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Obama blames company for W. Virginia mine deaths

15 April 2010 20:31 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. President Barack Obama on Thursday blamed primarily the management of Massey Energy for a fatal West Virginia coal mine accident and called for better oversight nationwide to prevent further accidents, APA reports quoting Reuters.

Obama said the safety record at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch mine, where an explosion killed 29 miners on April 5, was deeply troubling and said the company had "put their bottom line before the safety of their workers."

"The people of West Virginia are in our prayers. But we owe them more than prayers. We owe them action," Obama told reporters in the White House Rose Garden.

"This tragedy was triggered by a failure at the Upper Big Branch mine, a failure first and foremost of management, but also a failure of oversight and a failure of laws so riddled with loopholes that they allow unsafe conditions to continue."

Obama said the company’s management should be held accountable for the accident.

"Owners responsible for conditions in the Upper Big Branch mine should be held accountable for decisions they made and preventive measures they failed to take," he said.

He said the federal government would start immediately to look at mines with troubling safety records across the country, sending inspectors to ensure safety conditions were sound.

Obama also directed officials to work with Congress to strengthen mine safety laws.

"Stronger mine safety laws were passed in 2006 ... but safety violators like Massey have still been able to find ways to put their bottom line before the safety of their workers, filing endless appeals instead of paying fines and fixing safety problems," he said.

After the accident Obama had ordered mine safety officials to report this week on the explosion, the mine’s safety record and what steps the government could take to prevent further disasters.

Questions have arisen about safety at Massey, the largest coal producer in the Central Appalachia mountain region. The company has defended its record, saying its accident rate hit an all-time low in 2009 and that suggestions that the explosion was due to a disregard for safety were "completely unfounded."

Obama met on Thursday with Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis and Mine Safety and Health Administrator Joe Main before delivering his remarks.

The West Virginia disaster was the deadliest U.S. mine accident in nearly 40 years. In 1972, 125 people died after a dam broke at Buffalo Mining Company in Saunders, West Virginia, and in 1970 38 miners died after an explosion at Finley Coal Company in Hyden, Kentucky.