Most mines have a place where the miners eat.  Let us celebrate the cooks at these places by telling of the many fine meals we have enjoyed in these mining canteens. In celebrating cooks at mining canteens, I also seek to describe a job in mining that most do not write about.  If you like cooking, then maybe a job at a mine canteen is for you.

At the East Geduld Mine where I grew up, there was the Single Quarters.  This is where the single men working on the mine lived. My cousin lived there.  I was envious of his lifestyle; for I dreamed of living away from my parents, free to come and go as I liked; free to ride a motor bike at speed through the wind; free to spend your own money on whatever sin you choose; why was I still stuck under parental control?

On many a Sunday, my father would pile us into the 1949 Mercury for the one-tenth-mile ride to the Single Quarters where we ate Sunday lunch.  Most of the single men were somewhere else–riding their motor cycles and entertaining women.  Feeding the mining families was a way to bring in some money and keep the cooks gainfully employed. And maybe give some fleeting pleasure to underpaid miners and thier families.

The meal was the same every Sunday.  First soup: thin gruel served in thick ceramic plates that would kill if thrown with accuracy.  Then some white fish of the cheapest kind with lashing of tartar sauce to color the taste.   Next roast mutton; for what self-respecting miner does not eat mutton on Sunday?  Finally, a desert: something sweet topped with yellow custard.  Then a cup of a coffee-chicory mix in yet another thick ceramic thing.  Pure heaven for a kid like me who was fed spaghetti and meat balls or sardines on toast most days. 

As a student at university, Professor Jennings took us to a mine in the Free State.  Their canteen was down for the day; but they made us sandwiches.  Thick white bread that turns to musch in the mouth; thick layers of cheap cheese and processed ham; and cold from storage in the freezer.  At least the professor had a bottle of brandy which we used to wash down the sandwiches. Great. Even though the brandy was warm and undiluted.   I still drink too much brandy in memory of that mining meal.

Then I went to the Cannery at Greens Creek, Alaska.  We ate like kings.  We ate salmon and halibut, two fish I had not hitherto heard of.   The Bull-Cook at the Cannery was Anita.  We never learnt her surname.  But how can you ever forget her flaming red hair and her erratic energy?  While went out drilling, she went out fishing in Hawk Inlet.  She caught salmon and halibut which she cooked fresh for the evening meal.  Vast meals of the finest food I have ever had—Anita is still my “best cook.”

I have spent many days at EKATI.  There is a kitchen and food to celebrate!  Now the cooks are professionals and employed by a First Nations company contracted to BHP Billiton.  When you first arrive at the mine, they warn you in the health & safety briefing not to eat too much.  “People have been known to put on thirty pounds while staying here, and that is not healthy,” they remind you.

But how can you resist a huge steak cooked rare, loaded with gravy, and surrounded by green beans, carrots, and potatoes?  Well you could add beer or wine if only this were not a dry camp and you have to settle for milk or orange juice.  No wonder I will never make this a permanent thing.  Then to the cookie cabinet where there are cookies of unimaginable variety.  And a warning: “Avoid peanut contamination; use gloves when picking up a cookie.”  Damn.  Never heard of peanut problems as a kid when we ate copious quantities of cheap brown bread loaded with peanut butter and syrup.

Flee to Guatemala and the Marlin Mine.  There, up the hill from the rooms of the mining camp, is the dining room.  There many lithe, local women labor to prepare perfect Guatemalan Indian food: beans & rice; tiny pieces of tomato and onion in vinegar; a local pancake of corn; and meat that is indistinguishable and unmemorable. 

But after a day in the sun and spectacular mountains, all the while traipsing down crystal clear streams, this is perfect comfort food.  Particularly if after supper you go to the gazebo to drink Guatemalan rum.  Only 23-year old Ron Zacapta will do.  But what a treat!  I will go back any-day just for the food.

