Under Bush, mine-safety enforcement eased

[zimv20]

link (http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/nation/13573459.htm)


Under Bush, mine-safety enforcement eased

A Knight Ridder investigation shows the number of major fines has dropped and the dollar amounts have plunged. But deaths and injuries from accidents are near record-low levels in recent years.

WASHINGTON - Since the Bush administration took office in 2001, it has been more lenient than its predecessors toward mining companies facing serious safety violations, issuing fewer and smaller major fines and collecting less than half of the money that violators owed, a Knight Ridder investigation has found.

At one point last year, the Mine Safety and Health Administration fined a coal company $440 for a "significant and substantial" violation that ended in the death of a Kentucky man. The firm, International Coal Group Inc., is the same company that owns the Sago mine in West Virginia, where 12 workers died last week.

The $440 fine remains unpaid.

Relaxed mine-safety enforcement is widespread, according to a Knight Ridder analysis of federal records and interviews with former and current federal safety officials, while deaths and injuries from mining accidents have hovered near record-low levels in the last few years. Knight Ridder is the parent company of The Inquirer.

The analysis shows:

The number of major fines over $10,000 has dropped by nearly 10 percent since 2001. The dollar amount of those penalties, when adjusted for inflation, has plummeted 43 percent to a median of $27,584.

Fewer than half of the fines levied between 2001 and 2003 - about $3 million - have been paid.

The budget and staff for the enforcement office also have declined, forcing the agency to make do with about 100 fewer coal-mine-enforcement personnel, a cut of about 9 percent.

In serious criminal cases, the number of guilty pleas and convictions have fallen 54.8 percent since 2001. In the first four years of the Bush administration, the federal government averaged 3.5 criminal convictions a year; in the four years before that, the average was 7.75 per year.

(more)

[solvs]

You know, when I first heard about this, I kinda rolled my eyes. I figured it was just somebody trying to blame Bush for the latest tragedy to get people riled up. But then I realized one of those making the allegations is the former director of the National Mine Academy, Jack Spardo (http://www.google.com/search?lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=JACK%20SPADARO%2C%20FORMER%20DIRECTOR%2C%20NATIONAL%20MINE%20ACADEMY). So while Bush didn't cause it, once again we see what happens when we have a leader who neglects the details. Not as bad as the Katrina fiasco, where he hired an unexperienced, unqualified lackey. But their pro-business policies and reluctance to enforce safety measures certainly makes me think this situation was avoidable. Or at least, could have been lessened if not fully prevented.

I'm sure the righties will just roll their eyes, but you'd think "theliberalmedia" would have at least mentioned this a little more.

[pseudobrit]

You know, when I first heard about this, I kinda rolled my eyes. I figured it was just somebody trying to blame Bush for the latest tragedy to get people riled up. But then I realized one of those making the allegations is the former director of the National Mine Academy, Jack Spardo (http://www.google.com/search?lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=JACK%20SPADARO%2C%20FORMER%20DIRECTOR%2C%20NATIONAL%20MINE%20ACADEMY). So while Bush didn't cause it, once again we see what happens when we have a leader who neglects the details. Not as bad as the Katrina fiasco, where he hired an unexperienced, unqualified lackey. But their pro-business policies and reluctance to enforce safety measures certainly makes me think this situation was avoidable. Or at least, could have been lessened if not fully prevented.

What else should we expect? A man who feels government is worthless is put in charge of the government and it becomes worthless.

In the end, I'm sure there's a conservative "free market" answer to the Sago incident, too. If you work for a dangerous mine, you deserve to die. No one forced them to work there.

[Thomas Veil]

This is, unfortunately, a pattern. Bush and his neocon buddies have been dismantling inspection and enforcement mechanisms for a while now. Government inspections in areas such as food safety have dropped off in favor of industry "self-policing".

[mactastic]

I heard a piece on the radio the other day claiming that the 'folks' Bush appointed to head up the departments charged with mine safety are -- surprise! -- former mining company executives. Also know as the foxes in the fox / henhouse relationship.

[zimv20]

as reported on abc world news tonight a few moments ago, the mining company which owns the sago mine denied that their cited safety violations had anything to do w/ the accident.

[silverback66]

So you're somehow implying that neglecting to collect a fine makes the Bush administration more liable for the mining accident than the owners and operators of the mine who were made aware of the safety risks and hazards?

Give me a source on that article too. I want to know who wrote it, and where it's from. I'll take care of looking into their journalistic history though I suspect I already know what I'll find.

[zimv20]

So you're somehow implying
best to use the quote mechanism, because i don't know who the "you" is. is it me?

neglecting to collect a fine makes the Bush administration more liable for the mining accident than the owners and operators of the mine who were made aware of the safety risks and hazards?
if you cannot see any correlation between federal enforcement, or lack thereof, on business practices, then i don't know what to tell you.


Give me a source on that article too. I want to know who wrote it, and where it's from. I'll take care of looking into their journalistic history though I suspect I already know what I'll find.
if you're referring to the article i linked to in the first post, well, there's your link.

[silverback66]

sorry about that. I was actually refering to the initial article I just didn't want to quote the whole thing.

Also I do see the correlation between the federal government and business practices but I think it's irresponsible and frankly spiteful to point the finger at Bush when it ought to go on the operators of the mine. This piece, though it has valid points in regards to govermental enforcement of such things is in my mind at least an thinly veiled attempt to directly impicate the President in something merely for the sake of spiting him. Collecting 440 dollars wouldn't have saved those miner's lives. The onyl thing that could have done that was the operators of the mind taking responsibility.

[zimv20]

The onyl thing that could have done that was the operators of the mind taking responsibility.
agreed. they've been cited, what's the best way to do it? i'll suggest higher fines and penalties for not paying them. do you agree? bush didn't, he lowered it.

the buck stops where exactly?

[solvs]

Like I said, didn't say it was his fault, per se. But it is a very scary overall picture. This is the type of thing that happens when you lessen regulation in such things. Everybody loses. He didn't cause it, but he also didn't help. And he probably made things worse. His administration put the wrong people in charge and made it easier for big business to get away with something that could (and did) get people hurt. Again.

But no one is saying he caused the accident, anymore than they blamed him for the hurricane itself.

[skunk]

But no one is saying he caused the accident, anymore than they blamed him for the hurricane itself.Of course not, that was Robertson's fault.

[solvs]

Of course not, that was Robertson's fault.
Naw, it was just his idea. He made God do his dirty work. And I suddenly realized that he might actually believe He did. :eek:

[pseudobrit]

When the NRC released its final report on the accident at TMI, it used a specific word to describe why the accident happened.

Technically, it was down to a strange series of failures coupled with the inability of operators to resolve the situation because they were used to certain things being broken (like how you've just gotten used to having to jiggle your toilet bowl handle).

They applied this word industry-wide in regards to the safety:

Culture

They said there was a culture of carelessness and sloppiness in regards to safety. This led to the full meltdown of the core of a reactor.

And when a government agency is tasked with regulating the safety of an industry, the government is equally culpable for the culture of safety in that industry. Under the Bush administration, changes have been made to the way the government handles its share of safety, and they are responsible for the culture those changes have generated.

[solvs]

Darn liberals, always blaming Bush for something just because it's kind of his fault. ;)