Former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship
Former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship may have been the rare upper-level coal executive indicted on criminal charges in the deaths of his workers, but he's the exception that proves the rule of just
how weak mine safety laws are. As
Mother Jones's Tim Murphy points out:
... under the Mine Safety Act, conspiring to violate mine safety standards is only a misdemeanor. It's almost impossible for a mine operator to be charged with a felony under current law. (That's why the most serious charges in the Blankenship indictment concern false statements allegedly made to the Securities Exchange Commission.)
So what about strengthening mine safety laws? Well, that would take Congress, and House Speaker John Boehner has shown a remarkable commitment to only passing laws that screw workers, not ones that make them safer. In the wake of the Upper Big Branch Mine explosion that caused 29 deaths and ultimately led to Blankenship's indictment, Rep. George Miller tried to pass a stronger law:
It was a comprehensive response that proposed to expand criminal penalties for negligent mine owners, protect whistleblowers, and make it easier for regulators to shut down the industry's worst offenders. The bill would also have created stricter requirements for cleaning up combustible coal dust, which was the immediate cause of the UBB explosion, according to the state's investigation. In addition, the legislation would have expanded federal officials' subpoena power when investigating accidents or allegations.
You can guess what happened there. Meanwhile, unionized mines are becoming rarer, which means that many mines are missing a key force keeping an eye on potential safety violations. While union mines have higher reported incidents of non-traumatic injuries, non-union mines have
higher rates of traumatic injuries and fatalities—likely because unions make reporting of minor incidents more common and push for the safety fixes that prevent traumatic injuries and deaths. So miners have lost that watchdog in the mines, the Mine Safety and Health Administration is limited in what it can do, and Congress won't act to strengthen protections.