Elaine Has Friends in Low, Low Places
The U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Labor, Education and Pensions, chaired by Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA), recently issued a report calling for the prosecution of Robert Murray, co-owner of the Crandall Canyon Mine in Utah where 9 people died in 2006 and one of Mitch McConnell’s political contributors.
You remember Murray - one of Mitch McConnell’s “five finest men in America.” Murray has a history of bullying MSHA so he can get his way. As the Salt Lake Tribune reported:
Most egregiously, the report alleged, Murray Energy was mining into what little was left of the south barrier pillar after being told directly by an MSHA inspector not to cut that coal. The company also violated its mining plan by taking several feet of coal out of the mine’s floor, elongating the pillars and making them extra vulnerable to failure.
Another article by the same newspaper noted that the warning signs were written all over the walls, but ignored by both Murray and MSHA:
“MSHA missed significant flaws in [the company’s engineering] analysis, dismissed critical findings by MSHA’s own engineer and did not submit the plans - which proposed one of the most hazardous mining operations ever intended - for review by MSHA’s expert technical staff,” stated the report by the committee, chaired by Sen. Edward Kennedy. The report adds ammunition for critics who have long said the agency is too cozy with the industry it regulates and has compromised worker safety.
This is what happens when powerful political contributors like Murray have a friend like Elaine who is responsible for the safety of workers throughout our country. Her agency bucked under pressure, neglecting to do its job. As a result, children lost a father, parents lost a son, and wives lost a spouse, all so Murray could try to make a big profit.
This is what happens when big business gets its way in Washington and this is why Robert Murray, Elaine Chao and others must be held accountable.
