by Brad Johnson
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 rally last year,
Massey CEO Don Blankenship attacked the Mine Safety and Health
Administration (MSHA), claiming it “seeks power over coal miners.” He
mocked both “Washington politicians” and local elected officials who
attempt to ensure miner safety, calling their efforts “as silly as
global warming:”
We also endure a Mine Safety and Health Administration that seeks power over coal miners versus improving their safety and their health. As someone who has
overseen the mining of more coal than anyone else in the history of
central Appalachia, I know that the safety and health of coal miners is
my most important job. I don’t need Washington politicians to tell me
that, and neither do you. But I also know—I also know
Washington and state politicians have no idea how to improve miner
safety. The very idea that they care more about coal miner safety than
we do is as silly as global warming.
Watch it:
Don Blankenship—who uses his position on the boards of the National
Mining Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to promote his conspiracy theories about global warming—said he spent one million dollars to put together the “Friends of America”
right-wing rally and rock concert in Holden, W.Va. on Sept. 7, 2009,
which starred Ted Nugent, Hank Williams, Jr., and Fox News host Sean
Hannity. In 2009, Blankenship also complained that “politicians get emotional” about disasters and establish “nonsensical” safety rules.
Related Links:
Before the Massey mine disaster, there was Crandall Canyon
Grist: hating on Don Blankenship before hating on Don Blankenship was cool
What does coal mining have to do with geoengineering?