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You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / The Mine Accident

The Mine Accident

by John Cole|  August 7, 200712:44 pm| 29 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Politics

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Another mine accident:

Rescue is a least three days away for six coal miners who are trapped inside a shaft deep within the earth, according to the president of the company that owns the mine. It is not known whether the miners are still alive.

“It will take three days if everything goes right,” said Robert Murray of Murray Energy Corporation of Cleveland, the mine owner.

Mr. Murray said he was “disappointed” with the progress of the rescue, after a relief crew attempting to reach them faster had to be withdrawn last night because of unstable conditions underground.

The crew had reopened a closed shaft in hopes of reaching the remote section where the miners were believed to be trapped, but were driven back after making scant progress.

As an alternative, a helicopter carried a drilling rig to the mountain directly above where the miners are believed to be. The rig will be used to drill a hole downward that is 2 inches in diameter. That, too, will take three days, Mr.Murray said.

While far too small for a rescue, the hole can be used to establish communications and supply the miners with air and food.

The possibility of being trapped alive for days in a pit while slowly asyphixiating is truly terrifying.

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29Comments

  1. 1.

    Gold Star for Robot Boy

    August 7, 2007 at 12:47 pm

    The possibility of being trapped alive for days in a pit while slowly asphyxiating is truly terrifying.

    If there’s any solace, IIRC, notes left from those WV miners said they weren’t suffering as they died.

  2. 2.

    Dan Collins

    August 7, 2007 at 1:01 pm

    Crap. Well, I have to agree with you, there.

  3. 3.

    Rudi

    August 7, 2007 at 1:08 pm

    Robert Murray is a piece of shit. During his news conference he brought up coal the “other white meat” and we need coal to fight for freedom and AQ. I nned to find a clip or transcript. He is more concerned about his bottom line than the missing miners.

  4. 4.

    rawshark

    August 7, 2007 at 1:23 pm

    Did we really need an explanation for the 2in diameter shaft? Honestly what else would it be for?

    It’ll take three days to get them out of everything goes right. It’ll also take three days to drill an air shaft. So right around the time the air reaches them in the mine they won’t need it. Weird. Is FEMA involved or something?

  5. 5.

    Zifnab

    August 7, 2007 at 1:41 pm

    I heard on NPR that the shaft had enough ventilation to sustain them for a while. The drill could just be expanding or increasing the number of air holes.

    And, besides, if the situation isn’t resolved in three days, they’ll really look like FEMA agents if the miners die because they didn’t drill holes just in case.

    Robert Murray is a piece of shit. During his news conference he brought up coal the “other white meat” and we need coal to fight for freedom and AQ. I nned to find a clip or transcript. He is more concerned about his bottom line than the missing miners.

    Capitalism baby! America needs to burn things to survive. Why do you hate our coal-powered freedom?

  6. 6.

    capelza

    August 7, 2007 at 1:45 pm

    I can only hope for the best for these guys.

    Isn’t it sad that this country needs tragedies like this to remind themsleves that there are men and women in this country who still do dangerous jobs for our comforts?

  7. 7.

    Rudi

    August 7, 2007 at 1:49 pm

    I wonder if Murray was part of the Cheney Energy group?
    http://waysandmeans.house.gov/Legacy/srm/107cong/6-13-01/6-13murr.htm

  8. 8.

    Ted

    August 7, 2007 at 2:00 pm

    How many safety violations is this mine guilty of, I wonder….

  9. 9.

    Rudi

    August 7, 2007 at 2:23 pm

    Ted – The mine and others owned by Republican donor(Murray) is above the national average. Can’t find details on his contribution to Bush, but he’s a big time donor to Ohio Republicans. Some backround:
    http://www.uky.edu/CommInfoStudies/IRJCI/blogNov2005.htm

    A coal company’s attorney said a suggestion that political contributions by the company’s owner influenced a ruling on a proposal in southeastern Ohio is “outrageous,” reports Jim Phillips of the Athens News.

