Author: Don Blankenship

Earlier this month the Australian government repealed their carbon tax. This was specifically important to the people of Australia but it also symbolizes the increasing recognition around the world that the science is not settled as to Climate Change despite Obama’s declaration to the contrary. In fact the world continues to learn that the Global Warming is a big business and not a big cause. It is a business scam of massive proportion and to call it anything else is to be a denier of the truth. The Australian change in direction as to the carbon tax, the fact the…

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West Virginia senator vows to support legislation that would stop CEOs like his daughter from renouncing firms’ U.S. citizenship. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images) By Ron Fournier July 23, 2014 You’re a United States senator from a state struggling to compete in the world economy. Your daughter runs a giant drug company with roots in your state, and the firm makes a fortune from taxpayers via Medicare and Medicaid. Everything’s cozy and connected and perfectly Washington – until your daughter renounces the firm’s U.S. citizenship to reduce its U.S. taxes. What do you do? If you’re Joe Manchin, you duck a reporter’s…

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REDUCING METHANE-PRODUCING ‘RUMINANT’ POPULATION WILL ABATE CLIMATE CHANGE By Ajit Jha on December 20, 2013 10:05 AM EST Ruminant animals, like cows, are a more pressing cause of climate change than CO2 emissions, a new study claims. (Photo: Shutterstock) The focus of climate change target – carbon dioxide emissions – could be lopsided, according to an opinion commentary published in Nature Climate Change. While CO2 emissions are damaging to climate, they are also just a part of the problem; in reality, a more serious cause of climate change are the methane-emitting animals we raise for food. Pound for pound, the…

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The work on the next documentary continues. My hope is that it will bring a new perspective to the miserable condition of our country’s finances and to why American workers have so little to celebrate on Labor Day. Most importantly the documentary will make clear who is at fault. This past week I attended several seminars to gather information for the documentary. The UBB Never Again documentary ubbneveragain.com is still getting thousands of hits on You Tube and the websites. We will continue to fight for the truth about the UBB accident and push for meaningful mine safety improvements. The…

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Public coal company stock prices are very depressed today when compared to what they have been at times over the past decade. Most of the conversations among coal miners and coal executives’ center around the question of when will the coal prices return. Another topic is how bad and unfair Obama’s war on coal is. Another is the loss in coal’s market share of electricity generation. Another is the big impact new discoveries of natural gas have had on coal’s future. All of these coal issues make good conversation. Sometimes they even make good comedy when politicians ranging from Rahall…

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Congressman McKinley: Thanks for responding to my letter. Naturally I am disappointed that you did not address all of the questions, particularly the two easiest ones. Are you aware that the Mine Safety and Health Administration is requiring coal companies and miners to idle continuous miner scrubbers and have you looked at the natural gas samples? You also say in your letter that there are several reports concerning the UBB accident. You mentioned some completed by outside organizations but I am not sure what you are referring to there. As for the MSHA report and the Davitt McAteer report these…

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Many of you may have seen the TV ads about the airing of the documentary titled “For The Sake of Our Miners” which is scheduled to appear on WSAZ this Saturday at 7 PM. The documentary is pretty much like the longer version that is on both my website donblankenship.com and on ubbneveragain.com. However there is enough new in the TV version that I encourage you to watch it. It is only 30 minutes long. The longer version which was prominently displayed on YouTube and readily available if googled is now more difficult to find following Senator Manchin’ s proclamation…

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We have now passed one month since I delivered the letter to Senator Manchin and Governor Tomblin asking five basic and simple questions. The questions in short were: Have you personally looked at the U.B.B. gas samples?What have you done to prevent U.B.B. from happening again?Do you believe you have a responsibility for miner safety?Are you aware MSHA is requiring miner dust scrubbers to be turned off?Are you aware that some new legislation could make miners safer? Senator Manchin told the media on the day he received the letter that he would respond. Governor Tomblin has not said anything publicly…

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Recently I wrote to explain why MSHA (U.S. Government) might have insisted on changing U.B.B’s ventilation plan – ubbneveragain.com. Here, I will attempt to explain MSHA’s forced idling of continuous miner scrubbers. “Scrubbers” were invented to protect miner’s health in the 1970’s. They provide multiple advantages for miners. They: Prevent dust from getting in miners lungs by removing it permanently from the air.Improve visibility for minersLessen the chance of an explosion by rapidly removing methaneReduce the amount of dust in a mine’s return airways which also reduces the chance of an explosion Despite these facts MSHA refuses to allow many…

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