy playing with the bricks that those morons sent them
June 2nd, 2006 at 12:43 pmBut consider what happens when they work. Maybe it’s better to keep them debating stupid stuff.
Comment by squegeeboo — June 2, 2006 @ 12:39 pm
This has been your first sane comment today. Hangover wearing off?
June 2nd, 2006 at 12:47 pmBut consider what happens when they work. Maybe it’s better to keep them debating stupid stuff.
Comment by squegeeboo — June 2, 2006 @ 12:39 pm
Also part of my point that they are working under the wrong conditions. Cozy Washington isn’t the place for them to be. They should be in the places where work needs to be done. We could get them some mobile trailers set up in New Orleans with no a/c or plumbing - and we’ll see how quickly they become our representatives again. I’m sure the Army would make some room in their barracks in Iraq for our public servants doing their jobs. Or we could put a couple on a float in the middle of an oil spill in the Berring Sea and not let them off until they’ve come up with valid legistaltion. I could keep going, but I think I’ve made my point.
June 2nd, 2006 at 12:49 pm#15 Nah, they will begin to play with bricks when they end his bigger match now… ending the two-piece jigsaw.
June 2nd, 2006 at 12:50 pmHangover wearing off?
Yes, thanks for asking. More of just basic fatigue though.
“Provide that the air stored underground for trapped miners under the Senate legislation last for a minimum of 48 hours through a chamber or cache”
June 2nd, 2006 at 12:51 pmHow do they get to the chamber that has the extra air? If the exit is blocked, isn’t it just as likely the air storage place will also be blocked?
How do they get to the chamber that has the extra air? If the exit is blocked, isn’t it just as likely the air storage place will also be blocked?
Comment by squegeeboo — June 2, 2006 @ 12:51 pm
There was a mine incident in another country recently (I think Canada) where these saved the lives of the miners. They should at least have a fighting chance at survival.
June 2nd, 2006 at 12:55 pm– Require the Federal Mine Safety and Health Administration to randomly check self-rescuer devices upon which miners’ lives depend in an emergency to ensure they are in working order;
– Provide that the air stored underground for trapped miners under the Senate legislation last for a minimum of 48 hours through a chamber or cache; and
– Provide that communication and tracking devices required under the Senate legislation be required in 15 months rather than the 3 years specified.
Sorry if this seems stupid, but I’m astounded that this isn’t SOP already. Rep. Shelly Moore Caputo (R-WV) must be anticipating her upcoming jail time, since she obviously won’t be getting re-elected.
June 2nd, 2006 at 1:05 pm#17
Actually I think it would be better to have them consigned to a session in Abu-Grabass or Gitmo, untill they actually do something to actually protect the constitution from this neo-nazi administration as well as protect worker such as the miners. If they want to try to do flag burning bans , make english the official language, ban gay marriage and other bullsh*t amendmants, then they have to stay there.
June 2nd, 2006 at 1:06 pmHow do they get to the chamber that has the extra air? If the exit is blocked, isn’t it just as likely the air storage place will also be blocked?
Comment by squegeeboo #19
queasy,
…they have portable breathing apparatuses…
…like scuba divers…
…I believe I heard that they only had enough air for a couple of hours…
…if they make those tanks capable of storing more air…
June 2nd, 2006 at 1:10 pm…if they make those tanks capable of storing more air…
Or use a rebreather, but I think those are harder to maintain then non-rebreathers.
June 2nd, 2006 at 1:13 pmI have not seen Sen. Byrd or Sen. Rockefeller do anything about mine safety either! Mines in Canada have underground safe rooms that can keep miners alive for up to a week with air, but in the US miners get a crappy backpack that gives them one lousy hour of air > ridiculous!
June 2nd, 2006 at 1:16 pmHey! There’s no second hand smoke from chaw! Just don’t swap spit in the shower with the chewer!
June 2nd, 2006 at 1:20 pmwhy not import grade A coal from Peru like the rest of europe
June 2nd, 2006 at 1:20 pmIf they want to try to do flag burning bans , make english the official language, ban gay marriage and other bullsh*t amendmants, then they have to stay there.
Comment by Wayne — June 2, 2006 @ 1:06 pm
That works too. Though it seems like firing a round of blanks into the air outside Capital Hill every now and again might be a good start to set that tone (and wake-up call, frankly). Can you get arrested for that? If not, Worfeus said he lives nearby… :)
June 2nd, 2006 at 1:21 pmSorry if this seems stupid,
Comment by Zookeeper — June 2, 2006 @ 1:05 pm
Not at all. But what does gall me is that it has to be put into law for greedy corporations to want to put those systems in place to begin with! Why the hell wouldn’t you, Mr. or Ms. Mine Owner prepare for such events, and then do everything you could to prevent them? Sheesh… No wonder they claim we have too much government…
June 2nd, 2006 at 1:24 pmi feel it goes a little deeper than safety. call me a critic, but……..
