{"id":566423,"date":"2010-05-17T06:00:27","date_gmt":"2010-05-17T10:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/?p=84879"},"modified":"2010-05-17T06:00:27","modified_gmt":"2010-05-17T10:00:27","slug":"massey-energy-not-the-only-habitual-mine-safety-violator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/566423","title":{"rendered":"Massey Energy Not the Only Habitual Mine Safety Violator"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_84880\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"width: 490px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/ubb-vigil.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-84880\" title=\"Upper Big Branch vigil\" src=\"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/ubb-vigil-480x319.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"319\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mourners hold a vigil on April 10 for the miners who died in the Upper Big Branch explosion. (EPA\/ZUMApress.com)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Driving out of Charleston, south on Rte.  119, you can\u2019t miss it: An enormous billboard, on the left side of the  road, with a message from the Patriot Coal Corporation: \u201cBe Proud of  Where You Work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Not merely self-promotional, the  statement is also a thinly veiled shot at Massey Energy, Appalachia&#8217;s  most dominant coal producer &#8212; and one with a reputation for putting  profits above worker safety. The billboard message implies that, unlike  its larger rival, Patriot&#8217;s approach to safety ensures innocuous  conditions in its mines and the well-being of its workers.<\/p>\n<p><div id=\"attachment_3032\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"width: 145px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3032\" title=\"environment\" src=\"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/environment.jpg\" alt=\"Image by: Matt Mahurin\" width=\"130\" height=\"130\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image by: Matt Mahurin<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"floatButtons\">\n<div style=\"float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/digg.com\/tools\/diggthis.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div style=\"float: left; margin-bottom: 10px;\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\"\n\tsrc=\"http:\/\/d.yimg.com\/ds\/badge2.js\"\n\tbadgetype=\"square\">\n\t<?php the_permalink(); ?><\/script><\/div>\n<div style=\"float: left; margin-right: 10px;\">\n\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\ntweetmeme_source = \"TWI_news\";\ntweetmeme_service = \"bit.ly\";\n<\/script> <script src=\"http:\/\/tweetmeme.com\/i\/scripts\/button.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"float: left;\"><a name=\"fb_share\" type=\"box_count\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php\">Share<\/a><script src=\"http:\/\/static.ak.fbcdn.net\/connect.php\/js\/FB.Share\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> Well,  not quite.<\/p>\n<p>Since April 5, when the Massey-owned Upper  Big Branch mine exploded, killing 29 workers inside, Patriot&#8217;s 11  underground coal mines in Appalachia have racked up roughly 350 safety  violations, according to a review of federal records by TWI. The  violations include scores of citations indicating problems with  ventilation systems and the accumulation of combustible materials &#8212; the  very conditions thought to have caused the deadly blast at the UBB  project. Of those 350 violations, 120 were deemed &#8220;significant and  substantial,&#8221; indicating that they are \u201creasonably likely to result in a  reasonably serious injury or illness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Patriot&#8217;s  Highland 9 Mine, in Union County, Ky., for example, has tallied 83  violations since April 6, of which 19 fall into the S&amp;S category,  according to MSHA data. In Monongalia County, W.Va., the company&#8217;s  Federal No. 2 mine has been hit with 74 safety citations over the same  span, including 28 deemed an immediate threat to miner safety. The list  goes on.<\/p>\n<p>Patriot, based in St. Louis, did not respond  to calls last week requesting comment.<\/p>\n<p>The figures  are a cogent reminder that, though the spotlight might currently be on  Massey in the wake of the UBB disaster, the corporate attitude of  wringing the most profits from Appalachia&#8217;s coal mines &#8212; even if, at  times, it means sacrificing worker safety &#8212; is hardly limited to just  one company. Indeed, Maria Gunnoe, an environmental activist with the  Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, said Friday that the Massey model  &#8212; an extremely successful one from a perspective of strict business &#8212;  is starting to spread through out the industry, at the potential threat  to the miners underground.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Companies see Massey  getting away with things,&#8221; Gunnoe said, &#8220;so they start doing those  things themselves.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Patriot&#8217;s track-record hasn&#8217;t  been overlooked by officials at the Mine Safety and Health  Administration, who are cracking down on lax mine-safety practices in  the wake of the UBB tragedy. Indeed, of the 57 troubled mines that MSHA <a href=\"http:\/\/www.msha.gov\/MEDIA\/PRESS\/2010\/NR100421.asp\">identified<\/a> last month as significant or repeat safety violators, five were  Patriot-owned operations in either West Virginia or Kentucky. (Only  Massey had more mines on the list, with nine.)<\/p>\n<p>Yet,  in at least some cases, the additional scrutiny doesn&#8217;t seem to be  improving conditions. Indeed, federal officials last week forced the  closing of the Harris No. 1 mine, a Patriot-owned project in Boone  County, W.Va., over a faulty ventilation system &#8212; a vital tool that  prevents the accumulation of toxic gasses and combustible coal dust.<\/p>\n<p>Leslie  Fitzwater, spokeswoman for the West Virginia Office of Miners&#8217; Health,  Safety and Training, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/idUSTRE64D5EH20100514?type=domesticNews\">told  Reuters<\/a> that MSHA officials had warned mine operators about low  oxygen levels in some parts of the Harris mine. But the company hadn&#8217;t  fixed the problem when regulators reinspected the project last Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile,  Congress is taking a closer look at the nation&#8217;s mine-safety rules as  well, with the Senate Appropriations Committee&#8217;s subpanel on labor  scheduled to hold a hearing on the issue on Thursday. Massey CEO Don  Blankenship is scheduled to testify. No one else representing the coal  industry, however, was expected to speak.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mourners hold a vigil on April 10 for the miners who died in the Upper Big Branch explosion. (EPA\/ZUMApress.com) Driving out of Charleston, south on Rte. 119, you can\u2019t miss it: An enormous billboard, on the left side of the road, with a message from the Patriot Coal Corporation: \u201cBe Proud of Where You Work.\u201d [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4315,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-566423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4315"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566423\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}