If this is the case, then there is no reason for their creation. Of course, this is only if we measure results and ignore intentions. :)
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Posted on 01/07/2006 8:59:15 AM PST by FairOpinion
Since the Bush administration took office in 2001, it has been more lenient toward mining companies facing serious safety violations, issuing fewer and smaller major fines and collecting less than half of the money that violators owed, a Knight Ridder Newspapers investigation has found.
Relaxed mine safety enforcement is widespread, according to a Knight Ridder analysis of federal records and interviews with former and current federal safety officials, even though deaths and injuries from mining accidents have hovered near record low levels in the past few years.
David Gooch, president of Coal Operators and Associates in Pikeville, Ky., which has 200 members, said the size of the fines have nothing to do with who's in power in Washington. "It doesn't have anything to do with who's the president because, actually, the people who are doing those fines are apolitical," Gooch said. "They're employees that are covered by the federal civil service, and their own union, by the way, so they compute the fines the way they come out."
For coal mining, 2005 and 2002 were record low years for fatalities. Only 22 people were killed last year in coal mining deaths - down from 47 in 1995. The number of workers killed in all mines hit consecutive record lows of 56 and 55 in 2003 and 2004, respectively, but increased slightly to 57 in 2005.
"Within the last five years the number of fatalities have been cut in half," said National Mining Association spokeswoman Carol Raulston. "From our perspective that's where we ought to be focused. It is what is happening to the absolute number of injuries - and the rate of injuries - that has gone down. Mining is no longer the most dangerous industry in the United States."
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
I am posting this in FrontPage News, because the truth needs to get out and most people only see the horribly misleading headline, and never find out the reality.
Why isn't the headline: "Under President Bush, mining fatalities have been cut in half" -- which is buried inside the article.
The MSM makes it very clear that they prefer big fines for mines, instead of REAL safety and reduction of accidents.
Also note that the people who enforce safety are not appointed by the president and administrations have nothing to do with them.
Last night, in the middle of the night, I woke up to go to the bathroom. On the way there, I stubbed my toe. It was all bush's fault.
< /sarcasm >
BUSH IS BAD
Yesterday I went to work on time. Today I didn't have to go to work because it's Saturday.
It doesn't MATTER that deaths and injuries from mining accidents have been hovering at near record low levels, these three MSM pinheads have concluded that whatever happens down there is STILL Bush's fault. Un-freaking-believable!
you forgot that he owns the state, he owns the church, he picks the winners of star search.
This is just ridiculous.
Perhaps because Dubya hasn't actually done anything to improve mine safety.
Except, of course, to continue economic policies that shut down mines (such as outsourcing our steel industry).
Bump!!
So you have no problem with the title "Enforcement of mine safety seen slipping under Bush" and slant of this article?
|
Coal Fatalities for 1900 Through 2004
Total Number of Coal Mining Fatalities from 1900 through 2004: 104,552 Please Note: Office workers included starting in 1973.
|
[ cue liberal talking points ]
VERY FEW PEOPLE STILL HAVE JOBS THANKS TO THE BUSH ECONOMY.
THEREFORE, LESS JOBS = LESS ACCIDENTS.
IT'S HARD TO GET HURT ON THE JOB, WHEN YOU HAVE NO JOB.
[ \ liberal talking points ]
Thanks for the FACTS!!!
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..It's Bush's fault
The MSHA site has all the records availible.
"Except, of course, to continue economic policies that shut down mines (such as outsourcing our steel industry)."
Does it hurt to stick your head that far up your ass?
No, except perhaps that it's too narrowly focused and misses the overall picture of Dubya's pathetic domestic energy policies.
Despite his laisezz-faire approach to mine safety enforcement, Bush has actually done very little to increase safe development of our own domestic energy resources. As noted previously, he as actively pursued policies to drive our steel industry (a major consumer of coal) offshore. Heck, Dubya is a Big Oil puppet. The domestic coal industry is going to get the short end of the stick (same as the nuclear power industry.) The truth is, I don't even believe Dubya has the spine to fight for ANWR. He's too much of a "globalist" and hellbent on increasing our foreign dependencies.
The Timber industry.... there's another natural resource he'd rather import than fight for domestic production.
Nope. I'm certainly not a liberal.
But I have no problems with the title of this article.
Dubya is no friend of our domestic industries that utilize our natural resources.
"Mining is no longer the most dangerous industry in the United States."
Isn't Clinton Politics the most dangerous industry in the US?
Isn't the relevant statistic not the absolute number of mining fatalities, but the number of mining fatalities per miner?
Looking at your figures, there was one fatality for every 3349 miners during the Clinton years (1993-2000), and one fatality for every 3553 miners during the Bush years (2001-2004). Looks like things are better now - and I say that as a Democrat.
That is just another example of how liberals can just say anything that comes to mind without a consideration of the facts.
