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4 things that President-elect Donald Trump really could do for West...
In this May 5, 2016 photo, coal miners wave signs as President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Charleston, W.Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File) We’ve been discussing this week the things...
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Sago Mine owner eyed for Trump posts
There are multiple news reports (see here, here and here, just for example) this evening that President-elect Donald Trump is strongly considering venture capitalist Wilbur Ross as his nominee to be...
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Trump: Getting the old band back together
In this July 17, 2016 file photo, former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao and her husband, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., check out the stage during preparation for the Republican...
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More alarms on devastating resurgence of black lung disease, but where’s the...
If you happened to be a regular reader of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, yesterday’s bombshell about black lung disease was enough to frighten you. In the paper, researchers at the...
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What we can learn from the Blankenship appeal
This morning, when I looked a the calendar to see what the day ahead would be like, I saw the date: Jan. 19. I was reminded of a Jan. 19 more than a decade ago, when the day took a terrible turn and...
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And now … West Virginia’s latest ‘mine safety’ bill
A sign for the Upper Big Branch miners is seen in front of a church in Eunice off of Route 3, W.Va. on Thursday, March 8, 2010. .(AP Photo/The Register-Herald, Rick Barbero) West Virginia led the...
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Mine safety rollbacks: W.Va. is not alone
As we reported here yesterday, the West Virginia Senate’s Committee on Energy, Industry and Mining met yesterday to take up SB 582, a bill to strip the state’s inspectors of any real enforcement role...
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Waiting for the deal: What will be compromised in latest “Coal Jobs and...
Word is that there’s some sort of a deal that would turn the controversial mine safety bill pending in the West Virginia Senate into another “agreed to bill.” At least that’s what state Sen. Randy...
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Coal mining deaths continue
Photo from U.S. MSHA / On May 18, a miner was killed at the Pinnacle Mine in Wyoming County when his head hit the mine roof and/or a roof support. While I was out of pocket last week, another West...
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UMWA concerned about voluntary MSHA program
The United Mine Workers of America just issued a statement about the latest U.S. coal-mining death that occurred on Monday in Alabama, saying: The entire UMWA family is mourning the loss of our...
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Murray makes good on promise to sue John Oliver
As expected, Murray Energy and its CEO, Bob Murray, have filed a lawsuit against HBO and its Sunday night personality John Oliver over the blistering commentary on Murray and his company (watch it...
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UMWA raises more concerns about MSHA program
We’ve had a Gazette-Mail story and a Coal Tattoo blog post about the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration’s new voluntary training initiative, a program launched in response to a troubling...
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Trump dumps and delays key coal-mine safety rules
Of course, we’re still waiting for President Donald Trump to let us know who he wants to have running the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration. But we have seen a little...
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Five things about President Trump and coal
This evening’s visit to Huntington by President Donald Trump will undoubtedly involve the president talking up the coal industry and touting what he continues to insist is a major rebound that will...
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UMWA: Leadership changes at MSHA ‘troubling’
There’s been a lot of buzz this week over leadership changes by the Trump administration at the U.S. Department of Labor and the department’s Mine Safety and Health Administration. The first report...
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Another U.S. coal miner dies on the job
Sad news today out of the coalfields of Wyoming. The Star-Tribune reports: A worker at Bridger underground mine in southwest Wyoming died Thursday after a slab of coal fell on him. Jaime Olivas was...
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Supreme Court declines to hear Blankenship’s appeal
This news just in: The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship’s criminal mine safety conviction. Here’s the mention of the case — under the heading...
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Rep. Alex Mooney seeks legislation to repeal mine safety disclosure requirement
When we last left Rep. Alex Mooney, the West Virginia Republican was voting with the state’s other House members in favor of a budget cut for the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration. Today,...
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What politicians could say when coal miners die
It’s been 12 years since that early morning explosion in Upshur County. Twelve years since the Sago Mine Disaster. A year for each of the families who lost someone they loved. But what I can’t stop...
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The politics of why Don Blankenship isn’t a felon
Candidates, from left, Don Blankenship, of Williamson, Bo Copley, of Delbarton; U.S. Rep. Evan Jenkins, R-W.Va., of Huntington, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, of Charles Town, Jack...
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