Don Blankenship, CEO of Massey Energy Company spoke at the National Press Club Thursday but tensions ran high as three protesters were escorted out after moving to the front of the room and obstructing the podium with signs reading, “Massey Energy - Not Clean, Safe, Or Forever.”
Blankenship has made frequent appearances on national headlines after an April explosion at a Massey mine in Montcoal, West Virginia that killed 29 workers.
“I’m a realist. The politicians will tell you we’re going to do something so this never happens again,” said Blankenship. “You won’t hear me say that because I believe the physics of natural law and God trump whatever man tries to do.”
Blankenship said that the NFDL incident rate, a metric of lost-time accidents for mining, does not reach the top 12 most dangerous jobs.
“It’s more dangerous to drive a cab in New York or work at a 7-Eleven,” said Blankenship.
When asked about the Miner Safety and Health Act that passed in the House on July 21, Blankenship was quick in calling it a “knee-jerk” reaction by the government.
“We believe that the ventilation systems being dictated on us by the government are less safe,” said Blankenship. “We believe the air that has been used in the mining process needs to be taken outside the mine as quick as possible, but MSHA often disagrees with that.”
Blankenship wants to see independent pragmatic and scientific laws of safety put into place, rather than make laws that appear to do that in the publics eye.
Things Get "Massey" At National Press Club Luncheon
Robert Hune-Kalter - Talk Radio News Service
Don Blankenship, CEO of Massey Energy Company spoke at the National Press Club Thursday but tensions ran high as three protesters were escorted out after moving to the front of the room and obstructing the podium with signs reading, “Massey Energy - Not Clean, Safe, Or Forever.”
Blankenship has made frequent appearances on national headlines after an April explosion at a Massey mine in Montcoal, West Virginia that killed 29 workers.
“I’m a realist. The politicians will tell you we’re going to do something so this never happens again,” said Blankenship. “You won’t hear me say that because I believe the physics of natural law and God trump whatever man tries to do.”
Blankenship said that the NFDL incident rate, a metric of lost-time accidents for mining, does not reach the top 12 most dangerous jobs.
“It’s more dangerous to drive a cab in New York or work at a 7-Eleven,” said Blankenship.
When asked about the Miner Safety and Health Act that passed in the House on July 21, Blankenship was quick in calling it a “knee-jerk” reaction by the government.
“We believe that the ventilation systems being dictated on us by the government are less safe,” said Blankenship. “We believe the air that has been used in the mining process needs to be taken outside the mine as quick as possible, but MSHA often disagrees with that.”
Blankenship wants to see independent pragmatic and scientific laws of safety put into place, rather than make laws that appear to do that in the publics eye.