Mining
sb admin | June 17, 2009The Charleston Gazette's Ken Ward Jr. reports that one of West Virginia's oldest and largest law firms, Jackson Kelly PLLC, is being sued for hiding evidence of coal miners' black lung disease. Ward writes:
"Earlier this year, an investigative panel of the state's Lawyer Disciplinary Board filed misconduct charges against Douglas A. Smoot. Smoot hid a key portion of coal miner Elmer Daugherty's medical examination report during a 2001 case, a board investigative panel alleged. A hearing on those allegations is scheduled to start June 18. And two lawsuits filed last month in Raleigh…
sb admin | June 4, 2009Of the many disturbing and damaging policies instituted during the G.W. Bush Administration, high on my list is abuse of FOIA. It started with the post 9/11-Ashcroft memo, which was institutionalized into downstream agencies, and reconfigured and rejustified over Mr. Bush's remaining 7 years.  In the public interests, one journalist sought to find out how the Labor Department's FOIA practices were "evolving" under G.W. Bush's non-disclosure philosophy.Â
In March 2005, Mine Safety and Health News (MSHN) received an anonymous tip, urging the editor, Ellen Smith, to request…
sb admin | May 24, 2009By Ellen Smith
The nation may have a new President with grand ideas about the Freedom of Information Act, but letâs be clear: at MSHA, nothing regarding FOIAÂ has changed.
The same people are still in charge of FOIA, offering ridiculous redactions and refusing to divulge information which, previous to 2002, was openly shared with the public.  The latest redaction battle comes from Tony Oppegard, a minersâ rights advocate.  (See Oppegard's response to MSHA's FOIA denial.)  Oppegard has filed 135 cases on behalf of miners, but in his latest case, MSHA is denying Oppegard information…
sb admin | May 13, 2009by Rena Steinzor, cross-posted from CPR Blog
With his attractive family and a phalanx of top aides in tow, Professor Cass Sunstein had a cordial, 45-minute hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee yesterday. He was introduced by former student and current Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) who praised Sunstein as a teacher, mentor, and eclectic thinker, all qualities for which he is rightly known. Ironically, however, the remainder of the hearing could be summarized as efforts by the three Senators in attendanceâ Chairman Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), ranking…
sb admin | May 13, 2009by Pete Galvin
You never learn much from a "wired" confirmation hearing, and that was true yesterday at the hearing for Cass Sunstein to be director of OIRA. Only three Senators bothered to come (apart from his former student, now the Senator from Minnesota, who introduced him before leaving) and two short rounds of questions were designed to let him place on the record a few key statements to respond to interest groups. Â
He is, he assured them, not in favor of banning hunting; he thinks both OSHA and the Clean Air Act are constitutional; and his number one priority at OIRA is to follow…
sb admin | May 12, 2009Early Sunday morning (May 10), I read a news brief from WSAZ reporting that seven workers had been rescued from a flooded underground coal mine in Gilbert, WV, after being trapped for 32+ hours. As I combed the web for further details, I was struck by the news accounts and audio recordings noting that the trapped miners and their families had spoken numerous times by telephone during the ordeal, as if such conversations are ho-hum-routine during mine emergencies. Â
I was fascinated simply reading that the miners trapped under the earth had a means to communicate with the surface.…
sb admin | May 11, 2009One trait of a good reporter is providing facts---facts that may make us uncomfortable, but ultimately force us to ask "is this really true?"  That's what happened to me on Friday when I read the Charleston Gazette's Ken Ward's piece Solis plays fast and loose on MSHA budget, in which he accused the new Labor Secretary of spinning the data on mine safety enforcement spending---reminiscent of  Chao and Stickler. He wrote:
"...what should I make of the way Labor Secretary Hild Solis tried to spin the Obama administrationâs proposal to â when adjusted for inflation â pretty much…
sb admin | May 7, 2009During today's confirmation hearing for M. Patricia Smith as Solicitor of Labor, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) referred back to last week's Senate hearing on "Meaningful Roles for Victims and Their Families." The dialogue went as follows:Â
00:72:30
Senator Murray: "This committee has had a number of hearings about workplace accidents and the aftermath. One of the things that has become apparent is families of victims have very little say in OSHA and MSHA's compliance decsions, and I wanted to ask you if you believe that OSHA and Regional Solicitors should consult more closely with…
sb admin | May 6, 2009Over the next week, two Senate committees will hold confirmation hearings on senior Administration officials who could play key roles in worker health and safety policy. First, the Senate HELP Committee will meet tomorrow (May 7) to consider the nomination of M. Patricia Smith for Solicitor of Labor. I wrote previously about Ms. Smith's efforts as NY Commissioner of Labor to address the needs of vulnerable workers, including her creative and aggressive approaches to ensure that workers are paid their legally earned wages. I hope to hear Ms. Smith discuss how she will direct…
sb admin | April 3, 2009The Associated Press is reporting that last month MSHA inspectors found tremolite asbestos at a quarry owned by the Ash Grove Cement Company, part of its Kaiser plant in Jefferson County, Montana. The article quotes MSHA spokeswoman Amy Louviere saying that asbestos is present in the pit as âisolated occurrencesâ due to geologic intrusions in certain zones of the quarry.
Isolated occurrences?....of asbestos?
