Byrd and Specter Assail Cutbacks in Mine Safety Spending (exploit W.Va. mine tragedies)

New York Times ^ | Jan. 23, 2006 | Maria Newman

[steelcurtain]

Senator Robert C. Byrd, Democrat of West Virginia, said today that the deaths of 14 miners in three weeks in his state's coal mines "were preventable," and he had harsh words for federal mining safety officials for what he called a lack of leadership.

He also asserted that federal budget cuts had led to inadequate mine safety equipment and rescue plans. "These deaths, I believe, were entirely preventable and we owe the families of these deceased and noble and great and brave men a hard look at what happened and why," Mr. Byrd said during a hearing of the Senate's appropriations subcommittee that was meeting to discuss mine safety.

The hearings come two days after the bodies of two missing miners were found Saturday in the Alma mine in southern West Virginia after a conveyor belt caught fire. On Jan. 2, an explosion in the Sago Mine in the northern part of the state led to the deaths of 12 miners, who had been exposed to carbon monoxide.

[steelcurtain]

No shame.

[atomicpossum]

He also asserted that federal budget cuts had led to inadequate mine safety equipment and rescue plans.

So now he'll steal more money from the Federal treasury to send home.

[steelcurtain]

I'm not terribly impressed with W.Va. Gov. Joe Manchin III, but at least he's not entirely following Sheets' example:

"We're not blaming anybody," the governor said. "We're saying there hasn't been enough emphasis on getting the properly trained men and women and the equipment moving quickly enough." AP story.

[OldFriend]

Manchin got big time blame for knowing the miners were not alive and not telling the Sago families sooner.

He's a bit shy about pointing blame at others for now.

[rvoitier]

I agree.

Average miner deaths/year under Clinton:37
Average miner deaths/year under Bush-43:31

It's Bush's fault.

[Retired Chemist]

There were 22 deaths last year in coal mines. It's the lowest number in 10 years.

[steelcurtain]

Reuters reports:

The Bush administration on Monday defended the government's oversight of the Sago coal mine and said none of the previous safety problems cited at the West Virginia mine appeared to be the cause of the January 2 explosion that killed 12 miners.

Republican Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on mining issues, asked if a $2.8 million cut in the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration budget and loss of 183 agency staff contributed to the Sago accident.

Specter, whose panel took testimony on Monday about the accident, said he would not support a federal budget that does not spend more on mine safety. .... http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1533737

[Eric in the Ozarks]

There were no budget cuts at MSHA.

[barker]

Byrd is blowing hot air again. He cares nothing for these miners because neither of the mines were named after him.

[tiki]

You know, it is horrible that they died and the way they died but I wonder how many truck drivers, construction workers die in a year.

[steelcurtain]

Good point. People die in workplace accidents all the time. Somehow, in Byrd's addled mind, however, these particular coal miners were something out of the ordinary, above and beyond your average truck driver, firefighter, refinery worker, etc.: "these deceased and noble and great and brave men "

Not diminishing the value of their labor or the loss to their families, but come on, Sheets, a little perspective!

[Retired Chemist]

but I wonder how many truck drivers, construction workers die in a year

http://money.msn.com/content/invest/extra/P63405.asp

[Bommer]

The deaths are a result of Senator Byrd anyways! From Tammy Bruce

On her show the other day, Tammy asked why men still need to go down into dangerous mine shafts. Tammy, this is another one you can lay on Senator Byrd.

Here's how it works. First, much of the coal from the Eastern states needs to be shaft-mined; coal from the Western states is just strip-mined from the surface. With no shafts, Western coal is inherently safer to extract.

Second, Coal from the East Coast mining states has a high sulfur content. It needs to be scrubbed before it is burned; otherwise the smokestacks will release sulfuric dioxide into the atmosphere, which will eventually fall out as sulfuric acid rain. >Coal from the Western coal states, on the other hand, can meet clean air standards without any scrubbing at all. Thus, we scrub Eastern coal and just burn Western coal, right? Wrong.

Western coal is required by law to install the same scrubbing technology as Eastern coal. The effect is to drive up the price of Western coal and make Eastern coal, with its shaft-mining, more competitive.

How did this happen? Congrssional power. There are only three members in the House of Representatives from the two Western coal states of Wyoming and Utah. There are no other Western coal states. But there are seven Eastern coal states. The Congressional delegation of any one of these states can, by itself, outnumber the entire Western Congressional coal delegation.

And so it got done. The Eastern coal states, led by Senator Byrd, overwhelmed the Western ones and required the already clean coal of the West to get the same scrubber treatment as Eastern coal.

So if we want to know why men still die in unsafe Eastern mines, why don't we ask Bobby Byrd?

[brushcop]

That is an excellent post and the most informative short version that I've read on coal mining. Also, golly gee, I thought the Unions were looking after everyone's safety, right? What were they doing about mine safety, don't they have some responsibility here?

[tiki]

Thank you, that was very informative.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Western coal, from the Powder River Basin around Gillette, WY is known as "compliance" coal. It is below the Clean Air Act's 1.2 lbs of SO2/MM BTUs limit.
To figure SO2 in coal, take sulfur percent X 2 X 10,000, then divide by the BTUs in the coal. PRB coal is usually around 8500 BTUs with .50 sulfur, which equals 1.18 lbs.
There is some compliance coal in Eastern KY and West VA. This is 13,800 BTU coal with .80 percent sulfur, which gives 1.16 lbs of SO2 per million BTUs.
Scrubbing stack gases is the result of amendments to the Clean Air Act, which mandate all new industrial boilers that burn coal or heavy oil must have the best available technology, after about 1982 or so. Any upgrades to an older existing boiler, even including in some cases, repairs to the refractory linings, can result in an upgrade of the air emissions permit, forcing best available technology to be used. In most every case, this means a scrubber must be installed. For electric utilities, this is not a problem since they can pass costs to their rate payers. Smaller firms that actually make and sell things in a competitive market, must raise the cost of their products or burn natural gas which is five times as expensive as western coal.