Monday, July 4, 2011

Celebrating AmeriKa: Mines By the Book

"Mine found to fake safety logs before blast" by Associated Press / June 30, 2011

BEAVER, W.Va. — The owner of the West Virginia coal mine where an explosion killed 29 men last year kept two sets of books on safety conditions — an accurate one for itself and a sanitized one for the government, federal regulators said yesterday.

Managers at Massey Energy pressured workers at the Upper Big Branch mine to omit safety problems from the official set of reports, said Mine Safety and Health Administration official Kevin Stricklin. Workers told investigators that the company wanted to avoid scrutiny from inspectors and keep coal production running smoothly....

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