"Had I known
that this evil mountain, this alive mountain, would do what it did, I would
never have sent the miners in here," Murray said earlier. "I'll never go near
that mountain again."- Murray Energy’s Bob Murray after a mined out Utah
mountain collapsed and killed several miners and several rescuers in 2007.
By giving
“evil” intent and purpose to a non-living geological formation, Murray deflects
the focus from his own excesses. From the “Act of God” at Buffalo Creek in
1972 to the collapse of undermined mountains and dozens of other coal related
‘Act of God’ disasters in the 20th and 21st centuries, the coal operators always
find convenient scapegoats for their greed induced screw-ups.
That Obama is
both black and mostly politically unpopular in Appalachia makes him an even more
convenient whipping boy for coal captains and their sycophantic
apologists.
From:
ec-bounces@osenergy.org [mailto:ec-bounces@osenergy.org] On Behalf Of
James Kotcon
Sent: Saturday, May 23, 2015 8:10 AM
To:
Bill Price; David W. Sturm; Liz Wiles; Mark Kresowik; David Muhly; Bridget Lee;
Seth Long; Sean Sarah; Daniel Chiotos
Cc: WV Chapter Energy
Committee
Subject: [EC] Coal mines
closing
Murray Energy and
Alpha announce over 1600 mining job layoffs in West Virginia. The story
highlights the blaming:
"Murray Energy cited
“the vastly increased use of natural gas in the Ohio Valley to generate
electricity,” the “ongoing destruction of the United States coal industry by
President Barack Obama,” and — for the West Virginia workforce cuts — the
state’s “excessive coal severance tax.”
But Murray's move
comes two months after he invested $1.4 billion to buy Illinois coal
reserves. So while he is investing in the competition, he blames Obama and
WV's excessive coal severance taxes. The WV Legislature (under new
Republican leadership) is currently reviewing our tax structure, and many
legislators seem likely to buy into Murray's blaming of Obama and severance
taxes, without considering Murray's efforts to shift resources from West
Virginia to Illinois.
I think we need to
highlight this in a response as soon as possible. The two major issues
that the Legislature is studying are taxes and roads. A recent roads
report suggested several ways to raise money for road repairs, but does not
appear to address overweight trucks, or fuel taxes. I think an OP/ED
connecting the two issues with the Murray efforts to drain ever more resources
from our states to competitors might be well received.
Whaddya
Tink?
Full story is
at:
http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20150522/GZ01/150529712
Jim
Kotcon