DeclinetoState
01-09-2006, 12:28 PM
Saith the :sheeple: (http://www.democraticunderground.com/top10/06/227.html):
In the wake of last week's mining tragedy in West Virginia, the White House has "promised a full investigation," according to (http://www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/feeds/ap/2006/01/04/ap2427491.html) Forbes.
Perhaps they can start by investigating why the Bush administration ignored mine safety warnings after Pennsylvania's big mining accident in 2002. David Sirota reported (http://www.workingforchange.com/blog/index.cfm?mode=entry&entry=977893D7-FE7D-6B92-8BBA0C149F0739A7) last week that George W. Bush "never responded to the fact sheet that House Democrats put out questioning why he had made so many cuts to mine safety programs."
The Bush administration later went on to propose $7 million in cuts to the Mine Safety and Health Administration. According to (http://www.thenation.com/blogs/capitalgames?bid=3&pid=90) The Nation, "The administration defended the 6-percent reduction by noting the number of coal mines has been decreasing. Yet coal mining fatalities have gone up for three years in a row."
Not only that, but a Knight Ridder investigation revealed (http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0107-06.htm) last week that "Since the Bush administration took office in 2001, it has been more lenient toward mining companies facing serious safety violations, issuing fewer and smaller major fines and collecting less than half of the money that violators owed."
Knight Ridder found that:
The number of major fines over $10,000 has dropped by nearly 10 percent since 2001. The dollar amount of those penalties, when adjusted for inflation, has plummeted 43 percent to a median of $27,584.
Less than half of the fines levied between 2001 and 2003 - about $3 million - have been paid.
The budget and staff for the enforcement office also have declined, forcing the agency to make do with about 100 fewer coal mine enforcement personnel.
In serious criminal cases, the number of guilty pleas and convictions fell 54.8 percent since 2001. In the first four years of the Bush administration, the federal government has averaged 3.5 criminal convictions a year; in the four years before that the average was 7.75 per year.So what does the White House think of all this?
"In fact this administration proposed a fourfold increase in fines and penalties for violations of the Mine Safety and Health Administration rules," Scott McClellan said last week.
But... that's the complete opposite of what everyone else has reported! Gee, now I don't know who to believe.
In the wake of last week's mining tragedy in West Virginia, the White House has "promised a full investigation," according to (http://www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/feeds/ap/2006/01/04/ap2427491.html) Forbes.
Perhaps they can start by investigating why the Bush administration ignored mine safety warnings after Pennsylvania's big mining accident in 2002. David Sirota reported (http://www.workingforchange.com/blog/index.cfm?mode=entry&entry=977893D7-FE7D-6B92-8BBA0C149F0739A7) last week that George W. Bush "never responded to the fact sheet that House Democrats put out questioning why he had made so many cuts to mine safety programs."
The Bush administration later went on to propose $7 million in cuts to the Mine Safety and Health Administration. According to (http://www.thenation.com/blogs/capitalgames?bid=3&pid=90) The Nation, "The administration defended the 6-percent reduction by noting the number of coal mines has been decreasing. Yet coal mining fatalities have gone up for three years in a row."
Not only that, but a Knight Ridder investigation revealed (http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0107-06.htm) last week that "Since the Bush administration took office in 2001, it has been more lenient toward mining companies facing serious safety violations, issuing fewer and smaller major fines and collecting less than half of the money that violators owed."
Knight Ridder found that:
The number of major fines over $10,000 has dropped by nearly 10 percent since 2001. The dollar amount of those penalties, when adjusted for inflation, has plummeted 43 percent to a median of $27,584.
Less than half of the fines levied between 2001 and 2003 - about $3 million - have been paid.
The budget and staff for the enforcement office also have declined, forcing the agency to make do with about 100 fewer coal mine enforcement personnel.
In serious criminal cases, the number of guilty pleas and convictions fell 54.8 percent since 2001. In the first four years of the Bush administration, the federal government has averaged 3.5 criminal convictions a year; in the four years before that the average was 7.75 per year.So what does the White House think of all this?
"In fact this administration proposed a fourfold increase in fines and penalties for violations of the Mine Safety and Health Administration rules," Scott McClellan said last week.
But... that's the complete opposite of what everyone else has reported! Gee, now I don't know who to believe.