To Don Blankenship, just the cost of doing coal business
On Thursday, a Senate committee took testimony on coal mine safety after the explosion last month at a West Virginia operation run by Massey Energy that killed 29 men.
In his first testimony since the accident, the worst coal mine disaster in 40 years, Don L. Blankenship, the chairman and chief executive, came out swinging. The 23 miner fatalities at Massey mines in the decade before the Upper Big Branch explosion made his company “about average,” he said, and Massey was a leader in safety innovation but had been forbidden by the Mine Safety and Health administration from making some safety improvements….
At the hearing, another witness, Cecil E. Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America, challenged Mr. Blankenship’s assertion that Massey’s safety record was average.
“I can’t come up with another coal company that’s had 23 miners in 10 years die,” Mr. Roberts, seated next to Mr. Blankenship at the witness table, said. “This isn’t average. This is deplorable.
“This is the worst fatality rate in the industry either way you look at it, either before the explosion or after the explosion.”
… Robert C. Byrd, the 92-year-old West Virginia Democrat, took a tough stance with Mr. Blankenship. “Twenty-nine men are now dead, dead, dead, simply because they went to work that morning,” he said.
The very next morning:
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – Another Massey Energy coal miner has died as a result of on-the-job injuries.
State of West Virginia spokesman Hoy Murphy says 55-year-old James Erwin of Delbarton died about 6 a.m. Friday.
Murphy says Erwin was pinned between a piece of heavy equipment and the wall at Massey’s Ruby Energy mine in Mingo County on May 10.
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548 comments Add your comment
@@
May 23rd, 2010
10:37 pm
Now I would think this would have jay’s leftists all up in arms.
Despite Obama’s Moratorium, Drilling Projects Move Ahead
The records also indicate that since the April 20 explosion on the rig, federal regulators have granted at least 19 environmental waivers for gulf drilling projects and at least 17 drilling permits, most of which were for types of work like that on the Deepwater Horizon shortly before it exploded, pouring a ceaseless current of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
Asked about the permits and waivers, officials at the Department of the Interior and the Minerals Management Service, which regulates drilling, pointed to public statements by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, reiterating that the agency had no intention of stopping all new oil and gas production in the gulf.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/24/us/24moratorium.html?pagewanted=1
The permits issued are for wells that risk the same failure as that of Deep Horizon.
Be sure and read all the contradictory statements coming from Salazar.
I’m outta here.
theyeshaveit
May 23rd, 2010
10:38 pm
OK, folks. Calling it a day myself. Good night.
josef nix
May 23rd, 2010
10:44 pm
Dusty
Well, that’s who I am! I did forget and left out uppity! The story of the Pentecost has always been a fascinating one to me. I had it explained to me by my Granddaddy as “the gift was that all those people from all over speaking so many languages were able to understand each other because, in their own tongues, they spoke the universal message of brotherly love.” As for those you mention, well, only the Greek, Hebrew and Latin…
@@
May 23rd, 2010
10:45 pm
Hillbilly:
‘Ya oughta meet some of Talmadge’s offspring. Talk about a dysfunctional family. I’m surrounded by them down here in Clayton. His namesake is a poivot. I have a friend who is a licensed masseuse. She quickly dropped him as a client.
The squabbling that goes on among the family is well-known down here.
Hillbilly Deluxe
May 23rd, 2010
10:50 pm
@@
The Talmadges doin’s are no secret to us long time Georgians. (IW&SH)
iRun
May 23rd, 2010
10:51 pm
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Kadie/1279
josef nix
May 23rd, 2010
10:51 pm
calling it a night…thanks for the Miller clip..those two together! Masters of the deadpan at work!
Dusty
May 23rd, 2010
11:19 pm
Goodnight, theyeshaveit
My knowledge of linguistics is negligible. Almost nil. But I have admiration for those who excel in such things.
Anyway, my cats and dogs have always responded to my calls. Guess i’m good at kittycommunication and puppyese!
Josef, as always, your grandfather gave the best answers ever. What a wise one!
Goodnight, HillBilly. I enjoyed the discussions. Never fails to be interesting.
@@ wow! a POIVOT! Huh? I assume that is one who can drop no lower or something! I remember when Talmadge was wearing a big ovrrcoat and the press said that the pockets were full of money. I don’t think Talmadge even bothered to deny it.
I am off to bed with some sadness!!! The Braves LOST today. Sob! I’m sure it won’t happen again. GO BRAVES!.
The balls shave it
May 24th, 2010
12:51 am
Beware the PIIGS
A SunDay in the Life of a Republican
May 24th, 2010
6:12 am
SunDay
I refer you to your post @ 7:02…
In other words, you got nothin’.
