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Wednesday, January 04, 2006

West Virginia Mine Tragedy: In the Days to Come
The Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration will investigate the causes and circumstances of the West Virginia coal mine tragedy. Members of Congress are also calling for oversight hearings, which may be all too necessary, if MSHA's history is any guide. In the early days of the Bush administration, when a mining industry executive was placed in charge of the agency that regulates the mining industry, MSHA cut short an investigation into a mine safety accident: a breach of an impoundment that sent hundreds of millions of gallons of toxic coal slurry into the environment in Kentucky and West Virginia. The affected communities are still reeling from the health effects and inadequate public health response.

As press interest faded in the Martin County case, revived only by the sexiness of a whistleblower story, the ongoing aftermath of that failure has gone under the radar. Maybe this time things will be different.

Posted by Robert Shull, 03:38:40 PM

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