Bobby Inman Defends Massey Energy Company
Every Friday since a blast at the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia killed 29 miners, graduate students at the University of Texas have been treated to an insider briefing. The name of their course is Managing Crises, and their professor, Adm. Bobby Ray Inman, is dealing with a big one.
In addition to being a former National Security Agency chief, a one-time defense secretary nominee, a deputy director of the CIA, a former chairman of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank and a successful venture capitalist, Inman is the longest-serving member of the board of directors of Massey Energy ...
Comments (4)
Fearless
Frankly, I'm disappointed at the position adopted by Admiral Inman that the Massey board and executive management have no culpability in the safety of its mines. The number of reported violations would tend to negate the admiral's view that CEO Blankenship is the premier miner. Perhaps the admiral and Mr. Blankenship should spend a shift in the mines with their employees to demonstrate their satisfaction that the mines are safe.
RHardin
Having been a supportive voice for Admiral Inman in the past, I am ashamed of his comments on this serious matter. It appears to me that as quickly as he is coming to the defense of the Massey and not waiting for investigative findings, that he understands this was a massive mistake by Massey and is trying to get ahead in the politics of the issue (oversight is not good for business). Retire from UT sir, your ego does not need this and UT surely does not need it either.
clay_ton
"Inman insists that there is no correlation between the total number of violations a mine incurs and its overall safety. He compares the rise in penalties for safety violations to an old Texas speed trap" In other words enforcement is a game to Mr. Inman and Massey.
This just in from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration:
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration today announced that MSHA inspectors responded to three separate anonymous complaints about hazardous conditions at three coal mines owned by Massey Energy Co. Following each investigation, MSHA ordered the withdrawal of miners from designated areas of those mines and issued multiple citations for serious violations at Spartan Mining Co.’s Road Fork #51 Mine in Wyoming County, W.Va.; Inman Energy’s Randolph Mine in Boone County, W.Va.; and Independence Coal Co.’s Cook Mine in Boone County, W.Va. In an effort to make sure the conditions found during the surprise inspections were not tampered with, MSHA inspectors assumed control of company phone lines at two of the three mines to prevent mine employees from alerting their colleagues underground that MSHA inspectors were on site.
http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2010/04/27/msha-problems-discovered-at-more-massey-mines/#more-4530
The nation depends on coal for 50% of its electrical power. The burning of coal has polluted the entire planet with atmospheric mercury, a poison that ends up in the oceans, drinking water and in all living things. All sane, thinking people realize that while we still need coal, we need to reduce it's damage to the environment; we need to move towards 21st century fuel solutions, not rely on obsolete 17th century fuel.
Methane, a 130-octane fuel, the major component of natural gas is released in enormous quantities during coal mining; experts believe methane and poorly managed coal dust caused the 4/5/10 explosion. Apparently, Massey Energy has taken no steps to profit from their millions of tons of methane which is allowed to disperse into the atmosphere where it dramatically adds to the greenhouse effect (Don Blankenship claims global warming is a Ponzi scheme). Wasted fuel and damage to the environment in spite of the voluntary EPA coal bed methane capture program CMOP set up to assist mining firms to profit from the free gas. Surely the coming investor lawsuits will probe Massey's use of available methane exploitation technologies and programs to determine additional fiduciary misfeasance and any lack of corporate responsibility. However, Mr. Inman claims the board of Massey has no culpability, bears no responsibility for anything. Of course, Mr. Inman's other employer (CIA) is so secret and powerful the nation can't even know what their budget is or what they are doing.
Massey Energy has long ruled Appalachian coal communities by intimidation and tyranny this is oral history. The culture of Bobby Inman's CIA fraternity has an unflattering reputation of offering brutal remedies for those who might stand in the way of 'the company'. Massey workers are routinely threatened according to numerous published accounts. CEO Blankenship, who Inman continues to prop up could be facing murder charges for a 2004 fire disaster at another MEE mine where Massey was convicted and received the largest fine in the history of mining.
Massey Energy has been described as a criminal enterprise; the RICO statute comes to mind and I hope Eric Holder is listening.
The UK owned firm Massey Energy hired for crisis control and public relations is headed up by none other that the front men for the thugs who brought us the Iraq invasion where our men were sent to battle in vehicles with canvas doors with no armor causing needless deaths and permanent disability to thousands of US servicemen, and trillions of dollars of national debt. Representing Inman and Blankenship and their servants on the side of Armageddon stand Public Strategies President Dan Bartlett, former White House counselor to George W. Bush and V.P. Mark McKinnon who delivered George W. Bush to the White House; representing the lambs, guys like me.
There will be trials and people will be convicted for the failures that led to the horrific loss of 29 lives and the immutable damage to generations to come. This awful tragedy at Upper Big Branch, Montcoal, WV should help us to remember the people of this nation who work in dangerous and hostile environments. By law, they deserve to be working in a safe environment, not brutally exploited whenever possible which has been practiced by the rogue management of Massey Energy for far too long.
coallawreview@yahoo.com
An_Ordinary_Man
I've just recently started looking at the Texas Tribune to see if it might interest me, but if this is the type of reporting it offers then I'll not waste much time on the site. Such one-sided reportage is disappointingly amateurish. Anyone who's halfway followed this story in the media knows this report is just a suck-up to Inman. But why? Just because he lives in Texas? I truly don't understand the why, but I do see poor journalism when I see it. Unfortunate, if the Tribune seeks any legitimacy.