June 2nd, 2006 at 1:30 pmthere as been absolutely tooooooo much disaster(period) under this president to just be a coincidence. i could be wrong, it just seemed that the mines blowing up were natural resources and what a coincidence is that………..or not?
Since Sen. Byrd and Sen. Rockefeller control West Virginia and the Gov. is a Democrat as well, then they should instigate their own mine safety rules with underground safe rooms for miners like Canada, but I doubt they would do it since mining companies give them fat donations/bribes!
June 2nd, 2006 at 1:30 pmRelating to #2 comment, George Miller is a Democrat from California, and is the ranking member on the Education and Workforce Committee. You might have been thinking of Gary Miller.
June 2nd, 2006 at 1:31 pm#27, most times the charge is “discharging a firearm” so it doesn’t matter if its blanks, hollowpoints, or cotton balls
June 2nd, 2006 at 1:32 pmbluestatepa
Thanks, I’m pretty sure TP had an R infront of his name earlier, and I didn’t bother to do any googling of my own.
June 2nd, 2006 at 1:36 pmOnly the little people die on the job.
-George W. Bush, Tom Delay and Grover Norquist
June 2nd, 2006 at 1:39 pm“Only the little people die on the job.
-George W. Bush, Tom Delay and Grover Norquist ”
Being president has one of the, if not the, highest on the job death rate out of any profession in America.
4/42, nearly a 10% rate, and thats just counting assisinations, not normal dying.
June 2nd, 2006 at 1:47 pmmost times the charge is “discharging a firearm†so it doesn’t matter if its blanks, hollowpoints, or cotton balls
Comment by bushllit — June 2, 2006 @ 1:32 pm
But you can get a permit to do that when making a movie? :)
June 2nd, 2006 at 1:47 pmthose of you that have these reps in your home need to remember what they have done to you
June 2nd, 2006 at 2:02 pmthrow them out, they are working for somone else and being paid by both you and the outside party
that is a crime we can’t let stand
“Totally Unreasonable” ?!? Please explain your ‘reasoning’ Miss Thang. No, nevermind, it is not possible. Well, whoever is running against her just needs to make about a million copies of this story, and hand them out, with her comment highlighted. That is all it will take. Lady, you are NO lady. Go “Cheney” yourself.
June 2nd, 2006 at 2:02 pmThe person who said the stupid people in Red States keep voting for Republicans despite overwhelming evidence that Republicans do give a shit about them is right. Take a minute that think about what Republicans are trying to do. They are trying to protect the big company and screw the little dumbass minor who actually works and dies in the mines. So you must ask youself; why to the minors continually vote for Republicans which is clearly against their own interest? It’s simple racism, bigotry, classism, and just plain ignorance by these voters. First the Republicans come out and say things like; I’m against affirmative actions and welfare, and illegal immimagration and gay marriage and flag burning. These are all phrases that get the rednecks blood boiling and they blindly march off to the voting booth to vote Republican.
What they don’t realize is the Republican also belongs to the country club and lives in areas they wouldn’t be welcomed. He also votes against their best interest when it comes to work place and mine safey. He also votes to cut tax for the rich mine and company owners at their expense. He votes too cut capital gainst taxes for the rich while telling them he cut taxes for midddle class people. He also votes to stop legistlation that would protect mine workers by telling them the democrats blocked it. Then the mine worker files his income taxe and discovers he didn’t get as much back this years as last year. Instead of him realizing they didn’t give him a tax cut, he blames democrats or blacks on welfare, or illegal immmgratation or gays. The standard Republican tactics work everytime because some people are too ignorant to think past the rethoric to see facts as the really are.
I’m sorry but people in Red States need to wake up and realize that Republicans don’t have their best interest at heart. Think about this; If we all voted Republican, we’d only have one party in power. Can anyone tell me what countries which one party in power have done in other parts of the world. How about Russia, Chine, Cuba, Egypt, Iraq etc. They were all great democracies right? Take a minute and think about what happened in these countries under one party rule.
June 2nd, 2006 at 2:42 pmRead an article that compares the mine safety standards in Canada with those in the U.S. and that gives an example to demonstrates the impact those standards had on the outcome of a mining disaster…here:
http://www.thoughttheater.com
June 2nd, 2006 at 2:54 pmThe real tragedy is that Charlie Norwood is anywhere near mine safety legislation at all!! In 1995, he cosposored a bill to repeal significant portions of the Federal Mine Safety Act and waged a relentless war against OSHA throughout his Congressional career. You want a signal of how seriously Republicans take mineworker protections — look no farther than that man they call Mr. Chairman!
