{"id":2537,"date":"2011-12-31T12:31:51","date_gmt":"2011-12-31T18:31:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/?p=2537"},"modified":"2012-01-02T16:20:34","modified_gmt":"2012-01-02T22:20:34","slug":"big-coals-bidding-new-york-times-editorial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/?p=2537","title":{"rendered":"Big Coal&#8217;s Bidding-New York Times Editorial"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>December 31, 2011-<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2011\/12\/31\/opinion\/big-coals-bidding.html?nl=todaysheadlines&amp;emc=tha211\">New York Times Editorial<\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2541\" style=\"width: 514px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Larger-than-life-BW-PosterBW1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2541\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2541\" title=\"Larger than life BW PosterBW\" src=\"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Larger-than-life-BW-PosterBW1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"504\" height=\"245\" srcset=\"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Larger-than-life-BW-PosterBW1.jpg 504w, http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Larger-than-life-BW-PosterBW1-300x145.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 504px) 100vw, 504px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-2541\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This shovel removes 175 cubic yards of earth with each scoop. Notice the minuscule size of the man walking toward it. Photo \u00a9 1999 John Blair<\/p><\/div>\n<p>It is a national disgrace that the strongest supporters of tougher mine safety concede that it will likely take another disaster before lawmakers will be willing to buck Big Coal and pass desperately needed safety legislation. \u201cThis is out of mind until another explosion takes place,\u201d Representative George Miller, a California Democrat and sponsor of reform\u00a0<a title=\"Summary of the bill.\" href=\"http:\/\/georgemiller.house.gov\/legislation\/sponsored-legislation.shtml\">legislation<\/a>, grimly predicted.<\/p>\n<p>Republicans in both houses have led the way in stymieing worthy bills that address the many dangers and regulatory failings laid bare in the Upper Big Branch explosion that killed 29 miners in April 2010. Chief among them is the need for stronger fines for operators that violate safety rules or block safety monitoring \u2014 and a clear path for federal regulators to close the mines of serial offenders. Investigators need subpoena power. And whistle-blowers need protections against company intimidation.<\/p>\n<p>These factors were cited in the West Virginia disaster in which federal investigators<a title=\"Summary of federal report (PDF).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.msha.gov\/Fatals\/2010\/UBB\/ExecutiveSummary.pdf\">concluded<\/a>\u00a0that the mine owner at the time, Massey Energy, was \u201csystematic, intentional and aggressive\u201d in putting miners\u2019 lives at risk in a \u201cworkplace culture that valued productivity over safety.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Two other inquiries offered a similar conclusion. Democrats, beginning with President Obama, need to do more to drive this issue before the public. Right now, the Miller bill and a similar\u00a0<a title=\"Summary of Senate bill.\" href=\"http:\/\/rockefeller.senate.gov\/public\/index.cfm\/sponsored-legislation\">measure<\/a>\u00a0from Senator John Rockefeller IV, a Democrat of West Virginia, are moribund in the face of industry and Republican gamesmanship.<\/p>\n<p>Lawmakers worried about the next election have no excuse for ducking their responsibility to protect American lives. Voters, everywhere, should make them pay.<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>December 31, 2011-New York Times Editorial It is a national disgrace that the strongest supporters of tougher mine safety concede that it will likely take another disaster before lawmakers will be willing to buck Big Coal and pass desperately needed &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/?p=2537\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2537"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2545,"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2537\/revisions\/2545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}