Bob vs. God
A federal investigation into the Crandall Canyon Mine disaster is surprising only in how blatant the company was in putting coal production over miner safety.A year ago next month, six miners and three would-be rescuers were killed in a series of catastrophic collapses in the coal mine in Huntington Canyon. The mine's co-owner Bob Murray quickly became infamous for claiming the disaster was caused by an earthquake—blaming it on God, who, the last I heard, can't be sued.
When some safety experts, geologists, journalists and even families of the victims had the temerity to question if the mine had been safe, Murray lashed out in press conferences and threatened lawsuits.
Now, we have two reports:
• The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration found that the mine was poorly designed. Even then, the operator violated the approved mine plan and withheld from inspectors crucial information that showed how dangerous conditions were.No one who attended the endless impromtu press conference that Murray held around the clock outside the mine last August (I attended several) should be surprised by the findings. Bob was obviously a man with a guilty conscience. Going without sleep and donning miner's overalls to personally go into the death-trap with rescuers, it often seemed he were trying to do public penance for the sins of greed and pride.
• A U.S. Labor Department review supported MSHA's findings, but went further —blasting MSHA itself for dereliction of duty in inspecting the mine.
The Crandall operators have been slapped with the biggest fine in MSHA history: $1.6 million. And the U.S. Attorney for Utah will look into criminal charges.
And Murray apparently has succumbed to the cardinal sins again. His company blew off the MSHA findings:
This report . . . appears to have been tainted in part by 10 months of relentless political clamoring to lay blame for these tragic events.It's time for Bob to have his people talk to God's people.
1 Comments:
Another consequence of the Bush disaster. Mine safety, food safety, product safety, our water, the very air we breathe, have all degraded under the Republicans. What do they care? They've all gotten rich selling our country to the Chinese and the Saudis or stealing from the taxpayers, so they can go live on their private islands while the rest of us choke to death or die in unsafe workplaces. Even the poor Repubs are so blinded by their hatreds and fears that they still support Bush and the rest of his band of crooks and liars. I sigh when I remember how a little oral sex in the oval office was going to bring about the very end of the Republic! I hope this country can recover from the damage done by Bush and the rest of the rethugs, but I have my doubts. They've turned us from the "land of the free and the home of the brave" into a 3rd world wasteland.
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