    Mike Gardner, associate general counsel for Ohio Valley Coal Co., told Phillips, “To suggest there’s influence going on here is untrue.” The Buckeye Forest Council, an Athens-based forest advocacy group, is fighting the company’s plan to expand coal-mining under Dysart Woods, an old-growth forest owned by Ohio University and located in Belmont County.

    BFC Executive Coordinator Susan Heitker expressed hopes the case will “finally have an opportunity for a fair and honest hearing.” The council also alleged company owner Robert Murray was the second-biggest individual campaign contributor to the 2002 re-election campaign of Gov. Robert Taft, with a donation of $7,500. Phillips reports Murray gave a total of $7,500 to Taft for his 2002 and 1998 campaigns, but gave to other politicians as well. The BFC release reported Murray, members of his family, and his coal companies gave almost $29,000 to Taft.

    Noting that the seven-member reclamation commission is appointed by the governor, Heitker said, “I don’t think any reasonable person could expect impartiality and objectivity there,” Phillips writes. (Read more)

    http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2007/08/07/news/top_story/eaef2ae39adb492587257330005efb5a.txt

    Little was known about the six miners. Only one has been identified, but Mexico’s consul in Salt Lake City, Salvador Jimenez, said three of the men are Mexican citizens.

    Jimenez said, however, that he did not know any details about the men, including whether they are U.S. residents, their ages or hometowns.

    After the collapse, relatives of the miners spent the rest of the day waiting at a senior center for news. Murray met them at another location today.

    Many family members don’t speak English, so Huntington Mayor Hilary Gordon said she hugged them, put her hands over her heart and then clasped them together to let them know she was praying for them.

    Government mine inspectors have issued 325 citations against the mine since January 2004, according to a quick analysis of federal Mine Safety and Health Administration online records. Of those, 116 were what the government considered “significant and substantial,” meaning they are likely to cause injury.

    The 325 safety violations is not unusual, said J. Davitt McAteer, former head of the MSHA and now vice president of Wheeling Jesuit University in West Virginia.

    “It’s not perfect but it’s certainly not bad,” McAteer said.

    I wonder how many of the miners are “brown skinned illegals”?

  10. 10.

    BIRDZILLA

    August 7, 2007 at 2:41 pm

    Just you wait the new age earth wacko freaks will claim this GAIAS REVENGE poppycock bull kaka they are nuts

  11. 11.

    Rudi

    August 7, 2007 at 2:42 pm

    To put the 325 number in context, the Darby mine in Kentucky had significantly fewer violations.
    Darby Mine No. 1
    http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_km4469/is_200605/ai_n16397103

    The Harlan County mine where five men died in an explosion yesterday had no previous fatalities and did not have a high number of safety citations, according to a top official of the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration.

    Federal inspectors had written 264 citations and orders for various violations at the mine since the current operator, Kentucky Darby LLC, took over the Darby Mine No. 1 in May 2001, according to the MSHA Web site.

  12. 12.

    Face

    August 7, 2007 at 3:27 pm

    The rig will be used to drill a hole downward that is 2 inches in diameter. That, too, will take three days, Mr.Murray said.

    While far too small for a rescue, the hole can be used to establish communications and supply the miners with air and food.

    Early entrant for the “Holy Fucking Crap I Cannot Believe They Felt The Need To Actually Write That Shit” award….

  13. 13.

    canuckistani

    August 7, 2007 at 3:48 pm

    Does Robert Murray even exist? Has anyone checked to see if there really is a collapsed mine?

    Snark aside, mining is a crappy, dangerous job, and I don’t envy those guys even when they aren’t coping with disaster.

  14. 14.

    Scape-Goat Trainee

    August 7, 2007 at 5:34 pm

    “Rudi Says:
    I wonder if Murray was part of the Cheney Energy group?
    http://waysandmeans.house.gov/Legacy/srm/107cong/6-13-01/6-13murr.htm”

    Hey 7 posts before someone implicated the Bush administration.
    I’m surprised it took that long.
    Regardless, one can only hope for the best for these men, unless you suffer from terminal BDS, then you can only hope for whatever causes the current administration the most pain.

