What on earth is happening?

Today, two more miners were killed in separate mine accidents. (CNN) (Charleston Gazette)

One accident was in an underground mine and occurred when a wall collapsed (Long Branch Energy’s No. 18 Tunnel Mine in Boone County). The second accident was at a surface mine, and occurred when a bulldozer struck and ignited a gas line (Black Castle Surface Mine in Boone County).

This makes sixteen deaths in West Virginia since the start of the year. Last year there were 22 coal mine accident deaths in the entire nation for the entire year.

The Black Castle in Boone is run by Elk Run Coal Co, which is a Massey subsidiary. The Alma mine is also a Massey mine.

On the 26th, ICG was forced by a federal judge to allow UMWA representatives to accompany federal mine inspectors into the mine to help with the investigation. (Their response was, unsurprisingly, a nasty little piece of work that should have been beneath them. But then blocking the UMWA from assisting in the inspection should also have been beneath them.)

Earlier, Governor Manchin has called for every mine in the state to conduct detailed safety reviews and inspections. I will be very curious to see how mine operators like ICG and Massey respond to this. (Cecil E. Roberts has also put out a same call in support of Governor Manchin.)

My personal hope is that these disasters allow the UMWA to regain a place in all underground mines, because it seems as if mine operators in non-union mines are not paying as much attention to safety issues as they should.

(Again, I highly recomend WVPR’s recent reporting on mine safety.)

ADDENDUM the First:
Here’s more from the NY Times and the Washington Post as well as Ken Ward’s article in the Charleson Gazette.

(Previous content was edited for accuracy)