US Judge Tosses Suit in 1968 Mine Explosion in West Virginia

[Bradley K. Sperman]

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A federal judge in West Virginia has tossed
out a lawsuit filed by relatives of 78 miners killed in a 1968
mine explosion.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (http://bit.ly/2nZQpNp ) reports
U.S. District Judge Irene Keeley in Clarksburg ruled Friday that
laws at the time stipulated there was a two-year window to file
a lawsuit after the disaster.

The latest lawsuit filed in 2014 was based on a federal mine
inspector's memo written two years after the explosion at
Consolidation Coal Co.'s No. 9 mine in Farmington indicating an
alarm had been disabled. The families, who earlier had received
$10,000 from the company, said they did not find out about the
memo until 2008.

The disaster led to passage of the federal Coal Mine Health and
Safety Act.

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/west-
virginia/articles/2017-04-02/us-judge-tosses-suit-in-1968-mine-
explosion-in-west-virginia

[Mr. B1ack]

On Mon, 3 Apr 2017 03:23:34 +0200 (CEST), "Bradley K. Sperman"

Post by Bradley K. Sperman
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A federal judge in West Virginia has tossed
out a lawsuit filed by relatives of 78 miners killed in a 1968
mine explosion.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (http://bit.ly/2nZQpNp ) reports
U.S. District Judge Irene Keeley in Clarksburg ruled Friday that
laws at the time stipulated there was a two-year window to file
a lawsuit after the disaster.
The latest lawsuit filed in 2014 was based on a federal mine
inspector's memo written two years after the explosion at
Consolidation Coal Co.'s No. 9 mine in Farmington indicating an
alarm had been disabled. The families, who earlier had received
$10,000 from the company, said they did not find out about the
memo until 2008.
The disaster led to passage of the federal Coal Mine Health and
Safety Act.
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/west-
virginia/articles/2017-04-02/us-judge-tosses-suit-in-1968-mine-
explosion-in-west-virginia

The history of the coal-mining industry has been, well,
checkered. Tampering with govt officials and the process
has been part of this. Little wonder there have been so
many violent clashes between labor and management
over the years. If the law won't work you've gotta break
heads.

Admittedly though ... a lawsuit dating way back to '68
does seem a bit too too ......

Hate to tell the miners (coal and otherwise) and Trump but
the future of underground mining isn't men - it's robots.
Semi/fully-autonomous mining 'bots are already possible
to build. There'd be no humans belowground at all, no
need for safety stuff, no need for air - it'd be safest to just
flood the mines with CO2.

A handful aboveground can run everything. In ten years
some "Watson-M" computer can even replace most
of those humans.

Expect this to be the last generation of human underground
miners in the USA/Canada and a lot of other places - profit
margins and lawsuits are going to force humans out of
the loop.