  15. 15.

    rawshark

    August 7, 2007 at 6:24 pm

    Scape-Goat Trainee Says:

    “Rudi Says:
    I wonder if Murray was part of the Cheney Energy group?
    http://waysandmeans.house.gov/Legacy/srm/107cong/6-13-01/6-13murr.htm”

    Hey 7 posts before someone implicated the Bush administration.
    I’m surprised it took that long.
    Regardless, one can only hope for the best for these men, unless you suffer from terminal BDS, then you can only hope for whatever causes the current administration the most pain.

    Not that I’m the one who mentioned the Bush administtration but I have an issue with your little attack. Are you saying that if you hate Bush you don’t want the miners to survive?

  16. 16.

    Rudi

    August 7, 2007 at 7:03 pm

    Scape – did you read the link I supplied. I wonder if UMW or independent experts were allowed to testify at the time. Look at what W’s done with mine oversite, ownership is now in charge. I am just questioning the crocodile tears of the mine owner.

  17. 17.

    jake

    August 7, 2007 at 8:31 pm

    I am just questioning the crocodile tears frantic denials of the mine owner.

    Fixed.

    “This was caused by an earthquake, not something that Murray Energy … did or our employees did or our management did,” an irate Robert E. Murray, chairman of mine owner Murray Energy Corp. of Cleveland, said at a televised news conference. “It was a natural disaster. An earthquake. And I’m going to prove it to you.”

    Jesus Christ on a surfboard, it’s like a little kid. Mom walks in and the first thing out of his mouth is “I didn’t do it!” Someone needs to pull him aside and tell him to chill the fuck out.

    Has anyone said that it would automatically be MEC’s fault if the mine collapsed?

    Or put another way, does anyone not know that mining is a dangerous, difficult job and sometimes bad shit happens for no other reason than it is time for some bad shit to happen?

    Anyone?

  18. 18.

    Scape-Goat Trainee

    August 7, 2007 at 8:43 pm

    “Rudi Says:
    Scape – did you read the link I supplied. I wonder if UMW or independent experts were allowed to testify at the time. Look at what W’s done with mine oversite, ownership is now in charge. I am just questioning the crocodile tears of the mine owner.”

    Sure, but then you go on later to point out that the guy’s a Republican donor. What’s your point? That if he was a Democratic donor he’d have a safer mine? Based on…what? That’s a bit silly don’tcha think? Who CARES who runs the frickin’ thing? All that matters is that these guys get out safely IMO. Why make it a partisan thing?

    “rawshark Says:

    Not that I’m the one who mentioned the Bush administtration but I have an issue with your little attack. Are you saying that if you hate Bush you don’t want the miners to survive?”

    Of course you can hate Bush and wish for the miners to survive. I’m not a huge fan of the man myself these days. But to pretend there aren’t those out there that wish for outcomes based on various scenarios to happen so Bush might look bad? C’mon, if you believe that there aren’t folks out there that fall into that category, then you really need to get out more. As for this group, I can’t say as I’ve seen that type behavior.

    Anyway, I’ll be running along now, don’t want to break up the little party you guys have going here.

  19. 19.

    Krista

    August 7, 2007 at 9:28 pm

    The possibility of being trapped alive for days in a pit while slowly asyphixiating is truly terrifying.

    Brrr….I was just watching the news tonight and they were talking about a local incident where a utilities worker, while laying in pipe, was buried alive when the trench collapsed in on him. I’m not claustrophobic, but the thought of dying that way makes me almost panicky.

  20. 20.

    Nancy Irving

    August 7, 2007 at 11:26 pm

    Better get used to it. 159 new coal-fired utility plants in the last six years, in line with recommendations from Cheney’s energy task-group.

  21. 21.

    Punchy

    August 8, 2007 at 7:23 am

    What Birdzilla said. Or something. Maybe not.
    Not sure.

  22. 22.

    jenniebee

    August 8, 2007 at 7:40 am

    Of course you can hate Bush and wish for the miners to survive. I’m not a huge fan of the man myself these days. But to pretend there aren’t those out there that wish for outcomes based on various scenarios to happen so Bush might look bad? C’mon, if you believe that there aren’t folks out there that fall into that category, then you really need to get out more.