If you seek solid, stolid food, go to the canteen at the Suncor Mine in Alberta.   The portions are big.  The food is substantial.  The cost is low.  The plate is full; so full that an ordinary apatite cannot possible eat it all.  Better to buy a packet of beef jerky, a diet coke, and a Kit-Kat at the local gas station before you leave Fort McMurray and eat that in one of the many eating rooms scattered around the site.   There you can enjoy the company of fellow TRO staff and chat about the snow and freezing tailings.

Back in Guatemala at the Escobal Mine.  The place to eat is run by the daughter of the local important person.  The food is varied.  One night it is chicken flavoured with local spices and surrounded by beans and rice.   The next night it is fish of  type I have not encountered before.  Beer is flowing.  Conversation is jubilant at mining advance.  The price is right, and the atmosphere is perfect as you emerge into the square dominated by the police station and a Roman Catholic Church.   And walk, safe, to your hotel, which is an old house along a narrow street.  Then back for breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, coffee, and orange juice.  But it tastes so different from the American breakfast of the same ingredients.  For there is salsa and corn tortias; food not found elsewhere.

My point is that cooking for miners is an important job.  You will prepare food that we will remember forever.  You will prepare food that makes a miners lives OK or not.  You are part of the essential services that make foreign travel to distant mines memorable and inviting.  Go for it, if you can cook.

The Goldcorp Marlin Mine in Guatemala is a fascinating case history in the ups and downs of mining, of the license-to-mine, of community relations, of so-called sustainable development, and the role of law in a just system.  Then there is the fascinating aspect of a government that may not be entirely competent or uncorrupt; and which is beset by social and religious fights, and the need for money to balance the budget.   Although I have met a number of government officials and they all seemed honest and earnest to me.  They struck me as ordinary, decent people trying to do the right thing in a situation beset by violence, racialism, and poverty-related turmoil.   Not to mention the pernicious influence of drug trafficking and rival religious groups.  They were moreover beset by trying to deal with the terrible influence of meddling groups of internationalists seeking personal exposure and gain.

Even the Huffington Post, whose liberal reporting usually fascinates me, is posting long articles on the mine.  Here is the link to the most recent.  A key paragraph from this link reads as follows:

Residents complain of strange rashes on their children’s skins and other symptoms, of cracks in the walls of houses near the mine, and of repression from local authorities when they dare to speak out against the mine. A recent study by University of Michigan physicians showed elevated levels of heavy metals in the blood of residents living near the mine, but said they were uncertain whether those levels constituted a risk.

This reminds me of the observation that journalists are trained and paid to emphasize the spectacular, not probe for the truth.  I have examined many of the houses purportedly cracked as a result of the mine.  None of the cracks that I observed can conceivably be ascribed to the mine.  Cracks are the result of poor foundations, failure to control surface water, improper construction details, and the high level of seismic activity in the area.  I have seen houses badly cracked because they are too close to steep slopes rendered unstable by failure to control surface water; these houses and their inhabitants are at risk of certain death in the future, earthquakes or no earthquakes.  Yet the church, community leaders, and reporters continue to blame the mine.  Instead they should fact reality, face facts, and warn the resident of endangered houses that they face death in an earthquake–or in the future as slope failures grow.  For what it is worth there is a church building in Agel that will one day slide down the slope taking the alter with it.  Has anybody seen fit to tell the priest?

These irresponsible people who fail to probe or tell the truth are agents of death, not redemption.  Their stupidity and intransigence in the face of reality is criminal.  They should be hauled before a court of truth and forced to prepare maps showing the perils of the geotechnical and structural conditions that threaten the people in the houses in the villages around the mine.  Or maybe Goldcorp should do this in the face of opposition and lies from colorful merchants of death and denial. 

I have seen systems that provide water to residents of villages.  Plastic pipes carry water from distant sources to the houses.  The water is tapped groundwater, none ostensible and possibly affected by the mine.  Keep in mind that the natural soils and rocks of the area are of volcanic and every other origin.  The groundwater itself may be contaminated with constituents that could affect people’s health.  Nowhere have I seen any attempt to correlate the source and/or quality of drinking water with the blood levels so spectacularly reported by gullible reporters.   Maybe the  merchants of death should be hauled before a court of truth and be forced to do a decent and standard study linking source, pathway, and impact.  Maybe they should be forced to tell the whole story rather than peddling half-truth and lies that do nothing to address the real issue: a supply of clean water to residents.  Maybe Gorldcorp should do this in the face of lies and opposition.

