Hillbilly Report

Mitch McConnell’s Wife Elaine Chao Misses Deadline For Mine Rescue Rules.

Hillbilly Report
Glendale, Kentucky
January 6, 2008
www.ditchmitchky.com
www.bluegrassroots.org
Elaine Chao is quick to give American workers advice, but slow when it comes to doing her own job. I suggest we have a skills gap here.

Ken Ward Jr.
Staff writer
The Bush administration missed a legal deadline to finalize rules to require more and better-trained mine rescue teams across the nation’s coalfields.
Under a 2006 law signed by President Bush, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao was required to issue final rules by Dec. 15, 2007.
The rules are still not finalized, and are sitting at the White House, under review by the Office of Management and Budget.
OMB review of new government rules is required as part of an effort to balance the costs and benefits of federal regulations.
At issue is the first rewrite of federal mine rescue team regulations since 1982.
Last year, lawmakers mandated changes in the rules after questions about the nation’s mine rescue capabilities following the deaths of 19 miners in the Sago and Darby disasters and the Aracoma Mine fire, all in 2006. The changes were required as part of the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act, signed by President Bush on June 15, 2006.
The MINER Act gave MSHA 18 months to finalize the new rules.
MSHA took nearly all of that time — 15 months of it — to write its proposed changes. The proposed rules were published in the Federal Register on Sept. 6, 2007.
A public comment period, also required by law, lasted until Nov. 16. MSHA submitted its final version for OMB review on Dec. 13, two days before the MINER Act deadline to issue the rules.
Sean Kevelighan, press secretary for OMB, said he could not provide a timeline for his agency completing its review of the mine rescue team rules.
Read more.

Coal Miner Safety. Does Ernie Fletcher Really Care?

Hillbilly Report
Glendale, Kentucky
August 7, 2007
http://www.hillbillyreport.com/
http://www.ditchmitchky.com/ 
When the mine worker widows held a press conference in Frankfort, Kentucky February 21, 2007 Governor Ernie Fletcher was nowhere to be seen, but let Peabody Energy Corp. ask him for millions of dollars of our tax money and he jumps through hoops. If that’s the kind of values he represents, then I’ve had enough of his phony values and his agenda.

 

Mine Collapses On Mitch McConnell’s Pal Robert Murray of Murray Energy Corporation.

Hillbilly Report
Glendale, Kentucky
August 7, 2007
http://www.hillbillyreport.com/
http://www.ditchmitchky.com/ 

Miners are trapped In Utah

Lexington Herald Leader September 2002
Millionaire coal magnate Bob Murray knew the name to drop in September 2002, when Mine Safety Health Administration inspectors confronted him about safety problems at his mines: Sen. Mitch McConnell.

Murray, a large man with a fierce temper, is a huge donor to Republican senators. McConnell, R-Ky., rose through the ranks by raising money for those senators. And McConnell is married to Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, whose agency oversees MSHA.

Shouting at a table full of MSHA officials at their district office in Morgantown, W.Va., Murray said: "Mitch McConnell calls me one of the five finest men in America, and the last I checked, he was sleeping with your boss," according to notes of the meeting. "They," Murray added, pointing at two MSHA men, "are gone."

Read More

It's Only A Coal Miners Grave Youtube Video

Hillbilly Report
Glendale, Kentucky
http://www.hillbillyreport.com/
July 9, 2007

Ernie Fletcher’s Latest Letter And It’s Not About Who Contributed To His Secret Defense Fund!!!

Hillbilly Report
Glendale, Kentucky
http://www.hillbillyreport.com/
July 7, 2007
OPINION
Ernie Fletcher and Jim Gooch want a special session, but Jim Gooch and Ernie Fletcher were nowhere to be seen when the mine worker widows were begging for mine worker safety legislation, in February of this year. I suggest Governor Ernie Fletcher and Chairman Jim Gooch of the House Natural Resources and Environment Committee were cow towing to the coal companies then just like they are doing now.
If the Democrats cave in to Ernie Fletcher, on this issue, before Ernie Fletcher makes public all of the contributors to his secret defense fund, they are nuts.
ERNIE FLETCHERS LATEST LETTER:
COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
ERNIE FLETCHER GOVERNOR
July 6, 2007
700 CAPITAL AVENUE
SUITE 100
FRANKFORT, KY 40601
(502) 564-261 1
FAX: (502) 564-2517
The Honorable Jody Richards
Speaker of the House of Representatives
Capitol Annex Room 303
Frankfort, KY 40601
VIA HAND DELIVERY
Dear Speaker Richards:
Pursuant to our conversation at 1:00 pm today, I am writing to confirm that you have agreed to convene a meeting with your leadership and me, either in person or by conference call.
You will be contacting my assistant, Ty Slone, to arrange a time as soon as possible. We await your call.
Testimony presented to the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee today confirmed that the anticipated economic impact of the Peabody investment for a synthetic natural gas plant in the western part of state would create 4,050 jobs during the construction phase of several years and 2,805 jobs thereafter. The total impact would amount to $10.8 billion
in the region over the incentive period. If a coal to liquid plant is added, that would produce an additional 3,724 jobs during construction and 3,786 jobs after the construction phase, and up to $19 billion regional impact over the period of incentive.
Rick Bowen, President of Peabody Energy BTU, testified that construction of a synthetic natural gas plant is not dependent on new federal legislation and that a decision as to the location of a plant would be made in 90 days. We cannot afford to miss this opportunity. While you were here working on the energy bill, I felt that it would be appropriate that we also work on other opportunities for the Commonwealth, and additionally authorize a number of projects, most of which had already been passed by both the House and the Senate. None of these should be controversial, and I have supported them from the point when our bond rating outlook was upgraded.
If there are items that you feel are political and not good policy for the Commonwealth, please let me know what they are and I will discuss the elimination of those from the call.
Sincerely,
Ernie Fletcher
Richards, The Honorable Jody
July 6,2007
c: Representative Larry Clark
Representative Rob Wilkey
Representative Rocky Adkins
Representative Charlie Hoffman

February 21, 2007 Frankfort, Ky. Mine Worker Widows Speak Up For Mine Worker Safety And For The Passage Of House Bill 207 – Youtube Video

Hillbilly Report
February 21, 2007

Mine Safety Bill Stalls; Widows Urge Lawmakers To Take Action

Hillbilly Report
Feb. 16, 2007
WKYT News
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - Tearful testimony by widows and children of coal miners killed on the job wasn't enough to persuade a key lawmaker to allow a vote on legislation intended to take some of the dangers out of working underground.
"I'm just hoping that our voices will be heard, so that no other families go through what we've went through," said a weeping Claudia Cole, who testified before the House Natural Resources and Environment Committee on Thursday. "They're not doing enough. We're still here fighting to try to get some of these laws passed."
Committee chairman state Rep. Jim Gooch, D-Providence, said at the close of a hearing Thursday that he still hasn't decided whether to bring the legislation up for a vote in the natural resources committee, which he chairs.
Cole's husband, Russell Cole, was killed when the roof caved in inside a Harlan County coal mine in 2005. She and her two teenage daughters were among a group Appalachian residents who came to the Capitol to lobby in favor of tougher laws.
Paul Ledford of Dayhoit, who survived of an explosion that killed five miners in Harlan County last year, said he was discouraged that lawmakers listened more closely to coal industry lobbyists than to miners and their widows.
"They don't care about the common man," he said. Full Story.