A Miner Problem For Massey

Hey folks, this weekend while the pictures of devastated coastline, decimated coastal communities and dead wildlife pour in from the Gulf, let's keep in mind that Deepwater Horizon's oil rig wasn't the only deadly energy company disaster borne of negligence just in the last month.

Massey Energy Co is under criminal investigation by the FBI after the deadly mine explosion in West Virginia, U.S. officials familiar with the matter said on Friday, news that sent the company's stock plummeting.

The FBI is probing the company and the circumstances surrounding the explosion which killed 29 miners, including for potential negligence, the officials said, declining further identification.

The miners died at the Upper Big Branch mine in Montcoal, West Virginia, on April 5, in the worst U.S. mining disaster since 1970.

April has been a very, very bad month for energy companies.  But never forget it's been far, far worse for the families of the people who were killed in these two accidents, people who risked their lives going into potentially lethal situations in order to obtain energy for us to use, and for these companies to profit handsomely off of.

Ask yourself if companies like BP and Massey could afford to increase safety precautions to prevent deadly accidents in the future.  The FBI is at least starting to ask questions.

Oh, and should the wellhead rupture in the gulf, that 200,000 a gallon per day oil spill could become two million gallons of oil a day.  Should THAT happen, it's an Exxon Valdez-level disaster.  Every five and a half days.

Moose Lady still says "Drill baby drill!" and wonders what the big deal is...