I have been into houses where the filth and unhygienic living and cooking condition are appalling.  How can humans remain healthy living and cooking in such conditions?  They share quarters and conditions with animals in ways that I would not have conceived of.  We see pictures of clean locals in bright clothes sitting around flowers.  We  are never shown the pictures of people living in squalour and dirt, failing to wash floors, playing around chickens and pigs, and generally living in a most unhealthy way.   We never see pictures of houses so badly built and maintained that water is seeping into the living room; water recent shat in by ducks.  Maybe, just maybe, the rashes are the result of the unswept floor, playing with the pigs, or inadequate cleaning and cooking of food.  No point in praying when you fail to implement basic hygiene. 

Here is a heavily edited version of a comment I received in my e-mail on the situation.  It highlights the double role of the government and the issue of the rule of law:

The Guatemalan government is playing both sides of the coin.  They told the opposition not to worry that they were shutting down the mine.  They told Goldcorp not to worry because they were only starting an “administrative process” to shut down the mine.  You can imagine the confusion.  To date there has been no order to shut down.  The opposition claims that the mine is still operating, therefore disobeying the government (even though the government did not actually issue the order.)  Thus they are inciting road blocks to the mine to protest Goldcorp’s ”disobedience” of the shut down order.

 

By trying to play both sides the government has made things worse in my opinion.  Nobody knows or can predict what is going to happen next.

 

The government has now decided to blame this all on a bad mining law which of course is the fault of some previous administration.  Their plan appear to be to say that they will make a new mining law (much higher royalties of course), and then they will tell the opposition that all is well now that the brilliant administration has fixed the bad mining law.  Then they will let Godlcorp keep mining. 

 

Regarding metals in blood, if one read the report carefully it actually says heavy metals found in blood, but not above standards set by the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta.  The press left out that last part of the sentence.  The report also says that mine workers were healthier, and that no correlation could be made between occupation, distance to the mine, and metals levels in the blood.  If one reads the headlines it sounds bad, if one actually reads the study it is a total non-issue.  Incidentally, Notre Dame University funded the study done by Physicians for Human Rights on the matter.

 

Guatemala is about half Catholic and half Evangelical and is the only country in Latin America that is not majority Catholic, evidently the Catholic Church is freaked out about this little fact.

• What is the role of the mine in substituting for inadequate government?
• How do you equitably distribute the fruits of mining to shareholders, local residents, and people who seek to do an honest days work?
• How do you ensure that international agencies and universities tell the truth, or at least do a competent job?
• How do you influence uneducated and impressionable journalists?
• What does sustainable mining mean if the locals want it all now?
• What to do when the Church is failing but seeking to prop up its venality by misdirecting responsibility?

• Accept that the big guy just has to do better than the small guys.
• Acknowledge that the big company has to act proactively to help local communities.
• Shareholders must face the fact that more money has to go to the locals and less to dividends.
• The mine must engage reputable scientists and engineers to prepare comprehensive studies to quantify every aspect of the local environment and the interact thereof with the mine.  This must include groundwater, surface water, air quality, geology, and the like and its interaction with people who live around the mine.
• The government and the mine must tell people that they are living in dangerous houses badly affected by steep slopes, unstable ground conditions, poor foundations, and inadequate construction.  The mine must tell local inhabitants that in a future earthquake many will die unless houses are retrofitted.  Imagine the news stories when an earthquake occurs and many around the mine die in collapsing houses. 

    

Seems everyone in this ancient tribe was mummified.  There are many more mummified babies than statistics would indicate reasonable, even in a primitive place.  The reason:

The massive amounts of baby mummies were believed to be the result of mercury poisoning which is very high in Chile. Mercury poisoning the waterways is common in copper mining areas, especially long ago when no one understood the environmental ramifications.

