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Coal dust is fairly innocuous in and of itself...it is generally too large to be inhaled into the small passages of the lung, and is trapped in the nose and the larger air passages where you cough it up. What gets you in black lung disease is the fine silicone dust, which is so small it is inhaled into the terminal airways and destroys lung tissue. But what really made silicosis and black lung disease bad is that most people who got it also smoked cigarettes.

What a great ending for a near tragedy. I was surprised they didn't just pop all these guys into a decompression chamber, especially since at least one of they exhibited evidence of decompression sickness.

I hope they bronze that escape capsule. You people from PA...what was the deal with the governor? Making political hay, or is he an alright guy?

With all the screwups and problems we have in our country, this whole thing makes me proud to be an American. I was listening on the radio in bed last night to live ABC coverage, and after the live coverage ended, the radio station played God Bless America. Not ashamed to admit I cried...hell, I've got a few tears running right now just writing about it.

Where else could they have gotten it together enough to pull these guys out of a black hole?

...what was the deal with the governor? Making political hay, or is he an alright guy?

Schweiker was Lt Governor and became Governor when Ridge went to Washington. He has already said he will not run for the office. Seems clear he is a concerned leader.

From those on a thread I was on last night, sounds like the Governor is a good guy. He was the Lt. Gov. when Ridge left to take the job in the Bush administration. He is NOT running for re-election, however.

Also........and I'm probably going to spell this wrong, pneumonaultramicrosopicsilicovolcaniconiosus used to be the longest word in the English language. My understanding is that this is some sort of the 'black lung' disease.

Pneu-mona-ultra-sil-i-co-vol-can-i-con-i-o-sus.
New-moan-a-ultra-sill-i-co-vol-cane-i-cone-i-o-sus

Just a fun word to teach my grandkids to say. (g)

Fox interviewed the Sipesville Fire Chief this afternoon. He was quite complimentary of Governor Schweiker (who is not running for re-election) and said he NEVER would have imagined a governor wading through the slurry, climbing on drill rigs, hugging drillers and miners. Gave him all sorts of credit.

Laurie Dhue asked the Fire Chief what his biggest worry was. He told her (remember...this is a very small town) that he had no idea how they would get the resources they needed and coordinate things to get the guys out. He said the only way it happened was because of two men...Governor Schweiker and President Bush. Apparently the federal part included the navy decompression chambers, the rescue cage, and waiving environmental regulations so they could pump the water from the mine directly into the nearby creek. Those are the things I know about, I am certain there were other things.

Schweiker never hesitated to talk up the rescue workers and the miners. He was very effective and according to all accounts is the real deal. Shame he is leaving public life.

You people from PA...what was the deal with the governor? Making political hay, or is he an alright guy?

From all accounts, he's a stand-up guy. He was Lt. Gov and took over as Gov when Ridge went to DC. His first act as Governor was to announce that he would not run for re-election this fall and that when his term was over, he was retiring from politics to spent more time with his kids. He was also more than window dressing at this mine rescue. As Lt. Gov., he was in charge of the PA Emergency Agency for nearly 8 years so he knew all the ropes and how to make things happen ASAP. Folks involved in the rescue are giving him lots of credit.