The administration and secretary and Bush appointee Chao have forced budget cuts and personell cuts in the Mine Safety Division to appease the corporate mining interests. Safety is now almost non-existant in new mining operations. In Europe they think we are deliberately putting our people at risk to save pennies. They have oxygen stations and location devices as a matter of course as well as inspections. The Bushwacker doesn't like those precautions because they cost several pennies per man-day worked so he let the owners flag those fundamental regulations.
Now there are 15 dead in one month.Time for the union movement to rise again for the same reason they did 150 yrs ago; to protect the workers from the owners. And the Bush should hang his useless head in shame.