Rightwing Troll
May 24th, 2010
6:58 am
Seepage!!!!… look it up…
stands for decibels
May 24th, 2010
7:09 am
Mornin’.
Having seen last night’s Lost finale, and having checked no other online resources, for those who’ve been following the series all this time I can only say and share this much:
Dr. Jack Shephard is with doG now.
AmVet
May 24th, 2010
7:15 am
To hear the BP apologists this “accident” was completely unavoidable! And it was NOT “the result of a series of mistakes and flawed decisions, which had compromised safety.”
So the faithful trot out their canards and red herrings instead. (besides they can’t *see* the oil.)
“This disaster was preventable,” Bea writes, “had existing progressive guidelines and practices been followed.”
(Oops. We can’t have no stinking progressive talk around here!)
The report lists what Bea believes are seven “Steps Leading to Containment Failure,” also known as “blowout,” including:
*improper well design
*improper cement design
*early warning signs not properly detected, analyzed or corrected
*removing the pressure barrier — displacing drilling mud with sea water 8,000 feet below the drill deck
*flawed design and maintenance of the final line of defense – the blowout preventer
One of the early warning signs was belches or ‘kicks’ of methane gas, which came up from the depths of the well in the weeks before the accident. The gas was in slushy ice forms called methane hydrates — but was potentially explosive. One incident was serious enough to shut the well down.
“They had a catastrophic loss of drill fluid into the formation,” Bea says. “Gas got to the surface. They had to bring the rig to cold operation.”
Bea also says “drilling and well completion operations did not meet industry standards.” He says the well was considerably behind schedule and some of what proved to be bad decisions were designed to save time and money at the expense of safety.
AmVet
May 24th, 2010
7:17 am
Wouldn’t want to be (selectively) accused of not sourcing material…
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37279113/ns/nightly_news
Outhouse GoKart
May 24th, 2010
7:22 am
Here is some areas the govt could cut WASTEFUL Spending…
Superintendents retain huge salaries
AJC investigation: Schools deal with cutbacks, but pinch rarely reaches the top
http://www.ajc.com/news/superintendents-retain-huge-salaries-533695.html
Outhouse GoKart
May 24th, 2010
7:23 am
Robert Byrd…The ole $#!* Horse.
stands for decibels
May 24th, 2010
7:27 am
From OGK’s link:
Hall’s compensation is about six times more than the average Atlanta teacher’s salary of $57,740.
Good thing we don’t see that kind of crazy income disparity between CEOs and worker drones in the private sector! Wowie zowie that’d suck, huh?
Outhouse GoKart
May 24th, 2010
7:41 am
We first need to clean up the public sector which is full of inept employees and mismanagement. The Public sector should lead by example.
PS…Robert Byrd didnt care about those miners dying. Just grandstanding on his part.
Normal
May 24th, 2010
7:41 am
Off topic, but who isn’t on a Monday Morn’
http://www.thenation.com/blog/what-happens-when-serious-libertarian-gets-serious-attention
Normal
May 24th, 2010
7:44 am
…and another view of Mr. Paul…
http://www.thenation.com/blog/rand-paul-principled-libertarian-not-0
Jay's blog
May 24th, 2010
7:48 am
Buying opportunity this week for bargain hunters on wall street.
Duchess of York! What a bombshell. Did not see that one coming. The Queen must be quite incensed. Selling access! How did she possibly think she could get away with that? A cry for help? Her ability to use her celebrity to raise money for charity was well known. Certainly she could have made more money on a speaking tour than what she could get by “selling access to the prince”. This doesn’t make sense.
Befuddled here.
Truth Hurts
May 24th, 2010
7:55 am
From the same rag. And for the record, Mr. Paul did NOT say it was un-American to attack BP. He said it was un-American to say “we will keep a boot on their neck”. And he is right.
I love to see ya’ll statists shaking.
http://www.thenation.com/article/whos-afraid-rand-paul
TimeShares, Inc.
May 24th, 2010
7:55 am
A penny for your thoughts.
Truth Hurts
May 24th, 2010
7:57 am
At least one Federalie is taking responsibility. That is more than you will EVER get from Obumbler.
“The governor is right. It’s too slow, and if it’s anybody’s fault, it’s mine, for not pushing (BP) hard enough perhaps,” Stanton said.“We did have a problem with getting boom down here to begin with, but there seems to be boom that is in the staging areas that needs to be put out.”
Then, in an exchange with a reporter, he went further.
Stanton: “It’s my job to direct this response in Louisiana.”
Reporter: “Why didn’t you do it?”
Stanton: “Well, the why — is that really important?”
Reporter: “Yes sir, we live here.”
Stanton: “Well, I guess I’m just slow and dumb.”
TaxPayer
May 24th, 2010
7:58 am
Statism. Yep. That’s what caused that oil rig failure. Too much government intervention and regulations.
