Mines Fight Strict Laws by Filing More Appeals.

[elleng]

At a hearing in February, Representative George Miller, Democrat of California, complained that the growing number of appeals by coal companies threatened to “render the federal efforts to hold mine operators accountable meaningless.” Mining safety experts have expressed similar concerns.

One in four citations issued against coal mines are now appealed by operators — three times the appeal rate before the law, according to regulators. The result is a backlog of 18,000 pending appeals and $210 million in contested penalties.

The appeals “are also allowing miners, in some cases the worst operators, to escape liability for which they are in fact liable and continue to put miners in harm’s way,” Mr. Miller said at the hearing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/us/07company.html?hpw

[icnorth]

1. Appeal this...

[depakid]

2. With a responsible administration

one that wasn't either corrupt like the last one- or pathologically conflict averse like this one- accountability and therefore change might well happen.

[ChicagoSuz219]

3. There should be a new law, effective immediately...

No more fines. If an Inspector finds a problem, CLOSE DOWN THE MINE, until it's fixed. Period.

If someone sees a cockroach in a restaurant, they go ballistic & close it... seems to me this is at least that serious.

[Ian David]

4. Coal Mine CEO Blankenship's Revealing Tweets

Coal Mine CEO Blankenship's Revealing Tweets
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8103900