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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Are we gonna need a new name for Glacier National Park?; The Great Barrier Reef, endangered by shipping shortcuts … PLUS: The history of safety violations in America’s mines, and accountability for the mining industry’s most powerful men, like Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!
Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.
IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’: Most TX natural gas facilities release toxic pollution; U.S. Wind Industry Bullish on Offshore Potential; Who’s in charge with geoengineering?; Flawed ballot proposition threatens CA’s global warming law; Leaked: Obama’s hardline US climate talk strategy; Judge awards damages in toxic Chinese drywall lawsuit … PLUS: You Want Chicken Poop With That Steak? Why FDA Should Ban Feces From Feed …
Info/links on those stories and all the ones we talked about on today’s episode follow below…
- Investigations Begin in Massey Mine Accident; Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship, Mine Safety Under Scrutiny:
- Tuesday morning update: All bodies recovered (Coal Tattoo)
- Appeals kept Montcoal mine operating (Charlotte Gazette)
- OP-ED: Obstruction: Mine safety hindered while coal firms fought to keep mines unsafe:
What caused last week’s Massey Energy coal tragedy, West Virginia’s worst disaster since 1968?
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Massey avoided closure of the profitable mine by snarling the U.S. bureaucracy with endless legal appeals. Lifesaving enforcement apparently was obstructed.
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But various coal firms used their high-priced corporate lawyers to dispute two-thirds of new fines. Massey exceeded the industry average by appealing three-fourths of them. Thus many safety actions were stalled. - How Do We Hold a Corporation Responsible?, Ellen Smith, Managing Editor, Mine Safety and Health News (Huffington Post Green)
- MSHA’s Joe Main urged to scrap ‘pattern of violations’ rule; mine safety lawyers say operators escaping tougher enforcement Congress intended (Coal Tattoo)
- What kind of investigation will the Obama administration Department of Labor conduct into the Massey Mine Disaster? (Coal Tattoo)
- “There’s No Question That Union Mines Are Safer” (The Nation)
- Will W.Va. delegation demand an open investigation? (Coal Tattoo)
- Pressure Mounts on Massey to Oust Blankenship (Mother Jones)
- Other Massey Mines Showed A Pattern Of Violations (NPR)
- U.S. Attorney: ‘Ready, willing and able’ to prosecute (Coal Tattoo)
- Sunlight Foundation calls for open mine probe (Coal Tattoo)
- Massey’s Blankenship Fought Regulators, Town, Maid (Bloomberg)
- NY Comptroller: Blankenship Should Resign As Massey Chair (Room 8 NY Politics)
- Don Blankenship Called Safety Regulators ‘As Silly As Global Warming’ (Think Progress):
We also endure a Mine Safety and Health Administration that seeks power over coal miners versus improving their safety and their health. As someone who has overseen the mining of more coal than anyone else in the history of central Appalachia, I know that the safety and health of coal miners is my most important job. I don’t need Washington politicians to tell me that, and neither do you.
But I also know “” I also know Washington and state politicians have no idea how to improve miner safety. The very idea that they care more about coal miner safety than we do is as silly as global warming.
- Massey coal miner suspected safety problems might prove fatal (Grist)
- Investors and Politicians Call For Coal Giant Don Blankenship from Massey Energy to Resign (Huffington Post Green)
- “Coal Has Not Been Good for West Virginia.” (Blue Virginia)
- Don Blankenship: One of the 14 Most Heinous Climate Villains: Some of the bastards responsible for subverting public understanding of climate change: (The Buffalo Beast)
- Oil Spill Disaster Averted on Great Barrier Reef:
- Coal carrier finally in safe waters after ‘complex’ operation (Sydney Morning Herald)
- Ship’s hull paint killing coral (Sydney Morning Herald)
- Ship gouged 3km channel in reef (Sydney Morning Herald)
- Australia to prosecute over Barrier Reef ship crash: Those responsible for a Chinese ship running aground on the Great Barrier Reef and leaking oil will be prosecuted, Australian authorities say. (BBC)
- China ship ‘seriously damaged’ Great Barrier Reef (BBC)
- Ship tugged off the Barrier Reef leaves 20-year legacy (Earth Times)
- New Name Needed for Glacier National Park? Accelerated Glacier Melt the World Over
- Two more glaciers gone from Glacier National Park (USA Today)
- Climate Change Continues To Melt Glacier National Park’s Icons (National Parks Traveler)
- Austrian glaciers melting due to warm weather (AP)
- Almost all Austrian glaciers shrank in 2009: report (AFP)
- Bye-bye, global cooling myth: Hottest March and hottest Jan-Feb-March on record (Climate Progress)
‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’: More green news not covered in today’s audio report…
- Most Barnett Shale facilities release emissions (Dallas Morning News)
- U.S. Wind Industry Bullish on Offshore Potential, but Breakthrough Needed (SolveClimate)
- Who’s In Charge Of Geoengineering?: What if one country decides to go rogue and do a little geoengineering on its own? (The New Republic)
- OP-ED: A flawed cost/benefit study of a greener California: The Varshney/Tootelian analysis, often cited by foes of AB 32, overestimates the law’s costs by a factor of 10. It also excludes the value of energy savings and neglects the effects of innovation. (LA Times)
- Confidential document reveals Obama’s hardline US climate talk strategy: Document outlines key messages the Obama administration wants to convey in the run-up to UN climate talks in Mexico in November (Guardian UK)
- Judge awards families $2.6M over Chinese drywall (AP)
- You Want Chicken Poop With That Steak? Why FDA Should Ban Feces From Feed (Huffington Post Green)
I don’t want to seem over-technical, but I think VR should be pushing to have Blankenship tried for “voluntary manslaughter” which is more accurate than “murder” since it could readily be argued that Blankenship did not “intend” to kill the miners; that he demonstrated, instead a callous disregard for their safety.
Hear, here Ernie! Ya know living soooo close in PA…I haven’t been able to comment fully yet. I did put candles in the windows…