Tony Oppegard
Tony Oppegard
cost deterrent factor high minimal operators pay
Most of the fines are not high enough to have a real deterrent effect. If the operators know they're not going to have to pay the fines, or that they will be minimal fines, they just factor that into the cost of doing business.
bet extent operator pay
If an operator is undercapitalized to the extent that he can't pay his fines, he shouldn't be in business. You can bet he's skimping on safety.
concerned mine operator sign troubling
Basically, if you see 73 accumulation violations, that's a sign of a mine operator who is not too concerned with safety. It's troubling if you see that many.
coal coming dog opening operators price quick trying
With the price of coal so high, you have operators coming out of the woodwork, trying to get into any seam of coal they can to make a quick buck, opening up a lot of little dog holes.
indicative operator safety
I would say that these are indicative of an operator who wasn't going to let safety get in the way of production.
good
I've been criticizing them for 20 years for doing it that way. It's not good government.
assessment coal far goes less mines minimum receive ton
Far too many mines receive the minimum assessment of $60, which is less than what a ton of coal goes for these days.
flag problems red safety unusual
That's very unusual and a red flag that there's some safety problems at that mine.
attached speaker telephone thin wire
What we have now is terrible. Just a thin telephone wire with a speaker phone attached to it.
act key protect
I can't over-emphasize how important pre-shift examinations are. It is a key provision put in the act to protect miners' safety.
alert attorney company criminal failure possible referred time
From the time that the company got its first unwarrantable failure, that put them on alert that those examinations weren't being conducted properly. Such unwarrantable failure is just intolerable, and that should be referred to the U.S. attorney for possible criminal prosecution.
financial means mining operate safe
To me, if you're under-capitalized and don't have the financial means to operate a safe mine, you shouldn't be in the mining business.
compliance encourage fine
There has to be enough of a fine to encourage compliance with the law.
black cheaper coal couple dust exceed expose fine lung mine miner pay tons
You can mine 4 tons of coal in a couple of minutes. It's cheaper to exceed the dust limits, expose a miner to black lung and pay the fine than it is to do the right thing.