Rightwing Troll
May 24th, 2010
8:01 am
seepage
TaxPayer
May 24th, 2010
8:02 am
Depends = Seepage Prevention
Disgusted
May 24th, 2010
8:04 am
Statism. Yep. That’s what caused that oil rig failure.
Yes, I always feel better and much more intelligent on a Monday morning when I see that some politically obsessed individuals are dumber than a bag of hammers.
Truth Hurts
May 24th, 2010
8:04 am
Too much government intervention and regulations.
No,,,,,,,,,,,too much corruption.
Who received the most money from BP? It is funny watching the LSM defending the one.
TaxPayer
May 24th, 2010
8:07 am
Who received the most money from BP? It is funny watching the LSM defending the one
Who.
Truth Hurts
May 24th, 2010
8:10 am
Ya know, people can get a little careless when they’re receiving SAFETY AWARDS from their federal inspectors.!!!!!!!!!!! Heads should roll…………………literally.
From LA Times—–
“Whatever the correct citation total — five or six — the Deepwater Horizon’s record was exemplary, according to MMS officials, who said the rig was never on inspectors’ informal “watch list” for problem rigs. In fact, last year MMS awarded the rig an award for its safety history.”
Scooter
May 24th, 2010
8:10 am
javascript:;
Trying to post a link here. ????????
Scooter
May 24th, 2010
8:11 am
Oops! Oh well, good morn all!
Southern Comfort
May 24th, 2010
8:11 am
Tax
I think this is what Truth was referring to:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/05/23/palin-links-bp-donations-obama-explain-gulf-spill-response/
I know the website and it’s rep, but that’s where I saw that story.
Truth Hurts
May 24th, 2010
8:11 am
McCain received more from the oil and gas industries in the whole than did Obama. This disaster was not caused by the oil and gas industries, but by BP and BP alone, and it is from BP alone that Obama received the biggest chunk of all their political contributions. It is reasonable to demand questions be asked about the coziness of the Obama administration to BP.
stands for decibels
May 24th, 2010
8:15 am
Robert Byrd didnt care about those miners dying. Just grandstanding on his part.
your mind-reading powers are almost as awesome as your grasp of macroeconomics.
Rightwing Troll
May 24th, 2010
8:16 am
So, just thinking out loud here, Obama accepted some constitutionally protected free speech from BP and now the oil spill is all his fault?
seepage…
Normal
May 24th, 2010
8:16 am
Truth,
I don’t care about his views on BP or what he considers “unamerican”.
His lambasting the Civil Rights Law is “unamerican”, too. He is going to be a good thing for the Democratic Party come November…
Southern Comfort
May 24th, 2010
8:17 am
“Obama is the top recipient of BP PAC & individual money over the past 20 years. Dispute these facts,” she wrote, linking to a Politico article citing campaign finance reporting showing more than $3.5 million given to candidates by BP since 1990.
The largest single donation by BP — $77,051 — went to Obama.
However, Palin did not point to another set of numbers reported by campaign watchdog, the Center for Responsive Politics, which showed the oil and gas industry overall contributed $2.4 million to John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign while $898,000 went for Obama’s bid.
That’s from the Right’s beloved Fox News link that I posted above. Obama got the single largest contribution, but even they don’t say that he got the most contributions. They quoted Palin as stating that, but the Fox journalist doesn’t back that up with facts. We know Fox only delivers correct information, so you’ll need to back up the Obama contribution total with facts.
Truth Hurts
May 24th, 2010
8:28 am
Obama accepted some constitutionally protected free speech from BP and now the oil spill is all his fault?
No…………………………he shares in responsibility.
Normal———His lambasting the Civil Rights Law is “unamerican”, too. Paul never did “lambast” that. As a matter of fact Maddow LIED.
“A fill-in for Rachel Maddow acknowledged on Friday’s show that their transcript was “totally misleading”, but said the quote was still “technically correct” and declined to apologize for it. The host also acted like it was just the New York Times that used the misquote, when in fact there were many more media outlets that did, all because of their shady transcript.”
It really is good to see the lengths that the LSM is going to discredit this good man. Ya’ll really do not have nothing to be scared of with a legitimate federal government. Try it, you might like it.
And further more, how can you defend an entity that denies more minority rights than any other entity on this planet.(see jail incarceration demographics).
Southern Comfort
May 24th, 2010
8:28 am
During his time in the Senate and while running for president, Obama received a total of $77,051 from the oil giant and is the top recipient of BP PAC and individual money over the past 20 years, according to financial disclosure records.
