In a lawsuit filed in federal court this morning, Robert E. Murray makes clear that in his entire career, nothing has been as stressful as dealing with the attacks on his ownership like the jokes & puns by John Oliver.
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“Nothing has ever stressed him more than this vicious and untruthful attack,” it says, adding that Oliver’s segment was an attempt to advance “biases against the coal industry” and “disdain for the coal-related policies of the Trump Administration.”
This may be troubling news to employees of Murray’s coal enterprise, who find their struggles aren’t nearly as stressful as the jokes of a media personality.
www.nytimes.com/...
Six men were trapped inside the mine. Three more died 10 days later in the collapse of a rescue tunnel.
It is not the first time that Mr. Murray, 67, has taken a position far afield of the experts. Although most other industry executives have recognized the threat of climate change and the need for energy conservation, he has been among the few to question the concept of global warming and to openly criticize environmental regulations.
Maybe there is something to be said for Murray’s sudden and harmful stress after hearing John Oliver discuss his work. It could be supposed his work rarely offered him a reason to be stressed.
www.nytimes.com/...
Mr. Murray has said that none of his miners have ever died in an accident, but federal mine records show otherwise. In April 2001, Thomas M. Ciszewski, a 45-year-old foreman, bled to death in the Powhatan No. 6 mine in Alledonia, Ohio, owned and operated by Mr. Murray’s Ohio Valley Coal Company.
Federal investigators determined that Mr. Ciszewski, a 22-year mining veteran, was on a routine job when a conveyer belt cut off his arm, and was “bleeding profusely from the loss of the limb.” He died, in part, because there was not adequate first aid.
The company was fined a total of $15,000.
A self-made coal baron, Mr. Murray, owns 19 mines in five states, several with safety records far worse that that of Crandall Canyon, which has 33 health and safety violations this year. For instance, his Galatia mine, in Illinois, has accumulated more than 850 federal health and safety violations in 2007, in addition to about $1.46 million in fines.
Well, I guess death isn’t as stressful the fines are fairly small it seems.
More stressful than the death of employees? You decide.