Wikipedia tells us this about the mummies:

The Chinchorro mummies are mummified remains of individuals from the South American Chinchorro culture found in what is now northern Chile and southern Peru. They are the oldest examples of mummified human remains, dating to thousands of years before the Egyptian mummies. They are believed to have first appeared around 5000 B.C. and reaching a peak around 3000 B.C. Often Chinchorro mummies were elaborately prepared by removing the internal organs and replacing them with vegetable fibers or animal hair. In some cases an embalmer would remove the skin and flesh from the dead body and replace them with clay. Shell midden and bone chemistry suggest that 90% of their diet was seafood. Many ancient cultures of fisherfolk existed, tucked away in the arid river valleys of the Andes, but the Chinchorro made themselves unique by their dedicated preservation of the dead. The Chinchorro mummies are significant because during the periods of these mummies, everyone who died was mummified, including children, new-borns and fetuses.

This is well & good; informative, even feasible.  The blog posting then goes of the rails when it asks a question related to an obeservation that there are, even now,  many reported sightings of UFOs in the area:

Are the sightings of UFOs and alien-like creatures a sign of mercury poisoning and issues with the mental state of the locals, especially those who live close to the mines and drink water that’s been corrupted by mercury?

I have no belief in UFOs aliens etc., except in Hollywood movies including District 9. The theory that mining-related contamination is the cause of reported UFOs is unique.  Considering all the mines around Johannesburg, it may explain why the aliens decided to land at District 9, or for that matter maybe the whole movie is a true story about the hallucinations of a whole populace affected by proximity to mines. 

You have the whole holiday to contemplate this one.  No prizes for the answer.

The geologist, engaged on a two-year study of tunnels from the Inland Empire to the Beach Cities, is more concerned about disposal of the 20 million cubic yards of acid-drainage-producing waste the tunnels will create than in the economy.   He asked me:  How would a miner get rid of that volume of tailings in California?

       The young graphics artist who sketches cartoons for movies is thinking of moving to Vancouver as he concludes LA is dirt, overcrowded, and expensive.  I told him Vancouver is not cheap. 

As always, the consensus from the assembled PhDs was that it is all the fault of the education system that does not turn out educated PhDs.  The Republicans blame Obama.  The Democrats blame Bush.  But nobody was willing to work harder or consume less.  We are Californians in Orange County, one haughty lady reminded me with a sneer. 

So to add to the sense of an unreal weekend, here are links to some stories that emphasize just how bad the education system is (everywhere!):

Tehran Times:  The Iranian representative at the fourth session of UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review Working Group criticized Canada for violating the rights of Muslims and other minorities in the country.

       

Telegraph, UK:  a survey of 2,000 people conducted by Theos, the religion think tank, found that half believe the theory of evolution cannot explain the complexity of the natural world. One in three said they thought God created the Earth within the past 10,000 years. Two-thirds of Republics do not believe in evolution.

Chronicle Herald:  It will take 40 years and half a billion dollars to prepare an abandoned Yukon mine for closure, the director of the territory’s branch for abandoned mines said in announcing the final option to deal with the site.  Stephen Mead said Friday that there’s still more work to be done on the Faro mine project before construction begins in four to five years.  Federal taxpayers have spent tens of millions of dollars in the last decade looking after the mine and planning for its closure. Mead said it will cost about $30 million a year for the 15-year construction phase, and another $10 million a year for the next 25 years.  From there, the site would have to be monitored forever, he said.

Salt Lake City, Deseret News:  UtahAmerican Energy Inc., a subsidiary of Murray Energy, has asked a federal judge to overturn an MSHA citation requiring the company to change its roof-control plan before long-wall mining can resume again in a section of the West Ridge Mine in Carbon County.  The company is also challenging an MSHA order that barrier pillars of coal be left to provide support to the mine ceiling and guard against “bounces” or “bumps” — outbursts of coal that happen when the ground shifts after the coal seam is ground away by the long-wall mining machine.   “We want to make sure the operator has a plan in place to protect (miners) from the hazards of these bounces,” said Kevin Stricklin, who heads MSHA’s coal division.

