About 4am yesterday, a mine in Utah collapsed, trapping six miners 1,500 feet underground, almost three and a half miles from the mine's entrance. No one knows if they are alive; there's been no contact since the collapse. Right now, rescuers are trying to drill through the mountainside to reach them. Progress has been slow, and it may well take up to three days.
When the collapse first occurred, it was blamed on a small earthquake, but scientists now think the seismic activity was caused by the collapse itself. No cause has been conclusively identified.
Crandall Canyon mine has a record of safety violations:
Government mine inspectors have issued 325 citations against the mine since January 2004, according to an analysis of federal Mine Safety and Health Administration online records. Of those, 116 were what the government considered "significant and substantial," meaning they are likely to cause injury.
...
This year, inspectors have issued 32 citations against the mine, 14 of them considered significant. Last month, inspectors cited the mine for violating a rule requiring that at least two separate passageways be designated for escape in an emergency.
It was the third time in less than two years that the mine had been cited for the same problem, according to MSHA records. In 2005, MSHA ordered the mine owners to pay $963 for not having escapeways. The 2006 fine for the same problem was just $60.
The owner of the mine is Robert Murray, whose company, Murray Energy, is notorious for safety violations. Rather than improving safety for his miners, Murray spends his time on Capitol Hill lobbying against global warming regulations. Indeed, Murray used a press conference today to continue that lobbying (via):
As part of his quest to avoid regulation, and to attack, inhibit, and destroy unions, Murray has given tens of thousands of dollars to the Republican Party.
Murray has, in his actions if not his words, demonstrated that he cares more about profit than the health and safety of his workers, not to mention the health and safety of the planet itself. He has the blood of these miners on his hands, and the blood of all the other miners hurt in his mines.
But all of us have their blood on our hands. We have the technical means to free ourselves of this filthy 19th century energy source, which is destroying our landscapes, our rural families and economies, our atmosphere. The barriers are political. We've let ourselves be bullied by the coal industry and by the politicians it has purchased. We haven't mounted the kind of public outcry that would force political action.
As our hearts remain with the miners and their families, as we pray, or simply hope against hope, for their survival, we should also pause and ask ourselves: how many more?
How much are we willing to tolerate?
Ask Umbra on ditching dirty things
Comments
View as Flat
Tom Philpott Posted 4:52 am
07 Aug 2007
And as with our government-subsidized cheap-food policy, our government-subsiidized cheap-energy policy depends on layers and layers of exploitation: human and environmental.
Victual Reality
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Jon Rynn Posted 4:54 am
07 Aug 2007
Regulators gradually realized many of these older plants had been updated, modified and expanded so many times that they should be considered new plants and forced to comply with tough pollution standards.
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Corey McKrill Posted 5:40 am
07 Aug 2007
Frequently asked technical questions about Grist's newsletters and website.
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pbearden47 Posted 8:14 am
07 Aug 2007
Aunt Phyllis
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rraimo Posted 10:16 am
07 Aug 2007
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Pangolin Posted 3:36 pm
07 Aug 2007
To be fair we would give him an old-style mining lamp. The old oil fueled kind that didn't have the screen that prevented methane explosions. And matches, lots of matches.
Put the Carbon Back
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amazingdrx Posted 11:16 pm
07 Aug 2007
In this Utah mine collapse a technique called "retreat" mining was being used. To save money, no support structure is buiilt in the mine. Columns of coal are left to do that crucial safety job, then collapsed as the miners retreat from the mine.
Of course the best alternative is to stop using coal and go to wind for baseload power grid generation. The second best process would be to convert the coal to natural gas under ground. Imagine the coal lobby going along with either of these alternatives?
Gephart is now a lobbyist for Peabody, the culprit that hauled away "Paradise" in John Prine's famous anti-coal song.
Obama and Edwards want to end lobbying. Period. Kucinich would probably not only end it, but put many lobbyists in prison as well. Kucinich ought to be president. But the best we can get will be Edwards as attorney general in a Hillary/obama administration.
Kucinich is great where he is at, in the congress. But senator Kucinich might be even better. Feingold and Kucinich both in the senate? Might make some reform actually get acomplished.
http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog
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schreinervideo Posted 8:04 am
08 Aug 2007
Internet video will save the world!
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Delay And Deny Posted 2:33 am
09 Aug 2007
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20602099&sid=a ...
"Emission Permits Fall as Utilities May Switch From Coal to Gas
By Mathew Carr
Aug. 9 (Bloomberg) -- European Union carbon dioxide allowances fell because power utilities may switch to cleaner- burning natural gas from coal, curbing demand for the permits.
Permits for December 2008 lost 31 cents, or 1.6 percent, to 19.60 euros ($26.84) a metric ton on the European Climate Exchange in Amsterdam at 4:23 p.m. local time. They earlier traded as low as 19.55 euros a ton, their lowest since July 24. "
John Bailo
Supratext:
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