Labor Dept. Asks Court To Close Massey Mine In Ky. | 89.3 KPCC

For 33 years, the agency has had the authority to take mining companies to federal court when they have serious and persistent safety violations. But this “injunctive relief” section of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act has not been invoked until now.

So how many coal miners have died in the last 33 years while the government regulators who should have been protecting them never used the full authority of their agency? We don’t need more regulations when the agencies are so cozy with the companies they are monitoring that they don’t enforce the laws that are already on the books.