Deep in the rugged hills of West Virginia, thousands of honest, hard working men and women begin their day by going deep into the coal mines to keep bread on the table. Keep in mind, these aren't blue collar workers riding a bus to the office. These folk typically work 50+ hours / week in a dirty, damp and dark hole in the ground.
Conditions are tough. Some mine shafts are work-on-your-knees high and obviously the mines are anything but safe. This mine accident happened just south of Buckhannon, West Virginia.
Upshur County is home to both coal mining and timbering industry. The West Virginia coal mines have been in decline over the past several years, but operations have picked-up since global energy market prices have soared (ie., gas prices).
Now everyone is interested in getting mining operations running again. This particular mine was bought up by NEW YORK billionaire Wilbur Ross after a Federal Judge agreed that Anker Mining was bankrupt and didn't have to pay benefits to miners... even though they had a signed contract!
So the mine was sold for a huge sum of $ and the West Virginians who ran the mine didn't get anything...
Fast Forward to January 2nd, 2006. Another conglomerate sends our boys into the same mine for less money than they were making, without making it safe. First reports have already blamed lightning, I'm sure if I were speaking for the company, I would be quick to blame mother nature... because... wouldn't that sort of get the Company off the hook? Financially speaking, of course. We know they have a pretty good inspection record, only 46 violations in December, 2005.
One thing I am sure of, International Coal Group has it's finest lawyers working on the paperwork as I type. Lot's of phone calls being made to politicians, promises of more money. Plenty of grease flowing today.
Don't get me wrong, I think International Coal Group does care about the miners. They definitely want them out alive because it will be much harder to distort the records and avoid hefty fines if those poor folk perish.
See, here's the thing. All big companies work the same, hire as few employees as possible (in this case - at safety's sake) to take as much money as possible out of these poor hills and send it to the RICH FOLK. When the economy turns south, declare bankruptcy and leave the state as quickly as they came, oh, yea... No benefits for the worker.
Sadly, it is our own fault. We elect those people who are supposed to protect us. It's a rough cycle. Big business pays for politicians advertisments, which we West Virginians accept for truth and when it comes time for, we the people, We end up just looking at each other and muttering.