Don Blankenship Speech and Aftermath

In an incredible display of arrogance in July, Blankenship talked about America's $13 trillion debt and how Americans are losing their jobs. He said business always looks for low-cost labor and Americans need low-cost electricity. "Green jobs" have trumped "American jobs". I watched one of my friends, along with two others from the Rainforest Action Network, hold signs saying "Massey Coal - Not Clean, Safe, or Forever," when someone asked Blankenship a question about mountaintop removal coal mining.

Since this speech at the National Press Club, Blankenship has even tried buying off the families of the victims of the Upper Big Branch Disaster, reaching settlements with four of them, possibly between $3-5 million each.(http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/4437998)

I find these settlements to be laughably low. They likely included provisions that these families could no longer pursue any additional litigation, including criminal indictments of executives, against Massey. It is now seven months since the Upper Big Branch explosion took the lives of 29 miners. But, the one slightly positive thing is that the people of West Virginia did not buy into Tea Party type candidate John Raese for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the death of Robert Byrd. Based on his history as an executive, Raese likely would have loosened mine safety regulations if elected. The winner of the election, Joe Manchin, certainly got some votes because he will likely push for tougher mine safety laws. Manchin's problem is that he still supports mountaintop removal coal mining.

Don Blankenship Speech at National Press Club

Don Blankenship, guilty of running his mines in an unsafe manner to maximize profits, is speaking today to members of the National Press Club. On April 5th, 29 of his miners died in an explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine near Montcoal, WV. There will be numerous environmental activists attending this luncheon. There have been 52 mining deaths over the past 10 years. This is all in addition to the damage caused by mountaintop removal coal mining. If I were in attendance, would ask him these questions:

1) Do you understand how many lives you have endangered by subjecting your miners to unsafe, deadly working conditions?

2) Do you understand that the 29 lives lost on April 5th meant dozens more lives wrecked?

3) Do you understand that thousands of people in Appalachia have dirty drinking water, due to the explosives used by your company to flatten mountains?