LA Weekly

It's predictable that the media will jump on today's tragic news from the Sago mine in West Virginia as the sign of some sort of trend, but in this case it may be true. In the summer of 2004, the Society of Environmental Journalists issued a "tip sheet" featuring Ellen Smith, publisher of Mine Safety and Health News, who wrote in a July 5, 2004 editorial that the Mine Safety and Health Administration, the division of the U.S. Department of Labor that monitors and regulates mine safety, had suddenly stopped releasing essential information, such as the biographies of new appointees to the agencies and inspector's reports from the field. "I keep asking myself, 'Is this America?" Smith wrote. "How can this administration adopt policies that go against democratic traditions? How can MSHA secretly adopt policies that go against 27 years of openness? And how can this administration openly violate a law whose intent and purpose is to make records available to the public?'"

A 26-year history of federal criminal proceedings against mining companies is available at The Memory Hole. Violations include accumulations of coal dust and inadequate ventilation, along with other problems that may or may not have contributed to the deaths of the 12 workers at Sago. The MSHA promises a complete investigation by an independent team, but you have to wonder how much of the truth will make it out.

Thanks to Paul Thacker of Environmental Science and Technology for the links.

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