The craven, cowardly and deeply corrupt Bush administration's Mine Safety and Health Agency issued it's final reports on the disastrous collapse at the Crandall Canyon coal mining operation, that occurred last year. There was no way to cover up or whitewash what happened there because of the sheer magnitude of the damage and the corporate malfeasance that caused it. The bottom line is, they levied token fines on the mining company and there will be no criminal prosecutions. I hope the families of the dead miners sue the hell out of the company. That is the only way they can be made to pay now.
As far as I know, there is yet to be any regulation or restriction on retreat mining, to augment that which existed before the collapse of the mountain in Utah.
During a time when the exploitation of mineral resources in this country will undoubtedly soon be expanding, after a generation of decline, it is unconscionable that we don't do everything possible to safeguard the lives and health of the men who go down in the mines. Mining interests in this country have shown time and again that the only thing they respond to, other than profit, is harsh and punitive enforcement of penalties, for violation of the law.
1 comment:
Mining is a hard business. It was because of two mining disasters in the 1960s that we have MSHA and OSHA.
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