It’s almost enough to induce you to deny evolution and become a commited Muslim Mormon.  Enoy the rest of Sunday, a day of sublime unreality.

In the latest issue of The Prospector, fellow blogger and professional journalist Kevin Barker makes a plea to bring sexy back into mining.  He writes:

There are lots of fascinating angles to mining.  There’s exploration, geology, travel, geopolitics, risk and reward…..I happen to think a fully mineralized hanging wall is very sexy, all that glittering metal winking at you.

He goes even further with his analogies in this quote:

I’ve never understood why we stand idly by and let a few misguided people with green hair and an internet connection whip the tar out of us.  So we’re supposed to dismantle the mining industry?  Fine.  But isn’t that a bit like telling kids they should abstain from sex to prevent unwanted pregnancies and the spread of STDs?  Kids won’t stop having sex and people won’t stop mining.  If you ban it they will just go back to using archaic recovery techniques like mercury…..

I presume he refers to mercury in mining and not sex, although Mercury of Olympus fame…well we had better not go there on a public site.

Kevin remarks kindly about this blog but puts me in a class of people “preaching to the already converted.”   In search of unconverted acolytes, I found a site that carries this over-the-top praise of the sexiness of mining: 

A career in the mining industry can be a rewarding experience, with the opportunity to work in exotic locations with people from a range of backgrounds, and the thrill of being involved in the development of some of the world’s essential resources.

Then there is the observation by the Economist on Generation Y:

Net Geners may be just the kind of employees that companies need to help them deal with the recession’s hazards. For one thing, they are accomplished at juggling many tasks at once. For another, they are often eager to move to new roles or countries at the drop of a hat—which older workers with families and other commitments may find harder to do. Such flexibility can be a boon in difficult times. “In the economic downturn what we are really looking for is hungry 25- to 35-year-olds who are willing to travel,” says Frank Meehan, the boss of a fast-growing mobile-phone applications business that is part of Hutchison Whampoa, a conglomerate based in Hong Kong.

I never though of mining as a place populated by “hungry 25- to 35-year-olds” travelling to exotic places to hang glittering posters of mercury in an attempt to re-order the world.  Damn! If only I were younger. 

Maybe the time has come for mining industry proponents and philosophers to espouse the Darwin approach.  Who can forget being young and reading his two great books, one on the origin of species and the other, far more fascinating to a sex-obsessed twenty-year-old, on the role of sexual selection.   Again as the Economist puts it:

For a Darwinian, life is about two things: survival and reproduction. Of the two, the second is the more significant. To put it crudely, the only Darwinian point of survival is reproduction. As a consequence, much of daily existence is about showing off, subtly or starkly, in ways that attract members of the opposite sex and intimidate those of the same sex. In humans—unlike, say, peafowl, where only the cocks have the flashy tails, or deer, where only the stags have the chunky antlers—both sexes engage in this. Men do it more than women, but you need look no further than Ascot race course on Gold Cup day to see that women do it too. Status and hierarchy matter.

I am not advocating that mining companies breed peafowl on the tailings impoundment or run races on the waste rock dump.  Just jumping in a plane to fly with a poster to a far away place should be sufficient for the fulfilment of the show-off instinct.  And if mining provides sufficient opportunity for lusty 25- to 35-year-olds to show off, why then mining should be a prime candidate for them (and maybe us old folk) to work and preen. 

The trick is create lots of status and hierarchy slots in mining for those lusty young.  Give them lots of feed-back that promotes ego-development and which allows them to stand tall and proud, with chunky antlers aloft.  Or with green hair carefully arranged in spikes. 

I do not know how to do this, but if you do please comment below.  Thanks. 

Let us turn our gaze from the political conventions in the USA to Africa.  If you can keep your eyes off those $300,000 diamond studs that Cindy McCain is wearing.  Now that is a triumph for mining. 

