Link to NY Times Article on MSHA and the latest coal mine disaster:

Here is a link to the NY Times article on MSHA and the latest mine disaster. What do you think about this article? Is MSHA using it to let American’s know how kind they have been in letting things slide? Is MSHA trying to play the victim here? Will this help MSHA enforce the "S Miner’s Act"? While the sand, gravel and crushing operations are racking up tickets for unflushed toilets and potato chip wrappers in garbage cans for their pattern of violations; apparently the huge companies have gotten a pass, according to parts of the NY Times article.

MSHA's Kevin Stricklin speaks at a press conference.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36364165/ns/us_news-the_new_york_times/

"The agency can seek to close mines that it deems unsafe and to close repeat offenders, but it rarely does so. The fines it levies are relatively small, and many go uncollected for years. It lacks subpoena power, a basic investigatory tool. Its investigators are not technically law enforcement officers, like those at other agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency.

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And its criminal sanctions are weak, the result of compromises over the 1977 Mine Act that created the agency. Falsifying records is a felony, for example, while deliberate violations of safety standards that may lead to deaths are misdemeanors."