Don Blankenship: It's 'Very Difficult' To Obey 'Nonsensical' Safety Rules

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/04/08/don-blankenship-in-2009-its-very-difficul... 6/23/09: Killer coal baron Don Blankenship, CEO of AT Massey Energy, complains that it is "very difficult" to obey "nonsensical" safety rules, but says that his company has had "very good success on the safety and the environment." On April 5, 2010, twenty-five miners died in an explosion at one of his mines, which had racked up thousands of safety violations, including dozens of major violations in the last year. At the time of the disaster Massey was contesting two-thirds of the violations.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Massey
• Don Blankenship
• Coal
• Safety
• Performance Coal
• Upper Big Branch Mine
• Montcoal
• disaster
• labor
• environment
• news
• politics

[pasnell]

Politicians get emotional.... My God. This man has failed his workers. I saw the e-mail with his "d.b." initials.... saying that safety doesn't produce coal.

It is time that the American People stand up for these men who just want to make a living. Blankenship is treating them like blacks after the civil war. "If you don't do it, I can get someone else to do it."

Why can't America grow from those days of "cheap labor" and treat people like HUMAN BEINGS??

[Rexcetera]

The man is a murderer. And a very rich one.

[TheEloquentAndrew]

It's videos like these that make me thankful for the idea of "meeting your maker" and "vengeance is mine saith the Lord."

[1canyonguy]

It sickens me hiding behind our flag

Time to get out the tar,rail and feathers

[sheepburn]

They're hard laws to comply with when you're turning enormous profits like he did. Blankenship took 17.8 million last year; the whole company paid out only 375k for each worker killed. He thinks he's worth far more than 29 lives? That's disgusting. The problem is most CEOs are doing this type of stuff; it's time for business school to start teaching these people macroeconomics and REAL ethics, instead of just teaching people dollar signs and bottom lines.

[jer4703]

FINE HIM, SUE HIM AND HANG HIM.

[carlgt1]

he's a rich murderer - just like Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, and the rest of the bums....

[bapyou]

@pasnell "Why can't America grow from those days of "cheap labor" and treat people like HUMAN BEINGS?"

Thank Ronald Reagan who began the weakening of unions in America. The post-WW2 boom in the economy coincides with the period of highest union membership in the U.S. Since Reagan there's been a concerted and sustained propaganda effort by the right-wing to discredit and weaken unions, to the point where people who would benefit most from unions speak out AGAINST them.

[wvprogressive1933]

This is what evil looks like.

[sentstuff05]

AAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH. PRISON, motherfucker.

Imagine getting emotional over senseless deaths? How could we?

[vivascargill]

we cannot let this go!! we have to get out in the streets!! at least this bastard has to face the music!!

[grummeper]

Bandits!