Here is a link to the Mine Safety and Health Administration:
You can query all accidents and violations for any mine you like.
http://www.msha.gov/drs/drshome.HTM
My father has worked in the Mines of WV for 38 years, it is dangerous but it is getting safer all the time. He has experienced two accidents in all those years. One when a mining car break system went out going down a hill underground (he broke his knee jumping from the car) and another when an over zealous fellow miner sideswiped a coal wall with the mining car and my Dad's ribs were broken. He doesn't have black lung because he uses the respirators unlike many in the mines who look to cash in on their black lung benefits at the cost of breathing. (I've never understood this but that is the thinking). Those that wish to jump to conclusions about Mine safety often don't know what they are talking about, just as many who jump to conclusions about poverty in Appalachia. Tell me anywhere else where you can buy a starter house for 10-20,000 and it not be a total dump?
Sometimes I think liberals confuse having to do hard work to make a living with an indicator of poverty. My family has roots in the hills of WV going back more than 100 years having immigrated before the American Revolution from Britain and they survived well by farming and mining and though WV is not the most prosperous place you will find that around every corner is a patriot ready to help you out and pick up gun to do it if necessary.
It is my opinion having spent many years away from WV that people in most places have forgotten what freedom means and have exchanged their souls for chronic dependency in every part of their lives. Those in the mountains may not be rich but they know where they came from and they know the sacrifices their ancestors made to eke out a living and will still fight till the death defending their land and their personal sovereignty.
In their zeal to make their federal budget look attractive, the bastards Clinton and Gore shut down the US Bureau of Mines in 1995/6 because they said it was antiquated and had outlived it's usefulness.
The amazing and shameful thing about those who are trying to use this to bash Bush - is that these are the same people who couldn't have given a $hit about coal miners the day before the accident, and who will not give a $hit about coal miners once the glow of the TV lights fades. They do, however, support environmental restrictions which make strip mining more difficult and shift more work to deep mines, with their inherent dangers. How many workers have been killed in accidents at strip mines? Probably a trivial number.
Sorry to hear of your illness. I hope you get well soon.
This smells of Unions
Aren't the Murkoids under new management? or in the midst of being sold off?
couldn't tell from this article.
Bush gets no credit for his ballyhooed steel tariff because he simultaneously scuttled it with 1000s of special interest loopholes and exemptions.
The man is a fraud.
Amazing! in 1994 Clinton caused TWICE the deaths in 2004 under Bush.
I wasn't aware of that. Can you recall any off the top of your head?
Say what???
Guess you never took economics, marketing and accounting, or worked in the free enterprise market.
You guess wrong.
It seems my copy and paste effort backfired.. I'll try again.
...he simultaneously scuttled it with 1000s of special interest loopholes and exemptions.
Do any examples of the exemptions and loopholes come to mind? The 10 types of steel covered sure riled a lot of people including the steelworkers union. It really riled the United Auto Workers because it forced the price of cars up which meant fewer sales and job layoffs.
Until I read your post #22 I thought you were just an amusing Buchanan nut. Now I see you are really whacked out. No need to discuss anything with you from now on.
I don't think Bush did that. Last I checked, we don't have, and never did have any federalized steel companies in the U.S. Therefore, all business decisions pertaining to the steel industry were made by the companies in question and their stock holders.
But please, don't let facts interrupt your fantasies.
Sure. Here's a huge one:
Under the plan Bush endorsed at an Oval Office meeting with advisers, steel imported from Canada and Mexico would be exempt from the duties, as would imports from developing countries such as Argentina, Thailand and Turkey. Japan, China, South Korea, Russia, Ukraine and Brazil would be among the nations subject to the tariffs.
Bush Settles On Tariff For Steel Imports
Of course, steel from Japan, China, South Korea, Russia, Brazil, etc. etc. aren't really penalized. That stuff merely gets shipped to one of the exempt nations first, before being re-exported to the United States duty free. (That's how the Cubans get around the sugar embargo. They ship it to Canada where it's dissolved in molasses, then shipped into the US where the sugar is re-extracted.)
Once you have such loopholes and exemptions, the tariffs become totally ineffective.
Bush is a fraud.
(((yawn)))
As if those business decisions aren't influenced by federal regulatory and trade policies.
Sheeeesh, your "Bush isn't in charge of federalized steel mills" arguement is hopelessly adolescent. Really....
I have a stack of Congressional Records from 1935. In one, a Congressman speaks of 23,000 deaths in American industry during 1919.
The families IMMEDIATELY over reacted. Given the circumstances, this seemed fair at the time. I wasn't in their place... but to watch it, it felt like the media was showing the families as stupid bumpkins from WVA. The STORY and painting the mining company, the governor, and the president in a bad light is the newspaper's goal.
And, in the coming weeks, when more of the truth is known, the media will cover it less, and readers won't notice. They'll just remember the NEGATIVE spin, never the aftermath.
Did they ever think that the fines are lower because the violations are less severe?
Or maybe that there fewer violations that require fines?
All businesses must deal with federal laws and regulations. Exactly how they choose to deal with them is entirely their decision. You know that, but since it doesn't support your agenda, you just like to ignore it.
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