MSHA’s Negligent Kiss of Death
Each time the Labor Department’s Inspector General issues a report exposing the agency’s wrongdoings, Elaine’s legacy keeps getting worse.
So in light of recent news reporting MSHA’s negligence in preventing the Crandall Canyon Mine disaster that killed nine people, one question remains - how will Elaine Chao be held accountable?
According to the Inspector General’s report:
MSHA was negligent in carrying out its responsibility to protect the safety of miners. […]
MSHA’s actions and inactions, taken as a whole, lead us to conclude that [the administration] lacked care and attention in fulfilling its responsibilities to protect miners.
This report flat out says Elaine’s MSHA failed in its sole responsibility: protecting miners. What this report shows is the complete failure of Elaine Chao as Secretary of Labor to hold her agency to even the most minimal standards of safety.
In referencing the retreat mining technique, approved by MSHA despite safety concerns, the report concludes:
MSHA could not show how it analyzed roof control plans, the criteria it measured he plans against, the rationale for approving the plans, that the plans were properly implemented or that the plans continued to protect miners over time. These deficiencies evidence the agency’s serious and systematic lack of diligence in protecting miners, and we do not believe it is misleading to use the term “negligent.”
Now that an independent investigation has been completed, it’s no surprise why Elaine and her deputies tried covering up their own investigation of the events leading up to the mine collapse.
We wonder how other professionals would be judged when their own agency accuses them of negligence resulting in the deaths of nine people.
