Massey Energy told employees that if they miss work to attend the funerals they would be fired, workers said. A Massey worker, who did not give his name because he is afraid of losing his job, said that his coworkers were outraged that they were not given time off to mourn their friends and brothers.
Anger among workers is growing as reports pile in of the mass of safety violations at the mine, combined with government inaction. Many violations came at the same time that Massey was in implementing a sharp increase in production. Production figures for the mine show that the company had nearly doubled output-per-miner in the fourth quarter of 2009 compared with the third quarter. (See, “Miners doomed by collusion between regulators and coal companies”).
If you really need to read more, click here.
Not too many people dying from wind energy. Something to think about.
Your right, wind energy is mishap free:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/sep/04/energy.engineering
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/aug2007/gb20070824_562452.htm
http://www.windaction.org/news/11519
http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/26/danish-wind-turbine-eats-itself/
Or maybe large complicated operations (coal mining, wind farming, drilling for oil) are all inherently dangerous but to varying degrees? And maybe since wind farming is in its infancy we really have no idea how dangerous it is?
Just something to think about.
Ha, nice try. I don't have time to read all your links but I did scan a couple and didn't find anything remotely close to 25 lives lost in one accident, followed by the company those guys worked for forbidding their co-workers to attend their funerals.
ReplyDeleteI think you REALLY missed the point, "Anonymous"
Take a trip to the dollar store and see if you can buy yourself a clue.
Oh, ok Mr. Anonymous "pastes-links-a-lot". Here's a little link for ya smarty pants:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.msha.gov/mshainfo/factsheets/mshafct2.htm
Check out the fatality numbers at the bottom of that page and then tell me that wind power is as dangerous as coal mining. Many of the wind turbine related deaths have been a result of people falling from towers, which is a similar risk in any electrical tower operations.
And please, don't insult the lost lives of coal miners and my grandfather who suffered from black lung by saying that a carbon turbine fan damaging somebody's roof is in the same league.
My grandfather, also a coal miner, also suffered from & eventually died of Black Lung. My heart goes out to the families of those miners. It's time for the shit-shoveling coal companies to enter the 21st century and play by the rules (or hopefully just go out of business). There's nothing clean about coal. Never has been, never will be.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post Todd.