Bob Murray and the Crandall Mine
I saw a stat the other day. During the Clinton administration that there were no mine accidents and during the Bush administration there have been 7. I don’t know if that’s true. What I do know is governmental oversight is needed to keep big business honest. We have learned this time and time again in the US. We know that at the turn of the last century we had sweat shops. We know we had child labor. We had garment workers working in a building with only one exit and it was barred. We know that for the most part business owners do not treat their workers that well. This we know. We also know that the Bush Administration isn’t a fan of regulation. So, it would not surprise me if those numbers were/are correct.
Bob Murray has been as interesting guy in the middle of this disaster. He has been trying to pump up the family and the media with hope. He has been out there everyday “showing us that he cares”. Now, it turns out that his “better than average” safety record was made up in his mind. The problems at this Crandall mine were not because of sloppy regard for safety but because of that “evil mountain.” Watch the video on Murray’s mining record.
I believe you got that stat from my blog. I got it from a former Clinton mining official who was on Countdown on Wed. Sorry, i don’t remember the man’s name.
As for Murray, i hope there’s a hell and a spot already reserved for him.
Smitty -
Thanks for the information. I think that you are probably right.
Thanks for your comment.
Avreage yearly fatalities in coal mining during these presidents’ terms:
Kennedy 289
Johnson 253
Nixon 177
Ford 189
Carter 135
Reagan 90
Bush 59
Clinton 39
Bush 33
In 2006 there were 47 fatalities in coal mining. In 2007 there have been 17 (plus 6, more than likely, rest their souls)with 4 months to go.
Miners and mining professionals do not ask the president if they can improve safety in their mines. They have been doing so for decades because it is the right thing to do.
Don’t take my word for this. You can look it up on MSHA’s website for yourself.
I am not necessarily defending Bush. But if people keep thinking the federal government is dependable and accountable for their safety, regardless of who is president, they’re dead.
The drop in mining deaths has less to do with government oversight and more to do with the decline in the domestic mining industry. If you look at a graph plotting domestic mining activity and mining deaths over the same time frame you’ll see they coincide pretty closely.
Thanks Mary for that bit of information. We have to look at the whole picture if we are truly going to know what’s going on.
Thanks again.
Doug -
Great information.
Thanks!!!
Marv,
When I first saw the decrease in fatal accidents over the years, I thought so, too. One good measure of “activity” is number of miners; this is what you get: (from MSHA’s numbers)
Number of miners
1960 190,000
1970 145,000
1980 253,000
1990 168,000
2000 108,000
2005 112,000
Number of coal fatalities
1960 325
1970 260
1980 133
1990 66
2000 38
2005 22
Number of fatal accidents per 100,000 miners
1960 171
1970 179
1980 52
1990 39
2000 35
2005 20
Miners and mining professionals continue to improve safety in the mines regardless of who is president. This is due to better training, better awareness, better information sharing, better equipment, and increasing sense of unacceptability of unsafe work practices.
US Coal Production in millions of tons
1960 430 mm
1970 610 mm
1980 830 mm
1990 1,030 mm
2000 1,070 mm
2005 1,134 mm
Decline?
Doug -
Thank you for those numbers. You have done some work on something that I know little to nothing about. I appreciate it.
Thanks for your comments!!
I am a little uncomfortable making this argument. It may sound like I am saying these disasters are acceptable because the industry is getting better every year.
Please be sure that I am not misunderstood. Disasters in underground coal are NOT OK.
What I was responding to was the statement that they have something to do with the federal government, more specifically who is president.
The turnaround in my time in mining (27 years) is that we do not wait for a disaster to make a change. MSHA has helped that process but is not the prime driver. Safety improvement is a value and a commitment. Employees can and should expect that managers do all they can to minimize risks. Managers can and should expect employees to respect operating rules, stay aware, and not take unnecessary risks.
It is very, very dangerous to depend on the federal government.
I think that your point was well made. I appreciate it.
We should be able to depend on our government. If we can’t (ask the folks on the Gulf Coast) then there is something wrong and we need to fix it.
Thanks again.
As a former employee of Uncle Bob, I for one will say that they always preached safety. The company don’t always practice what they preach though. You can always say something about particular safety issues but when you do it seemed that Murray’s hench men would just send you to a new area of the mine and hope that you forget about it. As far as telling MSHA about certain issues I have found that thier favorite response was to tell me to go through the proper channels. And still nothing would get done. I think that some companies pad the pockets of the “INSPECTORS” to walk around with blinders on thier eyes and to look the other way when they actually do see something. It’s time that miners take a stand and fight for ourselves. Union and Non Union we are in this together for our families. Without Coal the lights go out.
Youngblood -
Thanks for your informed comments.