First, however, let me say how moved I was by Gov. Palin’s address last night.  On the basis of my past writings, you can decide the direction in which I was moved.  But she is a riveting speaker, clearly tough, and blessed with a varied family.  Keep in mind I too have a son in the Navy who has floated around the trouble spots for a long time and now is now at the Pentagon, one wayward daughter who is soon to start studying to be a Civil Engineer, one incredibly successful geotechnical engineer daughter.  Plus nine grand kids, six of whom are in Iowa.  As they say, variety is the spice of life.

I recveived word that ICMM has published their Good Practice Guidance on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.  I e-mailed back that I would write about it when the time seemed right.  So now I do.  I read the first part and skimmed the rest.  It is utterly depressing reading.  I wish you a good life that involves no need to ever read this volume or deal with the issues it addresses. 

I can understand why ICMM puts out this stuff.  There is an obvious need for it.  Certainly if you are going to go mining in Africa.  And you need to keep the local work force healthy enough to work and mine.  

Personally I left Africa in disgust twenty and more years ago, have never desired to return, and generally avoid bothering about the ongoing, self-made problems of the continent. 

Not that HIV/AIDS in restricted to Africa.  It could occur in Alaska for all I know.  It certainly occurs elsewhere in the United States.  Personally I am all for family values, including gay marriage as a way to deal with the scourge.  And if societies that profess to care for family values and human compassion choose to be hypocritical and suppress information about sex etc. then indeed implementation of the ICMM guide is a valid mining charge. 

Let us hope there is no, or very little, need for the ICMM guide in North America any time soon.  Although I doubt it, given the current scary drive to supress information, supress family formation, and deal with the results via bluster, haircuts, and new clothes.  At least the mining industry is, in this instance, ahead of the mainstream politicians.  We should be proud of this and support the ongoing efforts of the ICMM to keep us there.

Last night I settled down in front of the TV with a stiff drink and a DVD from NIOSH called Zen and the Art of Rock Bolting.  The stiff drink to fortify me against another health and safety video–for we have all seen some of those terribly cloying productions as we sat trapped in yet another health and safety update course.   I had been asked for my opinion on this and seven other NIOSH productions.

The drink went down well, and yet another followed, not from distress, but from admiration and enjoyment.  This is a damn good DVD movie.  Fascinating in fact.  I have recommended it to all my friends and relations and I will get the young kids around InfoMine here to watch it one lunch time. 

The premise is simple:  Film an old miner showing a newbe how to drill a hole in an Idaho mine, bolt the rock, and break away the loose rock that could make the area unsafe.  The genius of this movie is the old miner.  NIOSH wisely chose a real miner with 40 years experience.  What an engaging fellow.  Rough yet wise.  Careful yet casual.  Devoted to mining and what it brings: competition, money, and the rapid passage of the work hours. 

This is an engaging portrait of a miner: his motivations; his method; and his happy perspective.  This is a short story about one man of humor and integrity and hard work.  This is a perfect balance to the greed and madness of the “miner” in There Will be Blood.  This is the person in the mine; not the person exploiting the miner. 

I know this DVD was made to instruct, not entertain.  But I submit that the makers inadvertently stumbled on so fascinating a person, that they succeeded in making a minor masterpiece.  You must see it if you seek to understand the miner and mines.  And you should see it if you just want to see an unintentional piece of fine movie making.  Enjoy. 

Later (12 Feb 2008).  I add the following that i received via e-mail from Elaine T. Cullen who with CDC/NIOSH/SRl made this small masterpiece:

Hi Jack…I’ve been sharing your blog comments with some of the folks who worked on that project, and they have been very pleased.  This was a federal project as you know, and to be honest, most of the engineers we work in the mining lab with were totally mystified by the name.  They thought maybe it was a religious film.  (I’m pretty sure they have never heard of Robert Pirsig and his motorcycle.)  We caught a lot of heat on that film just because it didn’t fit any mold ever made of what a “gommint” safety training video should look like (one of its charms, in my opinion.) 

