Frank Macskasy on Pike River

Shunda Barunda laid some harsh charges here over the behaviour of National, Labour and the unions in the management of the Pike River mine. I've been on the lookout for a pithy response to what he said ever since. Frank, commenting at Pundit had what I was looking for:

* The changes to legislation in the early 1990s by a reform-obsessed National Government  seems to have created the proverbial ticking time bomb. As with the leaky/rotting homes syndrome, the de-regulation of mining and safety has resulted in inevitable disaster.

* The Pike River Mine company seems to have operated using short cuts, taking advantage of the de-regulation of the 1990s. And like other hostile environments such as the sea and outer space, mining is an unforgiving activity where  eventually good luck will run out.

* Whilst National may have facilitated the environment where all the elements came together for an eventual catastrophe - it shouldn't be forgotten that Labour had nine years to address this problem and re-instate mines inspectors. They obviously did not.

* And lastly, where was the miners' union? Why did the remaining safety inspector(s) not blow the whistle? (I'm not even going to ask about the media, which seems to have fallen asleep-at-the-wheel, only to awaken when there are suitable crime stories to report, or stranded penguins that go off the Cuteness Scale...)  And Bernie Monk stated that the mine was "obviously unsafe".

Ripping off the scab

Mayor Kockshorn

Mayor Kockshorn has taken the opportunity provided by the league to announce that he'd like to see the national park open cast mined.

Kockshorn "believed Pike River should have been open-cast all along, but "restrictive DoC conditions" and the price of coal at the time the mine started ...meant it was prohibitive."


Nice one Tony.
You've taken us all completely by surprise. Who'd have ever guessed that idea would surface?
Gerry Brownlee will be as surprised as we are!
Here's the article.

I can do the smiley face emoticon, but how do you do the wry smile, tinged with exasperation and resignation?

Inferno

So now we have a coal mine in a national park, burning furiously.

Head on a pike

Interesting reading, as always, from Gordon Campbell, this time on Pike River.
From Campbell's piece here,  the prospectus document.

"Gas in the Brunner Seam is generally at low to moderate levels, giving Pike River confidence it can safely and efficiently mine this seam. The Mine Plan incorporates a high level of ventilation and other safety measures to guard against any seam gas and ventilation issues. In areas of low to moderate gas, the gas will flow under natural pressure and be vented into the Mine’s return air ventilation system. In the isolated areas, where seam gas contents are at greater levels, it may be necessary to drain the gas using a negative pressure pump from the tunnel entrance area and either exhaust the gas into the atmosphere or burn it in an enclosed flare….


Pike River has had studies undertaken that show that Pike River coal has a low inherent propensity to spontaneously combust meaning the coal itself has a low likelihood of self heating in normal atmospheric conditions. All quantities of ventilating air within the sections of the Mine will be sufficient to dilute gas emissions to levels below statutory permissible limits and maintain comfortable conditions for operating diesel powered equipment."

I would not go in here, ever.