June 2nd, 2006 at 4:04 pmMining corporations would rather have slave labour that is disposable. These guys don’t give a crap about miners health at all and they line the politicians pockets with money the make from the workers the want to destroy. Don’t they get it if no one is alive or makes money to buy their coal they don’t make money and the corrupt politicians get nothing. I say pass more regulation on politicians and lobby groups. Then maybe real change that helps the workers will be capable of being inacted. America it’s time to take back our country from these corporate raiders.
June 2nd, 2006 at 5:31 pmMine safety is not a concern of Republicans. Profits are.
June 2nd, 2006 at 10:34 pmThey had to meet OSHA standards years ago and have fought it from the start. I feel we have gone back about 100 years in this country vis-a-vis the employer and the employee; reduced wages, gradual elimination of benefits, gradual reduction in safety measures. Things like this heralded the unions, which have been reduced to powerlessness (for many reasons), so where are we headed now?
America is headed towards another “Great Depression” and the corporate elite expect everyone to line up in bread lines like bunnies with no complaints > it’s time to stand-up and fight the wealthy swine who control Bush and the Congress!
June 2nd, 2006 at 11:13 pmComment 30….. You are wrong. Both Byrd and Rockefeller have worked very hard on several bills in regards to mine safety recently. I suggest checking both of their respective websites. As for that crooked ass bitch Shelly Moore Capito, well she is the daughter of convicted criminal and one time Republican Governor from West Virginia, Mr. Arch Moore. What a class act that family is.
June 2nd, 2006 at 11:34 pmPost 45 > I do not see any underground safe rooms for miners in West Virginia like Canada?!
June 2nd, 2006 at 11:58 pmByrd and Rockefeller are NOT doing enough for miners in their state, but yes the Republicans are even worse about mine safety!
Conservatives have a proven track record for “shafting” people - especially this bunch.
June 3rd, 2006 at 2:44 amCorrection Needed - the number of miners killed this year is at least 33 (and perhaps might be 34.)
Any mine safety legislation is good legislation (hasn’t been a bill since the mid 70s) - the political reality is that Rep. Miller’s proposed amendments (great ones), would probably not pass the Senate. It might be wise to take what can be had in the area of mine safety during this era of Republican/corporate control.
The House Republicans (norwoood - ga) are trying to sabotage House passage of even the reasonable bipartisan version passed by the Senate by trying to include an amendment to require mandatory drug testing for all miners - outrageous! Not one fatality this year was caused by drug use - for that matter, not one fatality was caused by miner error. How about having all Congressmen piss in a cup as they walk into work each morning!
June 3rd, 2006 at 8:56 amThe Republican opposition to safety for our nation’s miners does not surprise me. This is a party that feels its constituents are not the citizens who have the constitutional power to vote them into office, but rather the corporations that give them (seemingly unlimited) amounts of money so they can “campaign†by doing little more than buying commercials on radio and TV. But rather than show their gratitude for being (re-)elected by taking care that their constituents are not screwed over by Corporate America, they instead reward the business world by letting them keep obscene percentages of their profits instead of paying taxes, giving them no-bid cost-plus contracts that they don’t have to fulfill in order to get paid, and by shielding them from legal liability by denying you and me the right to sue corporations that cause us harm through negligence or simple greed. Despite the fact that Republicans claim they support “individual freedomâ€, I can’t think of a political party that wants to do more to destroy your freedom as an individual than the Republican Party. They do not want you to be free. They want you to be a slave to Corporate America. To the Republican Party, you, the individual worker, are not a constituent, but, you the business owner, are. What makes me say this? Back in the summer of 1994, outgoing Republican House Minority Leader Bob Michel was being interviewed in his office and he said, “When I go back to my home district, they tell me, ‘We sent you to Washington to get government off the backs of business.’†Now, I find it hard to believe that this is what the majority of his constituents (the real ones) actually tell him. I can believe that it is what Corporate America is telling him.
Despite what some people may think, I really do believe in the principles of liberty upon which this country was founded. But, unlike some people, I do not believe that capitalism is the answer to all of society’s woes. I am not saying that capitalism has no place in a civilized society, it does but only as long as it is regulated. “Caveat Emptor†(“Let the buyer beware†to those not up on their Latin) should not be the national motto. But the Republican Party in this country is doing everything it can to see to it that regulating businesses in this country becomes a thing of the past. They like to say that “the market†will solve any problems. This is not only ignorant, it’s deadly. We have some real problems in the world, and just because a solution is going to cost money and may not be profitable is no excuse to dismiss it. We cannot continue to act as thought the only solutions to our problems are ones in which someone can make a buck! But that is what this president and his party believe. So, people will be left to die needlessly in some situations just because certain people see nothing to be gained by saving lives if it costs money. Which also demonstrates that they value money over life.