I think it captures the culture of hard rock mining, however, and the evaluation studies we did of it when it was released included a question on whether the viewer would want to learn mining from Jim Mortensen.  Amazingly, 100% said yes…it didn’t matter if they were new hires or experienced miners.  Experience has shown me that it’s hard to get 100% of people to agree on what day it is, so this was quite a surprise.  The message to us (and the research question that was invisible to all but the development team) was that it IS possible to capture the wisdom and expertise of experienced miners, and this is a very effective way to teach new people…he has a lot of credibility and they listen to him. 

I am leaving federal service at the end of this month and, if I could work on one project now that I believe would improve mine safety training, it would be to start capturing people like Jim Mortensen before they leave the industry (which is happening every day).  They have survived and thrived as miners because they were good…it would be a pity to lose what they know.  I have proposed a project to begin gathering the “oral histories” of these guys, that can be used as an electronic library of stories and lessons for developing new training in any topic.  Great project, but I have no idea how to get it funded!

Maybe you can help.

So ultimately my daughter and son-in-law will have to pay the heirs for the transgressions of Bob Murray. Seems downright unfair.  And of course I will blog in anger about it.

The legal theory behind suing government entities that seemingly had nothing to do with the miners’ deaths is the old fashioned “deep-pocket” victim.  Clearly Bob and his boys do not have enough cash to go after; far better to go after the wallets of the Los Angeles public that happens to use electricity partially generated by coal from the erstwhile mine. 

Well maybe Bob and his boys have some money.  One of the reports I read notes in an aside: “Ed Havas, a Salt Lake City attorney representing the 26 claimants, said “litigation against Murray entities and others is possible, and indeed likely, in the future.”

The legal basis of the liability of the two named entities, namely the Intermountain Power Agency and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is this:

Intermountain Power Agency is a co-owner of the Emery County mine. Much of the mine’s extracted coal goes to IPA’s power plants outside of Delta. The Los Angeles department is identified as an agent of IPA, serving as a “co-managing entity” on behalf of cities that have shares in IPA and the electricity it produces.

The notices contend both public agencies are responsible for the deaths and injuries by having “permitted mining activities to take place in the mine in an unreasonably dangerous and negligent manner.” 

Both agencies knew of dangerous conditions in Crandall Canyon and “had the time and opportunity to avert the tragedy,” the notices added, but “caused or allowed to be implemented mining plans, procedures and practices that were unreasonably dangerous, negligent and posed an unreasonable risk of the harm that occurred.”

Damn it, maybe I should have warned my daughter to warn the folk who sell her electricity to warn the Bush administration to tell Stickler to do something.  If the heirs’ lawyers prevail in this suite, it will be a vindication of the theory of community collective guilt.  Some of the customers of the LADWP voted Republican in the last elections, so maybe they should pay up and leave those who voted Democrat off the hook.  That line of reasoning is at least reasonable by the buck-stops-here theory–which is the basis of this law suite. 

What happens when one spouse votes D and one spouse votes R, and there is but one electricity bill, is an interesting question.  I suspect in my family’s case, that is the case. 

Personally, I would recommend that the coal industry step up to the plate and pay these lawyers to go away.  If they fail to get the lawyers to go away, the ill will that will be generated as people in Los Angles are forced to pay for the coal industry’s happenings will result in much more costly impositions being forced on the coal mining industry.  In short, the cheapest way for the coal industry to keep the public off its back, is to pay these Utah lawyers to go back to Salt Lake City.    Leave LA in peace.  They have enough trouble right now with snow snarling the I5.

Twenty-three years of data compiled by the Health & Safety Committee focuses attention on the most common causes of exploration accidents. The following observations reflect this experience and are provided for the benefit of present and future exploration personnel.

• Travel-related accidents produce the majority of fatalities with almost 90% resulting from helicopter, canoe and vehicle-related accidents. In terms of miles travelled, canoe-related fatalities are so abnormally high that this mode of transportation for exploration personnel should be discouraged or critically evaluated before being undertaken.

• With improved road access to many exploration areas, there is a greater potential for vehicle accidents; however, both fixed-wing and rotary-wing transportation will continue as essential means of transportation for exploration personnel.

