Wv coal mine closes

[vec101]

Originally Posted by x1x

Mining coal must be a lucrative business to be mining it in unsafe mines, I was under the impression that coal was not in demand because of environmental reasons? I believe i been mislead or i misunderstood what i thought?

Coal industry certainly has it's up and downs due to prices (when higher, more people jump into the industry, etc.). However, the coal industry is going strong.

Over 50% of the electric used in the US is generated from coal.

[David Kennedy]

I was in conversation this evening with a state politico I respect...he said that mine should have never been opened at all...conditions were impossible...

Gives you an idea of Wall Street...Coal is there!....Go Mine It!

[x1x]

This is what confused me, as to why a condemned mine was allowed to operate after countless violations and fines? Ain't workers lives worth anything? or is dayumm the workers get the coal? or was there a pay-off to someone?

[AliceT]

The safety of the mines - or lack thereof - seem to often be associated with drug use by miners. There has long been the unpublished concern that many mining "incidents" are caused by stoned miners. Most mine companies incorporate random drug testing and every time they do it, they lose miners.

[David Kennedy]

Coal seams that exist near present-day rivers or the geo-cyncline of our mountains often have large areas of coal that seems shattered...underground, in most of the coal beds the best and easiest coal has been mined.
Now the deepest and most gassy, and the areas that were left as impossible are being worked...newer technology has helped.

That mine mentioned has been a work in a shattered seam since day one...and it is not level. People vizualize what the see in the movies.
Some of the deeper mines are almost level, but coal is a layer of rock. A soft, burnable rock...in the mines located near the mountain edges, the coal seam rises and falls, sometimes to almost a 45' angle. Moving conventional machinery designed for level work is a terrible and dangerous problem.
The miners are expected to return a respectable tonnage...and they adapt to the conditions.

Laying a blame on this one is difficult...my choice is investors and management...drug addiction in the mines is not any higher than in other industries...

Safety: Has been touted by the UMWA because of disasters...safety programs paid for by the company has a downward effect...
If headquarters and the President wants safety, they get it. The bigger companies make more money and can afford workable safety training.

What we do have in Wv on the State level is some good people. And Richard Stickler as MSHA head has been no nonsense about safety. WV's Directors have followed his lead because they know him and they have been given a mandate to tighten things up...

I am wondering if Obama will keep him or blow him out...mine safety is not a joke or a political whim...men and women's lives depend on the rules of law and the programs that companies are forced to obey.

Management has two rules: 1. Make a buck as cheaply as possible. 2. They have some power, but we have everything else and we will use it to our greatest advantage.

And the individual? He has a responsibility too...to himself and his family...its more than showing up and putting in 8/12 hours.

Mining takes everyone to do it right....to dangerous for us cowards...