Sad Facts On The West Virginia Mining Disaster

There’s a great deal about the latest West Virginia mining disaster that’s messed up. For one, as Mike Tomasky points out, the mine was not the safest one in the state. Ben Smith also notes that West Virginia politics is a 1920s-style “conflict between labor union and Democrats on one side and a single, deep-pocketed coal baron on the other.”

It’s also worth noting that the deaths from mining disasters dramatically outnumbers the one from nuclear power plants. I personally can’t get over my fear of a nuclear power plant disaster but it’s moments like these that push me in that direction.

–Jasper Hart