This news doesn't require a lot of embellishment, so I'll resist the temptation. But, I believe it's important enough to discuss, so here it is.
For my part, I'm not sure what disgusts me more, the unaddressed safety concerns that pointed directly to the disaster and the subsequent deaths of those men, or the paltry penalties paid by the owners for dangerous violations of basic safety.
The USA Today story is on the jump.
Records list blast dangers at mine
By Thomas Frank, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON -- Just three weeks before an explosion in a West Virginia mine led to 12 deaths, the mine owner was cited for "combustible conditions" that showed "a high degree of negligence for the health and safety of the miners," according to inspection reports released Tuesday.
The Sago Mine was cited 16 times in the last year for unsafe conditions that could have caused fires or explosions, documents from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration show. In most of those cases, coal dust and other flammable material had begun caking on the mine floor and walls.
MSHA released inspection records in response to several public information requests since the Jan. 2 accident. The agency has sought $1,221 in fines for the violations, $981 of which has been paid, according to MSHA records.
Charles Snavely, a vice president at the mine's owner, International Coal Group, said in a statement that most citations "are due to spilled coal in the mine." Snavely said the company had challenged some of the citations.