In Which Zandar Answers Your Burning Questions

American Spectator's Phillip Klein asks:

Will Obama Get Blamed for Mining Disasters (as Bush Was)?

Reading news accounts of the event, it strikes me that during the Bush administration, disasters like this were immediately seized upon to score political points. Specifically, when the Sago mine disaster happened in 2006, it was used as yet another example of Bush rewarding oversight positions to corporate allies who would allow lax standards to prevail.

Well, it would be one thing if Bush and Obama were equal on this subject, but Klein doesn't even ask why anyone would think to blame Bush for Sago, even though he basically answers his own question above.

OSHA's budget has been cut each year President Bush has been in office, when adjusting for inflation. Since reaching an all-time high in FY 2001, OSHA's overall budget has fallen more than five percent under Bush.


Funds appropriated for enforcement activity fell almost 8 percent from FY 2001 to FY 2008. (See Graph 1b.) Although money appropriated for enforcement activity has fallen during the Bush administration, the number of inspections conducted by OSHA and state regulators has remained consistent.

While the overall budget and enforcement budget at OSHA have declined, the budget for compliance assistance has risen. OSHA compliance assistance programs allow federal regulators to work with businesses to promote voluntary compliance and assist in understanding federal regulations.

Peg Seminario, director of safety and health for the AFL-CIO, said in testimony before a Senate worker safety panel that the budget shifts are reflective of the Bush administration's attitude toward workplace regulation. She said the Bush administration has "[r]epeatedly favored voluntary compliance over enforcement and programs directed at employers over those for workers."

Although Seminario recognizes the problems associated with resource constraints, the real problem, she says, has been in OSHA's management. In the area of enforcement, Seminario points out Bush's OSHA, unlike previous administrations, "hasn't had high-profile focused initiatives on major hazards." As a result, "There is no sense of overall presence," she adds.

In other words, the Bush administration cut the enforcement budget and allowed much more voluntary compliance for companies to enforce themselves.  The result: disasters like Sago.  There was a reason why Bush got nailed for Sago:  his policies created a climate where worker safety took a back seat to company profitability in dangerous industries like mining.

How is Obama different? 

Although OSHA’s budget would grow only slightly under Obama's proposal, the new budget will focus more heavily on enforcement. OSHA will add 25 new inspectors, and shift 35 employees from compliance assistant to enforcement. The budget contemplates an increase in inspections by 9 percent. (These increases are on top of the 100 new inspectors added in FY 2010.)   According to EHSToday, Labor Secretary Solis will be reducing the funding to OSHA's Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) – the program that served as the model for EPA’s Performance Track program developed under the Clinton Administration but terminated under Obama. 

New inspectors, more enforcement, and a reduction in voluntary compliance.  That's your difference.  Sadly, Obama's additional measuresdid not come soon enough to prevent Montcoal, and many of the safety procedures mandated under the MINER Act passed after Sago have yet to be implemented in a huge majority of the mines.  Energy companies are dragging their feet and complaining about costs.

Klein is correct that Bush is not the real culprit any more than Obama is.  The coal mining and energy companies that run the industry however bear the brunt of the blame...and the blood on their hands from miners who died serving King Coal.

Mining's a touchy subject here in the Bluegrass State.  Miners make good money in a state not exactly known for high-paying jobs.  Especially in this economy, you will find miners willing to take the risks to make money to put food on the table for their families.

Having said that, when energy companies are cutting corners and dealing with "voluntary compliance" with the rules of safety, there's something wrong.  Massey Energy, the company that operated the Upper Big Branch mine in Montcoal, had 57 safety violations in the last month alone.  OSHA inspections can only go so far, in the end the mine operators have to be responsible for how their own mine is run.

Massey Energy failed.  25 are dead.  To answer Klein's question, the answer is "no" nor should Obama get the blame for this.  Perhaps it was unfair to saddle Bush with the blame for Sago.  The real bad guys here are the energy companies that run the mines.