    Don’t think I can “get out” into your fevered imagination, and I’m pretty sure that’s the only place those folks exist.

    BTW, did anybody else catch the NPR coverage of Murray’s press conference? The reporter said he got up and ranted for a full hour about everything from Global Warming scientists to the UMW (and he saved his best venom for the UMW) and complained that he wasn’t given enough credit and recognition for the uber-patriotic act of owning coal mines. The man is a real piece of work.

  23. 23.

    grumpy realist

    August 8, 2007 at 9:41 am

    Plus there’s a bunch of seismologists who are saying that no, it wasn’t an earthquake, what our instruments picked up was simply the mine collapsing.

    So lie, deny, pretend it’s someone else’s fault, don’t put in safety stuff….

    Some protection!

  24. 24.

    The Other Steve

    August 8, 2007 at 9:51 am

    They say that the attempts at rescue shafts have collapsed, and it’s oging to be at least another week to get these guys out. They’re now trying to drill a smaller hole to send food/water and such down.

    I have a solution for these mine problems.

    It’s called strip mining. It’s a good idea, more efficient and I don’t care about the landscaping issues.

  25. 25.

    mrmobi

    August 8, 2007 at 10:09 am

    It’s called strip mining. It’s a good idea, more efficient and I don’t care about the landscaping issues.

    Yeah, TOS, you go! Also, there’s “mountaintop removal mining,” where, as the title suggests, the tops of mountains containing coal are lopped off and dumped into nearby streams and, well, wherever the fuck the mining companies and the Bureau of Mines wants to dump it.

    Of course, there are regulations about “reclaiming” such areas, but the Bureau of Mines is very forthcoming about issuing “exceptions” to these.

    Isn’t it good to have corporate amerika running things?

    Landscaping issues? I got your landscaping issues right here!

  26. 26.

    mrmobi

    August 8, 2007 at 10:19 am

    Just you wait the new age earth wacko freaks will claim this GAIAS REVENGE poppycock bull kaka they are nuts

    Birdzilla, this is mind-numbing, and not a little funny. Based on this, you can certainly write an unbreakable code.

    You should be working for the CIA in cryptography. Really.

    ALL HAIL BIRDZILLA! HUZZAA!

  27. 27.

    Scape-Goat Trainee

    August 8, 2007 at 1:18 pm

    jenniebee Says:

    “Don’t think I can “get out” into your fevered imagination, and I’m pretty sure that’s the only place those folks exist.”

    Other than in the Democratic block of Congress where showing progress presents…difficulties.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/30/AR2007073001380_pf.html

    Then there’s this little nugget from the cesspool known as DU (as opposed to the cesspool known as Kos)

    http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103×299680

    I will say this though, at least most of the folks that posted at DU disagreed with him, I’ll give them that.

    Bottom line: DU, Kos, Huffington, this type crap shows up there all the time.

    Like I said: You need to get out more.

  28. 28.

    Tax Analyst

    August 8, 2007 at 3:16 pm

    Heard on the radio news on my way in to work this morning that it might be a week before they can get to those poor folks. That’s about as sad a piece of news as I could have heard. If those guys had as much air and supplies, etc., to survive the three or four days time frame that was bandied about earlier they are going to be sitting there a long time waiting for help that’s probably going to be “a little late”. I really hope I am wrong here, cause that sucks in big capital letters.

  29. 29.

    Tax Analyst

    August 8, 2007 at 3:21 pm

    Oh, yeah…”Strip-Mining”. My understanding is that it leaves slag and crap everywhere and unleashes obscene amounts of pollutants into the rivers and streams that run near it. The crap probably ends up in the ground-water, too. Not something I’d want to endorse. I also read that the method being used in this Utah mine was called “retreat mining” and that this is not the “preferred method” anymore. Retreat mining appears (and I’m not an expert, so I’m willing to be corrected here) to be where you extract the ore from the furthest section of the mine and then “collapse” that area behind you to close it back up when you are done. Again, as a non-expert the idea of “collapsing” an area you are still adjacent to seems like a dangerous and generally lousy idea.

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