With the price of coal so high, you have operators coming out of the woodwork, trying to get into any seam of coal they can to make a quick buck, opening up a lot of little dog holes.
More Quotes from Tony Oppegard:
If an operator is undercapitalized to the extent that he can't pay his fines, he shouldn't be in business. You can bet he's skimping on safety.Tony Oppegard
They see tomorrow, they don't see the future. They don't think they're getting their money's worth ... if a guy can't operate a continuous miner or a roof-bolting machine tomorrow.
Tony Oppegard
You can mine 4 tons of coal in a couple of minutes. It's cheaper to exceed the dust limits, expose a miner to black lung and pay the fine than it is to do the right thing.
Tony Oppegard
Most of the fines are not high enough to have a real deterrent effect. If the operators know they're not going to have to pay the fines, or that they will be minimal fines, they just factor that into the cost of doing business.
Tony Oppegard
To me, if you're under-capitalized and don't have the financial means to operate a safe mine, you shouldn't be in the mining business.
Tony Oppegard
I've been criticizing them for 20 years for doing it that way. It's not good government.
Tony Oppegard
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