And therein lies the problem. The love of money. Now, as some of you know, I am an atheist, but it doesn’t mean that I am completely ignorant of some of the things that can be found in one or more of the various versions of “The Bibleâ€. (It has always struck me as funny how many different versions there are of “The Good Book.â€) I seem to recall a lesson that went something like “The love of money is the root of all evil.†And despite the fact that the Republican Party likes to portray itself as much holier than thou and much more Christian than its ideological opponents, but it still proposes, pushes, and passes legislation designed to help greedy, wealthy people keep more of their money, including ill-gotten gains. I think they should be prohibited from invoking God or Jesus in making their arguments. It has always been a mystery to me why a God who supposedly doesn’t want us doing the things Republicans are doing to their fellow man would let them continue to do it. (If he really existed, I would think he would have put a stop to this a long time ago, and I don’t mean the “Great Floodâ€, either. But that’s for believers to sort out.) Meanwhile, we have to stop the Republican Party from destroying this country entirely by making the love of money the law of the land.
I believe that our survival not only as a nation, but as human beings, demands that we change our economic systems. We have to realize that people are dying needlessly throughout the world simply because saving their lives proves to expensive for some peoples’ tastes. I wonder how much they think a life is worth? Malaria is still killing people throughout the world, and it could be virtually eliminated through something as simple as four-dollar mosquito nets. I heard that Bill Gates is helping with this sort of thing and I applaud him and his wife for all they have done, but why shouldn’t our government (and all the governments of the world) have done this a long time ago? Why does a profit margin mean more than a human life? Just how high that that profit margin have to be before it is considered “cost effective†to save a life? If the means to save lives are available, then why are only the ones who can pay for it getting them? Do you honestly believe that you could look a sick, dying person in the face and tell them, “I have something that will cure your illness and save your life, but I won’t give it to you because you can’t pay me what I want for it.� If you can, I can only wish you suffer the same thing as the people you let die because of your greed.
Instead of promoting capitalism, let’s promote altruism. Let’s start recognizing that we are all human beings on this planet, and none of us is more deserving than any of the others just because of which arbitrary and uncontrollable geopolitical boundaries we were born in, or how much wealthier or politically-connected our parents were, or what the color of our skin was at birth. And humans need other humans to survive. We have to stop taking an “us and them†attitude, and that goes for everyone on the planet, not just the Republican Party (although this is one of their mantras). We can start by educating people to the facts, and discouraging the kind of bigoted, xenophobic thinking dominates our current president’s policies. It won’t be easy, and we’ll have to fight every step of the way the people whose cushy, insulated, wealthy lives will be upset by the change. They won’t like it, and they’ll abandon all pretense of humanity to keep what they think they deserve to have. They can’t be allowed to win. The lives of every human being on the planet is at stake. If humanity doesn’t survive as a whole, there won’t be any “winning side.â€
Peace to you all. Remember, you’re not alone, unless you choose to be.
June 3rd, 2006 at 1:28 pmThe safety of our miners and all the people for that matter, are the last things on the minds of our slimey representatives in D.C. The entire country is past the point of no return economically, politically and democratically. The barbarians have stormed the walls and broken down the gates, with the help of the ignorant among us. Christian values, war mongering, racial intolerance and homophobia were their diplomatic talking points and America fell for all their bullshit. Much like the former(and soon to be again) Soviet Union, we too are under control of a”Red” army. Wouldn’t you think that amongst a population of 300 million people, a new Washington, Jefferson, Tom Paine or other true patriot would arise and lead this God forsaken nation out of this Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rice crime family control? We must rise up and take back our country…but then it is probably already too late. I am very afraid.
Richard…..Scottsdale
June 3rd, 2006 at 2:12 pm[…] Another example of how the corporate America doesn’t want to invest their tax cut dollars, but wants it all to itself. […]
June 4th, 2006 at 4:18 amTo Daniel and Jay,
It’s not just Canada that has safer standards for miners. Below is a story out of Australia about miners who stayed alive for two weeks(!) while trapped underground:
“Tuesday, 9 May 2006, 03:01 GMT 04:01 UK
Trapped Australian miners rescued
Todd Russell and Brant Webb were determined to walk out of the mine
See the miners
June 4th, 2006 at 9:19 amTwo Australian miners have been rescued from a gold mine after being trapped deep underground for two weeks.
Brant Webb, 37, and Todd Russell, 34, walked out of the lift at the mine in Tasmania and waved to cheering crowds. “
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