In a presentation at the Rose Garden of the White House, the nation’s chief of staff focused on the death of 29 men at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia and looked to how regulators will progress going forward.

“We owe them more than prayers. We owe them action. We owe them accountability,” Obama said.

“We owe them an assurance that when they go to work every day, when they enter that dark mine, they are not alone. They ought to know that behind them there is a company that’s doing what it takes to protect them, and a government that is looking out for their safety.”

The US president noted he has been briefed on a preliminary report he ordered from US Department of Labor secretary Hilda Solis and US Mine Safety and Health Administration heads Joe Main and Kevin Stricklin regarding the April 5 explosion at UBB.

“I want to emphasize that this investigation is ongoing, and there’s still a lot that we don’t know,” he pointed out.

“But we do know that this tragedy was triggered by a failure at the Upper Big Branch mine – a failure first and foremost of management, but also a failure of oversight and a failure of laws so riddled with loopholes that they allow unsafe conditions to continue.”

As a result, he has ordered Solis, Main and Stricklin to team up with state officials from West Virginia to “press ahead” with the investigation, and in the meantime Obama said there needs to be a focus on all of the nation’s operations.

“Starting today, we’ll go back and take another look at mines across this country with troubling safety records, and get inspectors into those mines immediately to ensure they aren’t facing the same unsafe working conditions that led to this disaster.”

The administration has also directed the top federal officials to both strengthen enforcement for existing laws and close loopholes “that permit companies to shirk their responsibilities”, and added that while federal laws were enhanced with the MINER Act, safety violators such as UBB’s owner Massey Energy “have still been able to find ways to put their bottom line before the safety of their workers – filing endless appeals instead of paying fines and fixing safety problems”.

Obama recognized the backlog of appeal cases by MSHA’s Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, and said he has asked Solis to streamline rules that determine a mine’s pattern of violations.

“If a mining company consistently violates safety standards, they should be subjected to the tougher enforcement that comes with being placed on an updated Pattern of Violations list,” he said, noting that Washington also needs to be held accountable and as such will “take a hard look” at its practices and procedures.

“I refuse to accept any number of miner deaths as simply a cost of doing business … if a tragedy can be prevented, it must be prevented,” Obama concluded.

Massey’s response

UBB mine owner Massey Energy responded Thursday afternoon, calling Obama’s statements regarding the operation “regrettable”

“We fear that the president has been misinformed about our record and the mining industry in general,” officials said, pointing to its three Sentinels of Safety Awards received last year for safety achievements – the most received in one year by any company.

The company also spoke to the violations appeal backlog that has received much criticism since the explosion. According to its data, the percentage of violations in appeal for the company and UBB itself are similar to the industry as a whole.

“The enormous backlog of appeals waiting to be heard has been frustrating to all involved…[and] we urge Congress to appropriate the funds necessary to enable this system to work better by helping government regulators to resolve the enormous backlog at MSHA,” the company said.

Massey confirmed that it is cooperating with both state and federal agencies to determine the cause of the UBB explosion.

“Unfortunately, some are rushing to judgment for political gain or to avoid blame. Our goal is to communicate transparently as the facts unfold.”

Massey targeting, idling mines

In related Massey news, company chairman Don Blankenship said in an interview with the Charleston Daily News this week that he has plans to idle several of the company’s mines on the basis of safety violations.

In fact, work has already stopped at several with recent MSHA citations.

"I did idle several mines [Tuesday] and there may be some more this week on the basis of some violations MSHA had written since this accident to make sure we use the violations at one particular mine to assess all similar circumstances at all of our mines," Blankenship said.

He did not indicate which mines would be closed and for how long. An ILN request for more details from a Massey spokesperson was not returned by press time.

Blankenship reiterated to the Daily Mail a statement he has made to the press, that he does not believe Massey’s mines are dangerous.

"We're not operating any mine that we think needs to be shut down, otherwise it would be shut down," he told the paper, adding that it would not be wise for him to speculate on the cause of the UBB blast.

"If you fixate yourself on one theory you might overlook something else, so we've been careful," he said.