March - April - United Mine Workers of America

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Governmentin actionIndiana congressman blames minersfor getting black lungWhen labor Secretary hildaSolis testified before the houseEducation and Workforce Committeein February, she likely expectedsome tough questions from the newRepublican majority on the panel.But she probably did not expect tohear a freshman member ofCongress blame coal miners forblack lung.Yet that’s just what Rep. larryD. Buchson (R) of Evansville, Ind.,did. A surgeon, Buchson is the sonof a 37-year member of the UWMAand the grandson of two coal miners.“ The most effectiveway to prevent blacklung is to reduceminers’ exposureto respirable dustin coal mines.”Despite that background, he said, “Isee a lot of patients with workplacerelatedrespiratory problems, someof which, to put it bluntly, are theirown issue because they refuse towear safety equipment regardlessof whether there are regulations inplace to do so or not.”“Rep. Buchson’s commentreflects a serious lack of understandingabout the causes of black lungand how to prevent it,” PresidentRoberts said. “The most effective wayto prevent black lung is to reduceminers’ exposure to respirable dustin coal mines.“Wearing masks or respiratorscan help,” Roberts said. “But they arenot the cure-all Rep. Buchson seemsto think they are. Respirators shouldbe the ‘last line of defense’ againstrespirable coal dust, because if theyare the first line of defense, it cangive irresponsible operators a reasonto let dust get out of control in themine atmosphere. And that cancreate even more problems.” new push to kill campaignfinance regulationsIn the wake of last year’s decision by the Supreme Court to allow unlimitedand anonymous spending by corporations in federal campaigns, severalright-wing groups are working to undo even more prohibitions on the sources ofcampaign funds.A report in The Politico, a political daily online magazine, said thatopponents of campaign finance regulations have targeted “almost every typeof regulation on the books: disclosure requirements, bans on foreign andcorporate contributions and—in a pair of cases the Supreme Court will considerthis month—party spending limits and public financing of campaigns.”Their goal is to allow untold billions of dollars from multinationalcorporations to be used in the campaigns of those who will do the bidding ofthose corporations.“There is no question that the 2010 ruling by the Supreme Court was a bigpart of the right-wing victory in the 2010 election,” President Roberts said. “Itmeant that corporations could contribute millions of dollars to shadowy groupswhich then ran ads opposing the friends of working families. And they could doit without anyone knowing about it.“The defeat of Rick Boucher in Virginia is a perfect example,” Roberts said.“Boucher had more money in his campaign warchest than his opponent, butthat really didn’t matter. The political PACs funded by anonymous donationsfrom corporations and the very wealthy outspent Boucher’s supporters by tento-one.“This is how the people in Wisconsin ended up with an anti-working familygovernor like Scott Walker,” Roberts said. “It’s how people in Ohio ended upwith John Kasich, another governor who has working people and unions in hiscrosshairs. The list goes on and on.“And it’s not going to get any better if these new attempts to open thefloodgates to corporate cash are successful,” Roberts said.14 March/April 2011 • United Mine Workers Journal
Governmentin actionJapanese earthquake and tsunami raisequestions about safety of nuclear powerThe incredibly powerful earthquakeand resulting tsunamithat devastated northeastern Japanin early March left thousands deadand hundreds of thousands homeless.It also caused what is still unfoldingas the worst nuclear powerdisaster in history.With several reactors releasinglarge amounts of radiation, Japaneseofficials ordered a complete evacuationof an area 19 miles outside theFukushima power plant. Americandiplomats advised American citizensto move at least 50 miles away fromthe crippled plant.“ The spent fuelfrom a nuclear plantis still deadly forthousands of years.”Reports of contaminated food,water and milk are growing in Japan.Although it is highly unlikely thatany significant amount of radioactivecontamination will reach the UnitedStates, there is significant radiationbeing detected off Japan’s coast, raisingquestions about the impact onsea life.Within days of the disaster,governments around the world beganstepping back from supporting newdevelopment of nuclear power in theircountries. Germany said it would shutdown older reactors. Slowdowns inlicensing procedures and enhancedsafety inspections were immediatelyput in place in France, Switzerland,Thailand, India and China.In the United States, where severalnuclear reactors sit on top of orwithin 50 miles of major fault lines,questions are being raised about thesafety of the reactors currently inuse as well as about how new plantscould be built that would be safe.Government regulators and thecompanies operating the U.S. nuclearplants have repeatedly said the plantsare safe. But concerns linger.“let’s face it, nuclear energy hassome pretty significant downsidesto it,” Secretary-Treasurer Kane said.“And it’s not just in those times whenthings go wrong.“The spent fuel from a nuclearplant is still deadly for thousands ofyears,” Kane said. “That means thatlong after all the coal is gone, longafter all the oil and natural gas aregone, people are still going to haveto contend with preventing deadlynuclear waste from contaminatingour environment and threateningpeople and wildlife.“That needs to be part of theequation as our nation looks to builda long-term, viable and realistic energypolicy that will serve us into thefuture,” Kane said. “Nobody’s reallybeen talking about that up to now.But it’s time we started.”You can help theJapanese disastervictimsThe American Red Cross is acceptingdonations that will go directly to Japaneserelief efforts. Contact your local Red Crossor go to www.redcross.org and click on“How to Help.” Save the Children, whichis the world’s largest independentchildren’s assistance organization,has sent a team to Japan to help withrelief efforts. You can contact themby calling 1-800-728-3843, or go towww.savethechildren.org. United Mine Workers Journal • March/April 2011 15
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March - April - United Mine Workers of America

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