The Bush administration’s federal mine safety regulators have violated federal law by allowing thousands of health and safety violations to go unpunished. In just the past six years, The Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration failed to act upon approximately 4,000 violations. One of those violations was partially responsible for the 2005 death of a Kentucky miner. (Charleston Gazette)
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Bush regulators break law to avoid mine safety violations
TPMmuckraker from Talking Points Memo has a posted a note about the lack of action by the U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration.
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The MSHA wasn't totally inactive. They spent considerable time and lots of money punishing, harassing, and firing employees who dared to speak up for safe mines.
ReplyDeleteThe absolute gall of the politicization of this administration will leave a scar for a long time, I'm afraid. Let's just hope we can return to a government of, by and for the people, where it belongs! David
ReplyDeleteThis is how blatant it gets: The last Congressional act was the MINER Act, and it made a huge penalty for mine owners who did not report deadly accidents to MSHA within 15 minutes. Last year at Crandall Canyon the mine owner, a Robert Murray, by his own statement and timelines, took hours to report the cave-in that killed all those miners. Murray also said that he is a close friend of the husband of the Labor Secretary. Murray did not get one of those big fines for not reporting the accident because he has a best friend in the Bush administration.
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