Mine Safety

The near-certain deaths of the Utah miners plus the deaths of the 3 construction workers at the Indiana mine last week reminds us that coal mining is about the worst profession in the world. China has become one of the world's leading producers and far and away the world's leader in worker fatalities. Mike Hall at the AFL-CIO blog notes that concerns about the safety at the Utah mine were raised five months ago. Why were they not taken care of? Probably because owners have virtually no incentive to keep up safety conditions under the Bush administration. Bush has cuddled with the coal industry from day one. In a time when we should be eliminating coal from our energy supplies, Bush has pushed for increased production. This despite the clear connections between coal and climate change.



Many decades ago, United Mine Workers president John L. Lewis remarked that in an ideal world, no one would have to make their living mining coal. It's a terrible job and has been for centuries. We could prevent any more workers from dying underground if we cared at all to find alternative energy sources. Yet we don't and no doubt more American workers will die soon as a result.