Try Don Blankenship For Murder

The Times has a fantastic demonstrating the difference in safety conditions between Massey Energy coal mines, such as the one that recently killed 29 West Virginia miners, and mines owned by companies that actually care about safety. They profile TECO Coal Corporation, also non-union, but a company that is almost accident free. Meanwhile, Massey president Don Blankenship specifically undermines safety precautions.

And the attention to safety — or the lack of it — has had measurable results: Compared with the industry average, TECO’s workers spent much less time away from work because of injury last year; Upper Big Branch workers spent significantly more.

TECO’s mine has had far fewer safety violations over the last five years than Massey’s, and the company has been less inclined than Massey to fight with regulators. Massey has contested 69 percent of the proposed $1.9 million in civil penalties proposed by the mine safety agency since the beginning of 2005, federal records show. 

Now, in the wake of a catastrophe that has all of West Virginia in mourning, the trail of federal violations issued to Upper Big Branch, many of them in the weeks leading up to the explosion, seems infused with foreboding.

“The methane and dust control plan is not being followed.”
“The lifeline in the primary escape way” is not being maintained.
“In case of an emergency the men on this section would not have fresh air in the primary escapeway.”

“Management engaged in aggravated conduct constituting more than ordinary negligence, in that production was deemed more important than conducting parameter checks.”

Massey miners knew their lives were in danger.

Well before this month’s fatal explosion at Upper Big Branch, the country’s worst mine disaster in 40 years, the lack of proper ventilation had been a continuing concern among its miners. The fear of methane building while oxygen dropped preyed on their minds.

“I have had guys come to me and cry,” said the veteran foreman. “Grown men cried — because they are scared.”

But workers in the mine said they did not dare question the company’s safety practices, even when asked to perform a dubious task

“It was all about production,” said Andrew Tyler, 22, an electrician who two years ago worked as a subcontractor on the wiring for the coal conveyer belt and other equipment at Upper Big Branch. “If you worked for them, you didn’t ask questions about whether some step like running a cable around the breaker was a smart idea. You just did it.”

 Did Don Blankenship care? Hell no.

The miner belonged to a crew working in Massey’s Aracoma Alma mine. In a memorandum issued three months before this fire and widely disseminated in 2006, Mr. Blankenship, the company’s chief executive, ordered subordinates to run coal and ignore everything else. A week later he sent a follow-up memo saying that, of course, safety comes first — and that he would “question the membership” of any employee who thought he meant anything other than that.

Now, on the evening of Jan. 19, 2006, just hours after Aracoma officials received yet another handwritten note from Mr. Blankenship — “Stay on coal,” it said in part — a fire had broken out, again, on a misaligned conveyor belt, there was no water, and smoke was thickening.

This first-rate investigative piece tells me that Don Blankenship and the corporate leaders of Massey Energy absolutely do not care about the lives of their workers. Such criminal negligence suggests that Blankenship should be tried on a murder charge, or at least manslaughter.  Corporate leaders who directly cause the deaths of their workers need to be accountable. If the Supreme Court has decided that corporations deserve full personhood, those corporations should also have the responsibilities of full personhood. If I do something that leads to the death of 29 people, I would go to prison. So should Don Blankenship.

Massey Keeping It Classy

Massey Energy Company, the owners of the collapsed West Virginia mine that killed 29 people, sure has felt remorse for their actions:

Massey Energy, the Virginia-based coal giant that runs the Upper Big Branch Mine, has denied time off for miners to attend their friends’ funerals; has rejected makeshift memorials outside the mine site; and, in at least one case, required a worker to go on shift even though the fate of a relative — one of the victims of the April 5 disaster — remained unknown at the time, according to some family members and other sources familiar with those episodes. In short, the company might be taking heat for putting profits and efficiency above its workers, but it doesn’t appear to have changed its tune in the wake of the worst mining tragedy in 40 years.

Of course,  Massey holds all the cards. We've already forgotten about the West Virginia tragedy. The disaster hasn't led us to rethink coal, to demand more regulations for coal, or anything else. There will be a brief uptick in safety inspections and then everything will be back to normal. Massey will continue to not value its workers lives or dignity. They will continue resisting unionization. They will continue lobbying to undermine safety regulations. And we will still flip on our lights and air conditioners. We have blood on our hands too, but we don't care.

This is the Face of Clean Coal

Or is this the face of Clean Coal?

Or perhaps this?

Or this?

Of course, these are all the faces of clean coal. Coal leads to environmental and human disasters. It leads to the death of 29 miners in West Virginia. It destroys mountains. It tears families apart.

All energy sources have negative consequences. But none so much as coal. The coal companies, especially Massey Energy, which owns the collapsed West Virginia mine, do everything in their power to avoid taking the slightest responsibility for their workers lives or for the Appalachian Mountains. They constantly lobby to weaken safety laws and then continue lobbying to weaken enforcement. They avoid basic safety measures in the mines.

