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Another coal miner dies on the job
There was some bad news last week out of the coalfields of Virginia: State mining inspectors are investigating the death of a coal miner who was pinned by a coal-extracting machine he was operating in...
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Is this really about protecting coal miners?
It was fascinating to listen earlier today as members of the House of Delegates approved a little-noticed piece of legislation called SB 603. In explaining the bill and several amendments to fellow...
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Don Blankenship’s Upper Big Branch video: When a documentary really isn’t a...
Over the last week, the “retired” Massey Energy CEO, Don Blankenship, has once again become a bit of a national media darling. He’s done appearances on ABC News and MSNBC, among others. Perhaps the...
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Two more W.Va. miners die on the job
The sad news broke late last night and early this morning, out of Boone County, W.Va.: Two miners were killed last night at a Patriot Coal operation in Boone County where federal officials said last...
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Coal deaths: More prayers, but where is the action?
Family members cry as they wait outside the mine in Soma, western Turkey, Wednesday, May 14, 2014. (AP Photo/Berza Simsek) Maybe folks in West Virginia’s coalfields should be glad they’re not in...
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Another Illinois miner killed on the job
The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration is reporting that another coal miner has been killed on the job, this one in southern Illinois. MSHA says the death occurred at M Class Mining LLC’s MC...
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‘Explosions like this in the mines happen all the time’: What the Turkish...
The rows of open graves for the mine accident victims in Soma, Turkey, Wednesday, May 14, 2014. Rescuers desperately raced against time to reach more than 200 miners trapped underground Wednesday...
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Why is it OK for mine operators to break the law?
It’s seems pretty apparent that political staffers these days have press releases ready to go when there’s a coal-mining death. Elected officials call the deaths a tragedy, urge prayer for the...
View ArticleMine safety: How change happens
http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/files/2014/05/CaitlinODellSpeechMay2014.mp4 We’ve tried our best on this blog and in the Gazette to cover the efforts of Mrs. Caitlin O’Dell to turn the...
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MSHA pushes proximity detection rule back again
Late last week — predictably, just before a holiday weekend — the Obama administration released its latest regulatory agenda. Not surprisingly, the timeline for the U.S. Mine Safety and Health...
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MSHA announces safety ‘walk and talks’
Here’s today’s news from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration: In the wake of two mine stakeholder safety summits held in less than four weeks, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and...
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How coal miners die on the job
While the rest of us were focused yesterday on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s new proposed carbon pollution rule, the folk over at the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration were...
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How coal miners die on the job
Yesterday, a coal miner in Montana became the 8th coal industry fatality of 2014, while the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration has released the report of its investigation into the November...
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Coal control: How safety board members get picked
Industry members of the state Board of Coal Mine Health and Safety include West Virginia Coal Association Vice President Chris Hamilton, right, and Patriot Coal’s Terry Hudson, center. To the left is...
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Another coal miner killed on the job
The bad news yesterday came out of the coalfields of Southwestern Virginia, where the media reported: Consol Energy Representatives confirm that Michael J. Justice, 41, of Rowe, VA was killed today in...
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Two more coal miners die on the job
Bad news in this morning from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, which reports that one coal miner was killed yesterday in Alabama and another early this morning in Utah. The Alabama...
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Are there really ‘game changers’ in coal-mine safety?
The lights on the helmets are turned on at the end of a memorial service for the miners killed in the Upper Big Branch Mine, in Beckley, W.Va., Sunday, April 25, 2010.(AP Photo/Alex Brandon) We’ve...
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Another coal miner dies on the job
The bad news today comes from the coalfields of Kentucky, where, according to local media accounts: A 31-year-old Tennessee man has died in a mining accident in southeastern Kentucky. Justin M. Mize...
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Another coal miner dies on the job
Just in today is news that a coal miner was killed on Saturday at Peabody Energy’s North Antelope Rochelle Mine near Gillette, Wyoming. According to the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration: A...
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How soon we forget: Mine safety in W.Va.
One way that West Virginia lawmakers seem to like to avoid taking stronger action on important public health and safety issues is to put off much-needed reforms until someone does a study or a report...
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