In the last few days, we have all been in a state of shock over the situation in Utah. Like several of my colleagues, I have been praying for the trapped Utah miners and their families and friends. I have been tuning in to the press conferences with mine owner Bob Murray, and I have […]
While weâre all sending our thoughts and hopes to the miners and their families at Crandall Canyon, we also owe it to all coal miners to highlight the conditions that make such mining disasters more likely and to pressure those in charge to correct them. Tula Connell at Firedoglake delves into the mineâs citation record, mine […]
Marty Bennett was a coal miner with 29 years of experience, including work at operations that practiced “retreat mining.” He died at age 51 at the Sago mine in January 2006, along with 11 other coal miners. Today, his family organized a letter of support for the Crandall Canyon miners’ families from victim-families of previous coal mining fatalities. Their letter was published in […]
The expert panel evaluating the chemical bisphenol A for the National Toxicology Program has âsome concernâ that BPA exposure causes neural and behavioral effects in developing fetuses, infants, and children. The panel has âminimal concernâ or ânegligible concernâ that BPA affects the prostate or causes premature puberty or birth defects. (PDF draft meeting summary here) […]
Jeff Lehr at the Joplin Globe reports that a new round of lawsuits has been filed against makers of an artificial butter flavoring used at a microwave popcorn plant in Jasper County, Missouri. Exposure to artificial butter flavoring â in particular, the chemical diacetyl â has been linked to severe obstructive lung disease, and the […]
Recent events remind us about the difficult and valuable work of rescue and recovery. Celeste Monforton has already taken a look at the mine rescue teams that respond to disasters like the collapse at the Crandall County mine in Utah. Meanwhile, divers are at work in the aftermath of last weekâs bridge collapse. Dee DePass […]
More than 1,900 miles separate the Sago Baptist Church in Buckhannon, WV and the Emery County Senior Citizens Center in Huntington, UT. But the cavalcade of feelings from fear and hope, to uncertainty and despair is something only those who’ve been in their shoes can understand. In January 2006, it was the families of 12 trapped WV miners who […]
It no longer seems unusual to see an article in the Washington Post or the New York Times about Bush administration officials interfering with science for political reasons. Over the past week, though, two major news sources that reach a different audience have given this problem a lot of ink.
As I stay tuned for news on the fate of the six coal miners trapped at the Crandall Canyon mine in Emery County, Utah I’ve heard numerous tv and radio reporters say “hundreds of mine rescuers” have converged near the worksite to assist with the rescue operation. Who are these “mine rescuers”?
In today’s New York Times, Eric Lipton and Louise Story examine the problem of lead in inexpensive children’s jewelry. Inspections have found lead problems one out of five times when testing these products, suggesting that hundreds of thousands of contaminated jewelry items remain on the market. Here’s why jewelry is particularly problematic: Jewelry is perhaps […]