The coal industry still operates in the Gilded Age. They still see their workers as expendable labor in impoverished states with high unemployment rates. They still would like to shoot union organizers and other agitators. In fact, all of Massey's mines remain non-union and Massey president Don Blankenship has threatened to shoot reporters. United Mine Workers president Cecil Roberts has compared Blankenship to the operators of the violent days of the 1910s and 20s.

The coal industry wants the nation to forget about their industry and their mines and the dead workers and the destroyed mountains. Instead, just turn on your lights and bask in coal-fired power. And they have largely succeeded. With the exceptions of mine explosions and dead workers, we have collectively forgotten about coal miners. We make fun of West Virginia rather than sympathize with the people who live there. We forget about the dangerous working conditions. We pay no attention to the fact that the coal industry basically owns the West Virginia state legislature and, to a lesser extent, Kentucky as well.

The coal industry and our relationship to it personifies many unfortunate characteristics of the United States: environmental waste, forgetting about the people who make the products that allow us to live comfortably, allowing corporations to control politics and set regulations. And the recent deaths of 29 workers won't change a bit of it. It'll be in the news for another few days, in the progressive blogosphere for another week or two, and then forgotten about by everyone except for those few of us who follow the coal industry's malevolent dealings.

Technology is Not the Answer

The American technology fetish continues unabated and almost unchallenged. We think we can solve all of our problems through new technologies. This includes environmental problems. For instance, the Times is all excited about a West Virginia coal plant refitted to bury some of its carbon emissions. Basically, the carbon dioxide will be pumped into the ground several hundred feet below the surface. If this works, the argument goes, we can counteract many of our global warming issues. Clean coal indeed!

There are myriad problems though. As the article suggests in a brief respite from fawning over the idea, no one actually knows what's going to happen to that carbon dioxide. Will it stay in the ground? Some fear it could lead to earthquakes. What we do know is that it will lead to some kind of unintended consequences. All of our big technological projects throughout history have led to unintended consequences. The ultimate example is climate change; no one intended that this would happen or even guessed that it could, but it surely is despite that. Trend's discussion below of dams and the destruction of river deltas is another great example. Something will happen with that carbon. Burying it underground and then forgetting about it is not going to solve our problems.

In other words:

Technology. Is. Not. The. Answer.

We cannot continue to rely solely on technology to get us out of the messes we make because that technology usually creates more messes.

The other major problem with this technology is a continued focus on consumption rather than production as the real problem with burning coal. As a society, we do not care what damage natural resource production causes, whether that's oil in Kuwait, minerals in Bolivia, or coal in West Virginia. Out of sight, out of mind. It's the tangible signs of pollution that we care about--refineries belting out poisonous gases, discolored rivers, the feeling that each summer is warmer than the last. But the people of West Virginia are seeing their lives destroyed by the coal companies, the land undergoing permanent alterations that leave it a man-made desert. Isn't this important too.

Clean coal is a lie. Don't believe it. We have to get off coal as soon as possible. This needs to be a national priority. Technology is not going to solve our problems. Even switching to wind and solar energy will have unintended consequences. But nothing is worse than burning coal.

Coal and Clean Water

What's the coal industry been up to in the last weeks while I've been gone?

Pure evil it turns out!

In fact, their continued destruction of West Virginia water supplies by pouring coal slurry into underground mines has forced towns to find new sources of water. Luckily, the town of Prenter has secured the funding for a new water line.

Here's Your Clean Coal For You

Clean coal.

What a joke. Not only is it an environmental oxymoron, but it contains the blood of workers.

Ken Ward tells the story of Bud Morris, a Kentucky coal miner killed in 2005. He was hit by an underground coal car, losing one leg and having the other crushed. He might have survived. But he was denied even the most basic medical care. He went for nearly an hour without medical treatment, basically bleeding to death in the mine.

Morris' death led to new legislation in Kentucky requiring at least 2 medical technicians in a mine at any time. Of course, the coal companies are fighting that legislation, trying to reduce the number to 1 in small mines.

If it's coal, you know it's evil.

The Opportunities Blogging Brings!

For instance, I could become a hack for the coal industry!

Brad Johnson at Grist reports that the coal industry is looking for bloggers of their own to promote so-called "clean coal," if by clean you mean millions of gallons of coal ash polluting Tennessee rivers and forcing people out of their homes.

You can get into the debate. If you are interested in becoming an active member of ABEC's Blogger Brigade just send me an e-mail to abroadhurst@balancedenergy.org and let me know you're interested. One of our team members will give you a call and walk you through the process. It's really easy -- and for those of you who don't already Blog, it is fun! You can join the online debate that's already going on and you and others can remain anonymous (if you want to) at the same time! We'll even set up a little competition to see how many Blog entries each person can make.

Awesome!

They also have a Facebook page and a Twitter feed.

So come on boys and girls, let's all be hacks for America's most vile industry! It'll be super duper rad!