Eight Reasons for W.V. to turn Blue in ‘05

While Bush himself didn’t light the match that caused the explosion at the Sago coal mine last week, as the American Progress Action Fund points out, there are plenty of ties between his administration and the recent tragedy.

Now, there are going to be scores of Bush supporters who will accuse people who connection this incident with the current administration as "political," or opportunists looking to blame everything on Bush..because after all, Bush advocates do NOT like to learn lessons, admit accountability, or change anything that might help the average American. They instead of their choices and free thought stripped from them as they defend this president the way a 5-year-old sticks up for Mommy.

The rest of us on the other hand will looks at the facts below and realize one stereotype about Republicans is indeed true: they’re not a big fan of workers.

Although unions are not the answer to every employee dilemma, Republicans hate them in almost every instance. If you look at GOP affiliated corporations like Wal-Mart and Enron, you’ll get a really good glimpse into a capitalist culture that is unfair, unsafe, and doesn’t really give a shit about you or I – just our CEO’s.

1. The Mining Safety and Health Administration, under the Department of Labor (similar to FEMA under the umbrella of the Homeland Security Dept) never pressured the mining company to close this mine despite it having three times the national accident rate. Among the hazards? Inadequate ventilation to guard against the buildup of deadly gases, including flammable coal dust and a failure to adequately insulate electric wires that could spark explosions.

2. Despite this, the biggest single fine at Sago "was $440, about 0.0004 percent of the $110 million net profit reported last year by the mine's current owner, International Coal Group Inc." Throughout the U.S.,"The number of major fines over $10,000 has dropped by nearly 10 percent since 2001," a Knight-Ridder analysis found, adding that "less than half of the fines levied between 2001 and 2003 - about $3 million - have been paid."

3. Bush, who promised to forge cooperative ties between regulators and the mining industry, saw the number of mines reported to the Justice Department drop steadily, from 38 in 2000 to 12 last year. Under Bush, 17 of 26 regulations proposed by the Clinton administration were dropped or withdrawn, and the agency began a series of high-profile 'cooperative alliance' agreements with industry to promote safety through education, posters and other voluntary programs."

4. Last February, President Bush asked Congress to appropriate $280 million for MSHA, cutting the number of full time positions in the agency by 146.

5. Under President Bush, MSHA leadership also "advocated a less confrontational style and gave inspectors a less-intimidating job title: 'compliance assistance specialists.'"

6. Under Bush, the MSHA has eliminated or scaled back programs that "allowed public access to records related to safety performance and accident investigations." For instance, the Washington Post noted, the MSHA "halted the release of notes from mine inspections, which the agency had routinely released under the Freedom of Information Act for a quarter-century."

7. According to union officials and former agency employees, the administration also "shifted many routine accident investigations into closed-door proceedings, in some cases denying entry even to union officials and lawyers representing injured mineworkers."

8. Some of the miners, who survived at least ten hours after the explosion, but rescue teams didn’t enter the mine until the 11th hour. Federal law does not require mines to have their own rescue teams. Charleston Gazette analysis found concerns over the last decade that the mine rescue system "is growing ever short on personnel and is in major need of reforms." Yet in 2002, in direct contravention to recommendations of the Clinton administration in 1999, then-MSHA director Dave Lauriski "halted work on revising MSHA's 15-year old mine rescue
regulation."