I pray this quote was taken out of context. Surely no one at MSHA would dare minimize the serious risk to workers' health from exposure to asbestos---even if the source of…
sciencepunk | March 30, 2009I keep thinking I should write more worthy articles, but then, I keep finding fantastic things that don't need 800 words of discussion getting in the way. This is one of the latter, and comes courtesy of George Kourounis, ballsy explorer and general badass.
Kourounis took a trip to Indonesia's Kawah Ijen volcano, where miners earn $10 a day for journeying into the depths of a volcano to retrieve sulphur. Here is the site of the world's largest lake of sulphuric acid:
Here is an aluminium can dissolving in the extreme acid (pH ~0.5!):
And here is Kourounis, going for a leisurely paddle…
sb admin | March 18, 2009University of California Berkeley's Health Research for Action is calling on OSHA to revise its occupational health standard on lead, which is now 30 years old. In a report entitled "Indecent Exposure: Lead Puts Workers and Families at Risk," the authors describe the adverse health effects of lead in workers with blood-lead levels of 5-10 ug/dL---a fraction of OSHA's medical removal trigger of 60 ug/dL. They note:
"...extensive research has shown that lead causes significant health problems in adults at much lower levels. Cumulative exposure to low to moderate levels of lead has been…
sb admin | March 4, 2009Or is it: what wouldn't we know without investigative journalist Andrew Schneider??? Would the town Libby, Montana mean anything? How about the words Zonolite, Diacetyl, or GRAS?  These terms and places are familiar because of Andy Schneider, the Pulitzer Prize (and other) award winning reporter, who's an integral part of our public health community. Schneider's worked recently for papers in Seattle, St. Louis, Baltimore and back to Seattle, but no matter where his feet land, stellar investigations follow.        Â
Right now, it appears that Schneider is staked out…
sb admin | February 24, 2009(Updated 3/2/09 below)
The U.S. economy is in the tank----the national unemployment rate for January was 7.6% and 46 States are facing serious budget shortfalls-----but these hard times are NO EXCUSE to roll-back worker safety protections.  Yet, that is exactly what some Kentucky lawmakers are proposing for workers employed at small underground coal mines.
Just two years ago, Kentucky adopted new rules requiring all underground coal mining operations to have at least two workers on-site (at least one underground) who are also trained as emergency medical technicians (EMTs). The…
sb admin | February 16, 2009When the U.S. Senate reconvenes on Tuesday, February 24th, I've learned that they will move ahead with a vote on the nomination of Hilda Solis to serve as 25th Secretary of Labor.  This confirmation vote will take place 35 days following President Obama's inauguration.  If Mrs. Solis can secure the confirmation of our Asst. Secretaries for MSHA and OSHA in her first 35 days, I for one will be satisfied.
sb admin | February 12, 2009Linda Reinstein is a mother and grandmother.  Linda Reinstein is an asbestos-disease widow. Her husband Alan Reinstein, 67, died on May 22, 2006 from mesothelioma. Like her husband, Linda Reinstein is a fighter, an organizer, an activist.  Following Alan Reinstein's mesothelioma diagnosis in 2003, they founded the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) which is now entering its sixth year. The organization strives to serve as the "voice of the victims."
Next month, the ADAO will host its 5th annual Asbestos Awareness Day conference (March 27-29, Manhattan Beach,…
sb admin | February 6, 2009We often link to Ken Ward Jr.âs excellent coverage of mining issues in the Charleston Gazette. He does a fantastic job exploring the many ways that decisions by mining companies and government bureaucrats affect the lives of mineworkers, their families, and mining communities. Celeste summed up our admiration for him a couple of months ago, writing:
Ken Ward amazes me with his tenacious attention to worker safety, his watchdog instincts, and his exceptional commitment to follow-up.
And now, we get even more of this great coal-mining coverage from Ken Wardâs new blog, Coal Tattoo. The blogâs…
sb admin | February 2, 2009I had high hopes that a new Secretary of Labor would hit the ground running on Jan. 20. I had visions of bright beams of light and positive energy radiating from the Department's Frances Perkins building, as an Obama crew under Labor Secretary Hilda Solis' leadership worked to restore DOL agencies' dedication to workers.  I was ready to start watching DOL's employees get back to their mission of ensuring that federal labor laws are enforced vigorously and enhanced appropriately to meet the conditions faced by workers today.Â
Instead, day after day, I read on the DOL website:
"A new…
sb admin | January 26, 2009Legal scholars with the Center for Progressive Reform issued today "The Choices Facing Cass Sunstein," an assessment of the writings of President Obama's nominee for the head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). The authors reviewed Prof. Sunstein's writing and report specifically on his staunch support for cost-benefit analysis and the "centralization of authority over regulatory decisionmaking in OIRA." They conclude:
"The Obama Administration has a unique opportunity to fix the [regulatory] system, by recognizing the failings of cost-benefit. But Cass Sunstein…
sb admin | January 23, 2009by Ellen SmithÂ
A supervisor was hurt in a roof fall December 10, 2008 at a six-employee anthracite mine that owes more than $100,000 in delinquent civil penalties, MSHA records showed. The foreman at S & M Coal Co.'s Buck Mountain Slope in Dauphin County, Pa., met loose roof while he was working alone in a heading, according to a preliminary report. Mining height in the operation is about 3-feet. He placed temporary roof jack about 5 feet 5 inches back from the face. At that point, however, a chunk of rock came down between him and the roof jack. The 5-inch thick…