[Hoot Gibson]

I agree to a point but don't you think Blankenships attitude and diarrhea of the mouth brings a lot of the bad publicity. We have turned into a society of taking sides no matter what the issue instead of weighing the facts. A lot of the negative news I have heard about Massey is from Fox(the gospel of tv news according to conservatives). You are exactly right about the media coverages but there is a lot of instances of less then ethical behavior by "Dandy Don" over the past several years. I support coal and coal miners but I do not support crooked and loud mouth coal operators who think they are untouchable and are allowed to do anything they want without repercussions. There are some coal operators who "class acts" as individuals. I do not believe he is one of them.

I have been too busy working and looking for my next job in this horrible economy to follow the story closely but I cannot remember a mining disaster in the past 30 years where media coverage was fair. As for Massey, I do not know Blankenship so I will not comment on how he has handled the media. I do know that corporate officers are generally muzzled by their lawyers (for good reason), which leaves the anti-mining zealots free rein to attack company managers like Blankenship.

Add to Massey's mounting problems the fact that we have an extreme pro-union US president in charge of the Labor Department, MSHA, OSM, and the EPA, and I am afraid that we are witnessing the beginning of the end for Massey. The company will be lucky to survive the next three years.

People need to understand that these mine rescue teams are risking their lives every time that they step foot underground. There is no way to ensure that methane levels are safe over a large area, and smoke indicates that there is an ignition source present.

I competed on a mine rescue and first aid team back in the early 80s, not long after the Scotia disaster. While our team was on standby to reopen a recently unsealed mine that had been on fire in Virginia, a methane explosion occurred and blew up some equipment that we had loaned a Virginia team. Fortunately, nobody was in the mine at the time of the explosion.

Much as I hate to say it, the mine should probably be sealed before another explosion takes place. It is not safe to send live people underground while carbon monoxide and methane are both present in the mine atmosphere.

(The mine in Virginia that I mentioned above was unsealed while CO2 was still detectable. When the oxygen level rose and the methane level dropped into the explosive range, the mine blew.)