Greed Murders West Virginia Coal Miners - The Untold Story

Please note the EPA's efforts to control emissions are consistently referred to in the above article as a "power grab".... well at least there is some honesty in that, notwithstanding the authors are clueless about what they are really saying, and that is simply that this is not about jobs, or safety, humanity or the environment. It is business as usual, and all about power.

What about mining equipment . Like the ones used to bore tunnels. Why can't these companies use stuff like that where the workers wont have to work by hand...just push computer keys all day...But then that'll mean less work / or out of work miners...I know the mining companies can afford it.....If anything supply the workers with masks that have a filtering system on it...like a gas mask...

All of those things are possibilities, of course, but possibilities that would cut into the profit margin of those reaping the benefits coming from the labor of coal miners.

The horrible thing about West Virginia (and the geography of the land is breath-taking beautiful) is that their economy has intentionally been controlled, and the people have intentionally been kept in a position where they are willing to risk their lives because there are no other jobs, and if you travel through the state at all, and I have been doing that for at least 20 years, you realize very quickly that there is no good explanation for why this state remains so under developed and cut off from commerce. If you read that profile on Rockefeller, one of the things you might have noticed is that his noteworthy contributions to higher education went to a private college, not the sort of place the ordinary citizen in West Virginia is going to be able to attend. Their public institutions of higher education are not competitive with those of even their nearest neighbors, and again, there is no good reason for that.

The economic and educational divide in West Virginia is blatant, and if you look at it long enough you understand why....it allows the coal companies continued access to expendable human labor, and this is a situation that has INTENTIONALLY been created by politicians like Jay Rockefeller for decades and decades, but not even the citizens of West Virginia recognize who is really responsible for the misery in their lives, and too many of them actually believe his rhetoric of reform and rescue that is nothing more than double-speak. It is sad and sinister, at the same time.

Stockholm Syndrome

It's a double edged sword. With Wal-Mart being the largest employer in the state, unfortunately these mining jobs are one of the only ways a high school educated WVinian can support a family.

I agree, in my blog post I re-told the story of what it may have been like to be one of those miners. I made sure to mention the reality of the work there. A lot of the miners have it in their blood, and heritage to do that job.

Imagine coming from a long line of Soldiers, all of whom have made incredible sacrifices for their country. Would the likelihood of you joining the military increase? Absolutely it would. Its a point of pride, and there is no shame in being proud of doing a hard job to earn an honest wage.

I think we forget how good it is to have electricity. To me, the solution to this whole scandal is to re-employ these miners to work jobs on wind turbines, solar, and other forms of alternative energies. We need to diminish our dependence on coal mining, while at the same time, create jobs for these families.

Great post Tim.

I agree on the alternative energy part. WV has one of the oldest median populations in the country. If young people want to make a decent living, they leave the state. It is the ones who do not have the choice of mobility that end up following in the footsteps of their mining families. Maybe it's pride, maybe it's lack of alternatives. When Morgan Spurlock had his show 30 days, he lived with a WV family and worked in the mine. It was very eye-opening.

and that sam, is by design.

West Virginia at one time did not have the highway infrastructure to support new industry, but it does now, and largely because that highway infrastructure was built to support the coal industry. Don't get me wrong, the coal moves largely by rail, but everything else related to mining moves by highway, and a cursory examination of the highways in West Virginia will reveal a lot about whose interests are being supported and promoted. It is not the interests of the working people of West Virginia that infrastructure supports there, many of the citizens live in towns decaying around them, with falling down buildings on every other corner, and even worse roads, but the roads serving the coal industry are kept in good working order to ensure the expansion and perpetuation of the coal industry, and for that, their politicians are responsible. West Virginia's dependence on coal is one of the most striking examples of Stockholm Syndrome in the United States.

Absolutely . There is no need for people to die , except for the greed factor .

How about murderer ?

Not obscene enough, but a start

Someone or plural needs to go to jail for this outrageous action.

No doubt about that my friend, a cold heartless a-hole to the core!

This asshole needs to be tarred, feathered and set on fire. Notwithstanding, he IS the fall guy for the real players in this game, but just too stupid to recognize that fact. If you have really been watching, you have to understand that the double set of books was more than likely a pre-arranged agreement between more powerful people than Blankenship and the "government representative" who failed to figure out he was being force fed cooked books.

Nice shot at worst person Keith, but you missed the real worst person. But then, who takes aim at a Rockefeller and lives to tell the tale?

Just for starters.