Delinquent Coal Owners

The coal industry has never cared about keeping workers alive. It still doesn’t. And even when the companies are fined for their horrible workplace safety, some just refuse to pay, as this excellent NPR piece shows. In 2014, the regulatory system is too weak to do anything about that. This just gives mine operators more incentives to ignore these problems and let workers die. Congress could strengthen the regulatory laws to provide real punishment for these companies. But there’s no way Republicans are going to do that. Because they don’t care about dead workers.