LION AND THE LAMB: Workers sacrificed to wealth, profits

Opinion

April 15, 2010

By Ted Braun Chronicle contributor The Crossville Chronicle Thu Apr 15, 2010, 01:07 PM CDT

CROSSVILLE — The hard-working miners, their dangers are great,

Many while mining have met their sad fate,

While doing their duties as miners all do,

Shut out from the daylight and their darling ones, too.

He's only a miner been killed in the ground,

Only a miner and one more is found,

Killed by an accident, no one can tell,

His mining's all over, poor miner farewell.

This song, "Only a Miner," and various versions of it, were circulating in our country during the latter part of the 1800s. It describes the human side of coal-mining disasters. Once again, a tragedy has taken place—this time at the Upper Big Branch mine in Hardcoal, West Virginia, on April 5.

The 29 miners who died ranged in age from the 20s up to the 60s. They had worked there as short as two months and as long as 36 years. One had planned to retire in two months. They left many wives, children, grandchildren, and students (one was a part-time teacher and coach). The explosion and fire probably killed all immediately.

What was the cause of the disaster? Federal mining regulators from the Mine Safety and Health Administration have assembled a team to investigate the accident. There had been several recent work stoppages because of high methane levels in the mine. The mine, owned by the Massey Energy Company, is supposed to have air-quality sensors that shut machines off when the methane levels get too high.

The Mine Safety and Health Administration, however, is a relatively weak agency. It lacks subpoena power; the fines it levies are relatively small and often go uncollected for years. Deliberate violations of safety standards that lead to death are considered misdemeanors.

Last year the Upper Big Branch mine received over 500 citations. Although fined $897,325 for the violations, it has paid only $168,393 so far. Massey has also reported revenues of $2.3 billion, with a net income of $104.4 million, from its 47 mines (employing nearly 6,000 miners). Just last month alone Federal regulators cited the mine for 53 safety violations, many of them for inadequate venting of dust and methane.

The chief executive of Massey Energy Company is Don L. Blankenship. He is strongly anti-union (all his mines are non-union) and anti-regulation. He thinks that global warming is a figment of our imagination and supports mountain-top mining.

Blankenship is also heavily involved in politics. The Center for Responsive Politics reports that since 1990, those associated with Massey and its political action committee have given more than $300,000 in campaign contributions to federal candidates. And in 2006, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics, Blankenship spent more than $100,000 trying to elect pro-business candidates to the West Virginia state legislature.

Last year, when the union held its annual Labor Day rally, Blankenship held an alternate rally elsewhere in the state that featured Hank Williams Jr. and other stars. More than 40,000 people attended his event and only about 2,000 people attended the union event.

The 29 dead men were only miners—workers sacrificed on the altar of wealth and profits.

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