• Although unsubstantiated, there is evidence that early exploration personnel suffered fewer lost workday accidents and fatalities because of their self-reliance. Development of this attribute, which could be life-saving, should be encouraged in all personnel.

• Not surprisingly, almost 50% of lost workdays are caused by slips and falls. These data are consistent with mountaineering accidents in Canada and the United States and are a direct reflection of the amount of time personnel are exposed to traversing rough terrain.These statistics are unlikely to change significantly with time, but can be reduced by individuals paying greater attention to ability and fatigue limitations, steep terrain, proper footwear, and the many hazards that can be expected.

• Back-related injuries, which appear to be on an increase, are the third highest cause of lost workday accidents. Most of these accidents are caused by improper lifting or pushing of heavy objects and directly reflect carelessness by the victim who could, as a consequence, suffer a lifelong back problem.

• As a means of maintaining an adequate focus on safety procedures, even the smallest projects should plan safety meetings at least once a week during the field season.

This is an excellent volume; it should be in every backpack and should be read again and again.  I disagree, however, with the conclusion “plan safety meetings at least once a week during the field season.”  I believe it should read: “Hold a safety meeting every day before the start of work.” 

Costly and irritating as it may be to hold a tailgate safety meeting every day before work, I know, on the basis of personal experience, that this is a necessary and absolute part of a safe work site.  At such meetings the participants should discuss what will be done that day and ask the questions:

1. Is the work approach safe
2. What can be done to improve work practices to enhance work safety
3. What did we learn yesterday that points us to a safer way of working.

These and many other simple questions, invariably lead to more and more insightful questions, answers, and practices.  Never forget controlling incidents is the cheapest and easiest way of eliminating workplace deaths.  I vaguely recall that for every ten incidents there is an accident, for every ten accidents there is a death.  Hence eliminate incidents and eliminate workplace death.  I write more on this topic at this link.  Good workplace safety habits!

Is social justice compatible with environmental justice? If social justice requires economic expansion and environmental justice requires industrial regulation, aren’t these two concerns moving in the opposite direction?  

Sadly he does not answer his question, or even begin to analyse the issues involved in this obvious conflict.  Instead he takes a few low pitches, routine mumblings really, at oil prices, cyanide, tailings in lakes, Canadian mines doing bad things in South America, and then in a crescendo of irrelevance concludes:

The Canadian Churches have also been reflecting on these issues of social and environmental justice. In a document reflecting on guidelines for biotechnology, the Canadian Council of Churches include the following principles:

• We carefully and comprehensively consider benefits and/or harm to all creation both now and in the future.
• We share responsibility for the common good of all people and creation.
• We pay particular attention to the implications for the poor, the marginalized, the weakest, as we seek to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God.
• We advocate and nurture dialogue across the whole community to ensure all voices are heard and considered.

In these guidelines you can clearly see the ethical standards of solidarity and socially just participation being applied. Ecojustice is neither a contradiction nor an option. If we want to build a moral economy in a sustainable society we will require a relationship with all of Creation that has sufficient resources for all.

Ingnore the poor grammar for a minute, and  try to work out what this is saying.  Let us take a look at the last point: advocating and nurturing dialogue across the whole community.  “Except of course the mining community.  Really we mean our community of like-minded individuals, not those nasty polluters, aka miners.” 

What about paying attention to the the implications (of what?) for the poor?  The implication of poverty unrelieved by development or opportunity?  Of course the church in all its guises has been good through the centuries at keeping the poor poor, the rich rich, and enjoying the benefices of privilege.  So nothing has changed here.   Except the muddled writing.

I could take this professor of Ethics and Economic to task point by point, but seeing as his sense of ethics and economics is so distant from mine, or from a reasonable mining perspective, or even common old garden fairness, let him be and continue as a voice in the wilderness for the non-comprehending masses.  His incomprehensibility is par for the course and is like all official utterances, unanswerable. 

Naturally I would love to hear more from him or his adherents on this one–freedom of speech in the USA sense.