Cross-posted from Sustained Outrage: a Gazette Watchdog Blog  by Ken Ward, Jr. Bayer CropScience hasnât said yet if it will challenge $143,000 in fines issued by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration for 13 serious and 2 repeat violations related to the August 2008 explosion and fire that killed two Institute plant workers. But […]
Updated below (3/17/09) OMB Director Peter Orszag announced in a Federal Register notice last week that his office is interested in hearing your views on the federal regulatory process. The Request for Comments on new Executive Order on Federal Regulatory Review comes 4-weeks after President Obama’s January 30 memorandum to department and agency heads (previous post here) announcing his plan […]
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued a decision this week on legal challenges to OSHA’s 2006 rule to protect workers from exposure to hexavalent chromium. In the simpliest terms, Public Citizen’s Health Research Group and the Steelworkers argued that OSHA’s rule was not protective enough, while the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) argued that they […]
By Celeste Monforton Last August 28, Bill Oxley and Barry Withrow, 45 were working at the Bayer CropScience’s plant in Institute, WV when a massive fireball erupted in an area where methomyl for the carbamate insecticide thiodicarb (Larvin) is produced. Mr. Withrow was killed immediately in the blast, and Mr. Oxley died after 43 days in a Pittsburgh burn center. When I first wrote about this disaster, […]
By a vote of 80-17, the Senate on Tuesday confirmed Hilda Solis as the 25th Secretary of Labor. The Department of Laborâs website has posted photos of her arrival at agency headquarters. Solis served in Congress from 2001-2009, representing Californiaâs 32nd Congressional District. DOLâs press release notes that she authored the Green Jobs Act, which […]
(Updated 3/2/09 below) The U.S. economy is in the tank—-the national unemployment rate for January was 7.6% and 46 States are facing serious budget shortfalls—–but these hard times are NO EXCUSE to roll-back worker safety protections.  Yet, that is exactly what some Kentucky lawmakers are proposing for workers employed at small underground coal mines.
On Sunday in Chinaâs Shanxi Province, an explosion rocked a coal mine where 436 people were working underground. Seventy-four of the workers died, and 114 were hospitalized with carbon monoxide poisoning. The New York Timesâ Edward Wong puts this terrible death toll in context: The mining industry in China has a poor safety record. The […]
Last week, Salon.com published a disturbing in-depth series, called âComing Home,â about the tragic consequences of the Armyâs inability to provide adequate care to soldiers returning from Iraq. Focusing on just one base â Fort Carson, Colorado â they found the following: Salon put together a sample of 25 suicides, prescription overdoses and murders among […]
The Associated Press reports that Senators Byron Dorgan and Evan Bayh are still not satisfied with what the Department of Defenseâs response to illnesses among National Guard troops who were exposed to hexavalent chromium at the Qarmat Ali water plant near Basra, Iraq. The Senators seek updates on efforts to communicate with potentially exposed National […]
When the U.S. Senate reconvenes on Tuesday, February 24th, I’ve learned that they will move ahead with a vote on the nomination of Hilda Solis to serve as 25th Secretary of Labor.  This confirmation vote will take place 35 days following President Obama’s inauguration.  If Mrs. Solis can secure the confirmation of our Asst. Secretaries for MSHA […]