NY Times reports:
HOLMES MILL, Ky. (AP) -- An explosion in an eastern Kentucky coal mine killed five miners while one other miner was able to get out alive, Gov. Ernie Fletcher said Saturday.
The blast at the Darby Mine No. 1 in Harlan County occurred between midnight and 1 a.m. EDT while a maintenance shift was on duty, said Amy Louviere, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration.
Once again, the under-funding of [MSHA
http://www.msha.gov/ ] is felt locally. This is an issue that needs to be explored in the local campaigns.
This was a crew late at night in the mine- imagine what would have happened if this were at the beginning of the work shift.
Hal Rogers (R) has been representing district 5 in Kentucky since 1980- swept in with Ronald Reagan.
On January 11, 2006, Rogers announced that he would donate $32,000 of the $33,000 he received from Republican Lobbyist Jack Abramoff to a charity. The charity he chose was the UNITE Foundation, which Rogers himself helped organize.
Too bad. Maybe he now should use the UNITE Foundation to pay his Republican Blood Money donation to the memorial fund for these miners. That is what Republican Shelly Moore Capito did. She donated her $45,000 from Tom Delay to the Sago miners fund after voting against MSHA funding increases for four consecutive years.
Rogers (aka the Prince of Pork) has been funneling money into companies to make Homeland Security badges too- He was featured in the NY Times story this past Sunday
Rogers is so busy trying to keep the transportation people nice and safe because he takes frequent business trips to Hawaii. I guess the likelihood of dying in a coal mine explosion in Kentucky is greater.
Kenneth Stepp is the Democratic Party candidate for the fifth district. Hopefully he would represent his constituents by advocating for fully funding MSHA.