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Branch mine were neither excessive in number, nor particularly significant. people may be wondering why this mine was even operating. i think the reason it was operating is that all the people who are very knowledgeable of mining whether they be with the federal government, the state golf or massey had concluded that the mine was safe to operate and these violations and the efforts on the ventilation are efforts to improve it. reporter: but the man in charge of keeping america s coal mines and coal miners safe, kevin stricklin, doesn t see much room for argument. is this a mine that needed to clean up its act? we think all mines need to clean up their acts. but the number of violations issued here and some of the significance of them, it gave the indication that the mine operator would have been better suited to comply with the regulations rather than us finding them. reporter: it is an emotional issue in this one industry land. safety is a huge concern. but massey mines provid ....
There is a fine that is levied. massey mines was objecting and protest becoming 30% of them. they filed grievances. when lives are at risk isn t the remedy of monetary fines inadequate? why not shut down the mine, keep the workers on the clock out until the violation is fixed? that is a great idea. that is what is needed. when civil penalties. this massey company and their subsidiary pled guilty to ten criminal violations and paid a total of $4.2 million in civil and criminal penalties. nobody went to jail. it s time to send people behind bars if monetary penalties don t work. something has to get the attention of mine management in ....
Situations reich this. and after sago all the lawsuits were settled by the company. do you get the sense it s just money to some of these mining companies and that lives are expendable. as footnote to that question organization date of the explosion, massey was cited twice for safety violations. they seem indifferent to human lives? irresponsible coal companies, there has to be repercussions. they have to be held responsible. i think this company and there shall other irresponsible companies but there are responsible companies. a ceo said we can have zero injuries. core value has to be safety first. it should trump profits and ....
Call. i really don t know. all right. great. that s mike snelling who runs the surface operations for massey mines. this is some of the video now from one of the two drill sites where they re drilling in to not only take exhaust out the methane gas in there, but to also allow fresh air in so that rescue crews can go in. there you re seeing the exhaust that s pulling out the fan and the tube that s working pulling out that toxic methane gas out of this massey mine. they re using a rotary drill, going down. it s gone, snelling told the news crew, about 560 feet down. and it would be about another 12 hours, he says, before the drill hits the 1,100 foot mark which is where they think they need to be in order to clear the toxic gas and be able to send rescuers in there. that s a look at where they re drilling right now, hoping to clear enough of the problem gas out so that then they can allow rescue crews to go back in. again, four miners still missing ....
This mine was even operating. the reason it was operating is all of the people who were very knowledgeable, whether it be at the federal government, the state government or massey had concluded that the mine was safe to operate and these violations and the efforts on the ventilation are efforts to improve it. but the man in charge of keeping america s coal mines and coal miners safe, kevin struckland doesn t see much room for argument. is it your sense, kevin, that this is a mine that needed to clean up its act? well, we think all mines need to clean up their act, but the number of violations issued here and the significance of them gave the indication that the mine operator would have been better suited to just comply with the regulations rather than us fining them. it s an emotional issue in this one-industry land. safety is a huge concern, but massey mines provide thousands of jobs and pour money into the legal community. john wooten is the west virginia state mining direc ....