The Fox article makes it seem as if it was a 1-time contribution. That’s the total over a few years and not just during the Presidential campaign. A little further down, you’ll also find out:
The top congressional recipients of BP campaign cash include Republican Rep. Don Young of the oil-intensive Alaska delegation, who has received almost as much as Obama, raking in $73,300 during his congressional tenure. Also on the list is Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio), whose state has a BP refinery in Toledo and who has raked in $41,400. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has received $44,899.
“Make no mistake: BP ranks among the most powerful corporate forces in U.S. politics,” said Dave Levinthal, spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics. “It donates hundreds of thousands of dollars every election cycle through its employees and political action committee and is routinely a seven- or eight-figure federal lobbying powerhouse each year.”
In 2008 alone, BP gave $37,000 to members of the House Energy Committee and $106,501 to members of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, which deals with security issues facing the nation’s oil supply.
BP has also evolved in its corporate giving over the past decade, shifting more money to Democrats. In 2000, the company gave almost 39 percent more to Republicans than to Democrats. But by 2008, Democrats had nearly pulled even with Republicans on BP donations.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0510/36783_Page2.html#ixzz0oqipCHUc
I guess Politico shows that the money train runs thru both parties. Who would have ever thought that?
Normal
May 24th, 2010
8:31 am
Truth,
I saw that show. Maddow did not lie. But this is America and you can believe what you want.
Truth Hurts
May 24th, 2010
8:33 am
Southern Comfort
You are correct in that there is no hard sources avalaible…..yet. But don’t you agree that Obama did receive a boatload of money from BP? I know that this is not against the law, but it still stinks.
No politician should receive money from an industry that that politician is charged with regulating. It seems that this would be an easy enough law to pass.
Southern Comfort
May 24th, 2010
8:38 am
Truth
What seems like a “boatload” only represents about 2% of what BP gave to politicians over the last 20 years when calculated using the info given in those articles. The question you should ask yourself is, who did not get money from BP?
No politician should receive money from an industry that that politician is charged with regulating. It seems that this would be an easy enough law to pass.
Have you tried to ask a fox to agree not to raid the hen house that he’s supposed to guard? All politicians do it. You would have a better chance of having a snowball fight in Hell than to get that law passed to stop them from taking that money.
Truth Hurts
May 24th, 2010
8:38 am
Federal government-
“We will make sure that you have the “right” to eat at the lunch counter, but we will destroy your families and incarcerate a disproportional number of your young men. And you will continue voting to increase our power”.
stands for decibels
May 24th, 2010
8:47 am
Normal———His lambasting the Civil Rights Law is “unamerican”, too. Paul never did “lambast” that. As a matter of fact Maddow LIED.
“A fill-in for Rachel Maddow acknowledged on Friday’s show that their transcript was “totally misleading”, but said the quote was still “technically correct”
That’s not an even remotely correct characterization of what Chris Hayes (the “fill-in”) actually said. Chris said that other media outlets were quoting Rand Paul out of context, and the Rachel Maddow show took pains to present the proper context.
I saw both the original interview and the next day’s follow up. did you? If not, you’ve no right to claim that anyone “lied.”
(The truth doesn’t hurt. The Stupid, however, doth burn.)
heading upstairs a bit.
Paul
May 24th, 2010
8:53 am
Morning, SoCom
I suppose it’s in how one reads it. I didn’t read it as a one-time donation from BP to Pres Obama; rather, it seemed obvious to me it was over time.
“They quoted Palin as stating that, but the Fox journalist doesn’t back that up with facts. ”
I read that as saying it’s a reporter’s responsibility to back up with facts any assertions by politicians or public figures?!!? Is that what you meant? Most reporters just report, they don’t do a lot of fact-checking. That’s where the factcheck.org sites come in.
BTW – it also seemed to me, in your 8:17 (”However, Palin did not point to another set of numbers reported by campaign watchdog,”} that the Fox article brought in information that set Palin’s remarks in a partisan light, for not including implications of McCain’s contributions.
Read this in the paper this morning. Didn’t find a direct link but this is the same story (source from NY Times): “Report: Drilling permits, waivers continue”
“WASHINGTON — In the days since President Barack Obama announced a moratorium on permits for drilling new offshore wells and a halt to a controversial type of environmental waiver that was given to the Deepwater Horizon, at least seven drilling permits and five waivers have been granted, according to records.”
It was observed during Pres Bush’s term, when every questionable action by the Executive agencies was laid directly at Bush’s feet as his responsibility, that the federal bureaucracy is a vast entity that plods on its way regardless of what’s said by the guy at the top. “Oh, no” came the response. “This is Bush’s fault.”
Maybe now those people will reconsider their attitude.
Paul
May 24th, 2010
8:54 am
SoCom
Oops, cite:
http://www.statesman.com/news/nation/report-drilling-permits-waivers-continue-705058.html