Seismologist made first call to 911 after mine collapse

[Maddy McCall]

HUNTINGTON, Utah - A seismologist who detected ground tremors was the first to notify authorities of the cave-in that trapped six miners, even before mine officials called for an ambulance, according to 911 recordings.

University of Utah seismologist Walter Arabasz made his call about a potential problem at the Crandall Canyon mine early on Aug. 6, four minutes before mine officials made their call.

The 911 tapes obtained Monday by The Associated Press showed that from the earliest moments scientists suspected the shaking came from a mine collapse, not a natural earthquake, as mine co-owner Bob Murray has maintained throughout the ordeal that has entered its fourth week.

"Just from the general character of the seismic event, it looks like it might be a coal-mining event," Arabasz said on the tapes.

MORE: http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/08/27/ap4058119.html

[Richard Steele]

1. K&R

[rzemanfl]

2. K&R. n/t

[Bluebear]

3. K/R Murray: "That mountain is EVIL!"

[Maddy McCall]

4. Yet he wishes to continue mining it.

As I've said a dozen times through the past three weeks, I REALLY LOATHE THIS MAN.

Evil bastard, he is.

[Shakespeare]

6. Maddy, did you see the NYT's piece on him this past Friday?

Absolutely damning, and that was WITHOUT including the anecdote about the letter in the paychecks in 2000 (Gore v. Bush).

What a disgusting excuse for a human being.

[Maddy McCall]

8. No...can you link me up?

Thanks in advance, if you can! :hi:

[Shakespeare]

12. Here ya go...

The may as well have given it a headline that said "hey, check out this scumbag!"

Very revealing profile.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/24/us/24murray.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[Maddy McCall]

15. Just finished reading it.

How in hell is this guy still in business?

Jesus, you or I'd go to jail for not paying traffic tickets. This guy accumulates HUNDREDS of mine citations in this calendar year, and he's still out walking around??

:grr: :grr: :nuke: :grr: :grr:

[Shakespeare]

17. He's Cheney's buddy.

That = free pass to get away with anything up to and (now) including murder.

[liberalnurse]

5. Sweet !

That greedy bastard has been caught in his scheme to excape liability .

[Fridays Child]

7. It'll probably never be provable, which is why Murray will stick to the time-honored...

...strategy of telling the lie so often that it eventually becomes the truth.

[blondeatlast]

9. To the Greatest with this. This is as damning as anything I've seen. WOW.

Excellent find and on its way to everyone I can think of.

[blondeatlast]

10. I never paid much attention to candidates for our state mine inspector.

Shame on me; I will now.

[malaise]

11. And Murray the mine swine

started lying on camera minutes after this call.

[rucky]

13. How do Scientologists know these things?

I know the cover of Dianetics has a volcano on the cover.

another clue to the mysteries of Scientology.

[druidity33]

24. really?

i didn't know Scientologists were Diabetic. Genetics? Alien DNA?

:shrug:

[blondeatlast]

14. Is Mine Inspector an elected office in every state? It is in AZ.

As I say above, I';ve never paid much attention to the office but I sure as hell am going to now. Maybe it's time we look into who each of the states have in charge of this.

[Maddy McCall]

16. I don't know...

I don't think that we have anything like that here. If we do, it's probably appointed by the gov.

[blondeatlast]

18. I'm curious enough about it to start a separate thread. I really am ashamed--

since it didn't involve me, I never thought it was a big deal. But there's always a serious campaign for it here with enough dollars being spent that it's worth knowing where those dollars are coming from.

[Maddy McCall]

19. Please do!

I'm heading out now for dinner, so please PM me the link after you start the thread.

:hi:

[blondeatlast]

23. Looks like you found it--thanks for the kick! nt

[spanone]

20. We will find out where the evil lies....

[sandnsea]

21. The machine measures pre-quake activity

Scientists know the difference. It's provable by looking at the measurements from the various equipment, there is pre-quake activity which would measure differently than a cave-in. The scientist knew what he saw when he saw it, that's why he called 911. There's no more controversy on this than there is on evolution.

[fed-up]

22. Murray got a $15K fine for a miner's death-loss of limb/blood-not adequate 1st aid-nt

from the NY Times story

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/24/us/24murray.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Mr. Murray has said that none of his miners have ever died in an accident, but federal mine records show otherwise. In April 2001, Thomas M. Ciszewski, a 45-year-old foreman, bled to death in the Powhatan No. 6 mine in Alledonia, Ohio, owned and operated by Mr. Murray’s Ohio Valley Coal Company.

Federal investigators determined that Mr. Ciszewski, a 22-year mining veteran, was on a routine job when a conveyer belt cut off his arm, and was “bleeding profusely from the loss of the limb.” He died, in part, because there was not adequate first aid.

The company was fined a total of $15,000.

..snip
A self-made coal baron, Mr. Murray, owns 19 mines in five states, several with safety records far worse that that of Crandall Canyon, which has 33 health and safety violations this year. For instance, his Galatia mine, in Illinois, has accumulated more than 850 federal health and safety violations in 2007, in addition to about $1.46 million in fines.

Murray Energy mines produce more than 30 million tons of coal annually, generating annual sales of at least $800 million and fostering accusations from some miners and their families that Mr. Murray cares more about growing his bottom line than he does about making his mines safer for his workers.
..snip

[electron_blue]

25. excellent move on the seismologist's part.

what took the mine so long to make the call?