Data from U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration @ www.msha.gov
United States mining fatalities in the last four years of the Clinton administration and the first four years of Bush's administration.
year - fatalities
2004 - 54
2003 - 56
2002 - 67
2001 - 72
Bush's administration
2000 - 85
1999 - 90
1998 - 87
1997 - 91
Clinton's administration
Liberals are trying to blame the Bush administration for the deaths of the 12 coal miners in West Virginia because they say Pres. Bush relax safety regulations but look at the numbers. Despite the fact that coal production is up in the mining industry now over 4 years ago (result of the boom in the energy sector) less people are dying.
I guess less regulation equal less deaths in mines! Who knew?
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I've seen these figures bandied about...it would be nice if instead of tying the number to overall production, which really isn't a relevant factor, they were tied to the total number of workers in the industry. In that case you would find that although coal production is up sharply, the number of workers has decreased significantly over the past 10 years. I don't really give rats ass WHO is in office but the safety requirements for miners are a travesty. Christ, they had rebreather masks that could keep you alive for a few hours on submarines during WWII, how can anyone justify technology of that level being issued to miners today? And no form of communication with the outside world after such a minor collapse? Inexcusable.
But it was just as inexcusable 20 years ago when St. Reagan was in power as it is today. What needs to occur is less finger pointing and more actual action. But that is doubtful as it will likely devolve into another pointless game of political "one-upsmanship" and not into any serious work on modernizing mine safety.
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