Take a tough look

We’re glad President Obama ordered a federal investigation into what caused last week’s tragic explosion that claimed the lives of 29 coal miners at Upper Big Branch Mine in Raleigh County.

It’s distressing that the mine, owned by Massey Energy, had been cited so many times for safety violations – 1,342 reported violations since 2005, in fact.

While every politician in southern West Virginia seems to have gotten their minute of fame on TV news last week, you have to wonder where they were before the accident.

For years, there’s been a controversy about the dangers posed to nearby Marsh Fork Elementary from a Massey coal silo just 150 feet from the school. Yet, other than occasional sympathetic statements, nothing ever seems to be done.

Many of the state’s politicians, including legislators from non-coal counties in the Eastern Panhandle, regularly accept donations from Don Blankenship, the Massey Energy boss who has been accused of trying to swing elections with his pocketbook.

The West Virginia Supreme Court even ruled last fall that emails sent from former chief justice “Spike” Maynard to Blankenship were private and not public documents available for citizen inspection.

Problems and tragedies in mining communities may seem far away to some people, but they affect all of the Mountain State in many ways. Every time you flip on a light switch, you’re relying on coal and the labor of deep-mine workers who put their lives on the line to provide us with the electricity we take for granted.

We hope the federal investigation will be thorough and unblinking, and will result in real shakeups in King Coal Country.