Tony Oppegard
Tony Oppegard
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.
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.
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.
enviable safety
That is not a very enviable safety record.
affect conditions extremely low mine unsafe
That's extremely low and inappropriate. Most unsafe conditions in a mine would affect more than one person.
finite guys supply
They want guys who are 30 to 35 years old, and there is a finite supply of them.
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.
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.
good
I've been criticizing them for 20 years for doing it that way. It's not good government.
continuous guy machine miner operate worth
They see tomorrow, they don't see the future. They don't think they're getting their money's worth ... if a guy can't operate a continuous miner or a roof-bolting machine tomorrow.
bush certainly desire develop mining safety suffered ties
The Bush administration ushered in this desire to develop cooperative ties between regulators and the mining industry. Safety has certainly suffered as a result.
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.
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.
next step
It's the next enforcement step and it's never used.