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Another coal miner dies on the job
Here’s the sad news out of the coalfields of Illinois: A Marion man died Tuesday night, the result of a mining accident that occurred at M-Class Mine, located on North Thompsonville Road in Macedonia....
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U.S. records 2nd and 3rd coal deaths of 2016
My apologies for not following up on this sooner, but here’s the sad news reported out of western Pennsylvania earlier this week: A West Virginia man is dead after a mining accident in southwestern...
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So, is Don Blankenship ‘hardly a criminal’?
As the public tries to understand how six former Freedom Industries officials received a total of 60 days in jail for contaminating the drinking water for 300,000 people (see here and here for some of...
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Remembering – and forgetting — Upper Big Branch
It is hard to imagine what the families of those 29 miners have been through. Think about it. Your husband or son or brother or father is snatched away — blown away really — stolen from your family in...
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Another coal miner killed on the job
Here’s the sad news today out of Illinois: A death investigation is under way after a miner was killed at the New Era Mine in Saline County on Monday, June 7, 2016. Captain Bill Paterson with the...
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How coal miners die on the job
U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration photo There’s a new report out from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration that spells out the findings of the agency’s investigation into the death...
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Miner dies after Wyoming County ignition
Here’s the information we have so far from the state Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training about a West Virginia coal-mining death: The West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and...
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Bob Murray: MSHA inspections ‘total harassment’
Yesterday, Hoppy Kercheval had Murray Energy CEO Bob Murray on the MetroNews show “Talkline,” ostensibly to talk about the growing financial challenges faced by Murray Energy and the vote coming up...
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The straw man argument against putting corporate CEOs in jail for safety...
There’s an interesting op-ed in The New York Times today by civil rights lawyer and author Chase Madar about the use of criminal prosecutions in major public safety disasters. It mentions the Upper...
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MSHA to miners: ‘Stop and take a breath’
Here’s an announcement just out from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration: Since October 2015, eight fatalities and more than 1,100 nonfatal accidents have occurred in the nation’s coal...
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NPR bombshell: Jim Justice’s unpaid taxes and coal-mine safety fines top $15...
Well, our friend Howard Berkes at NPR (along with the good folks at West Virginia Public Broadcasting and the Ohio Valley ReSource) have put together the pieces of the puzzle. Their bombshell this...
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‘One of the good coal operators’
Just a few hours before the second and final debate between gubernatorial candidates Jim Justice and Bill Cole — and in the wake of last week’s devastating report about Justice by NPR — the United...
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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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