ENVIRONMENT — DESPITE THOUSANDS OF SAFETY VIOLATIONS, MASSEY CEO DON BLANKENSHIP CLAIMS THAT HE ‘NEVER’ PUTS PROFITS ABOVE SAFETY: In his first Capitol Hill appearance since the Upper Big Branch mine explosion last month, Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship told a Senate committee yesterday that “we never have, and never will” put profits above safety in any of his company’s mines. “From the day I became a member of Massey’s leadership team 20 years ago, I have made safety my number one priority,” Blankenship said. But the truth is that Blankenship’s Big Branch mine alone was “cited for safety violations 515 times in 2009 and 124 times in 2010 before the blast,” citations which Assistant Secretary of Labor Joseph Main said were “not only more numerous than average, but also more serious.” The Big Branch violations are part of Massey’s long record of egregious environmental and health violations. In 2000, a Massey subsidiary was responsible for what was at that time the “nation’s largest man-made environmental disaster east of the Mississippi.” In 2007, the EPA sued Massey for violating the Clean Water Act “more than 4,500 times from the beginning of 2000 to the end of 2006.” And in 2006, Massey’s Aracoma Coal Co. pled “guilty to 10 criminal charges, including one felony, and pay $2.5 million in criminal fines” after two workers died in a fire at the Aracoma Alma No. 1 Mine in Melville, West Virginia. Massey failed to notify authorities of the fire until two hours after the disaster, and Blankenship later called the incident “statistically insignificant.” Though the company has been charged with tens of thousands of violations (10,653 in 2009), Massey continues to escape full responsibility by constantly appealing the penalties, and by leveraging connections with former employees of Blankenship who had been placed at the highest levels of the federal mine safety system. Blankenship’s attitude toward worker safety is best embodied in a memo he sent to mine superintendents just two months before the Aracoma fire. “If any of you have been asked by your group presidents, your supervisors, engineers or anyone else to do anything other than run coal (i.e. build overcasts, do construction jobs, or whatever),” he wrote, “you need to ignore them and run coal. This memo is necessary only because we seem not to understand that the coal pays the bills.”
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Truckinginfo …
5/21/2010 White House Will Announce Plans for Truck Fuel Economy Standards Today
By Oliver B. Patton, Washington Editor
The Obama Administration this morning will announce a plan to set national standards for fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions for heavy- and medium-duty trucks, according to sources familiar with the plan.
Details will come after the 10:30 a.m. White House announcement, but the Environmental Protection Agency is planning a proposal to set specific improvements in fuel efficiency and specific emissions reductions for 2014 through 2018, said Allen Schaeffer, executive director of the Diesel Technology Forum.
Included in today’s announcement will be a letter from truck engine manufacturers to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson in support of the EPA’s proposal, objectives and schedule, Schaeffer said.
Another source, who asked not to be identified because he has been involved in the negotiations, said that engine manufacturers have been working with EPA for a year and a half to craft a workable plan.
They have been guided by the expectation the standards are coming in any event, and that it makes sense to participate, the source said. The outcome, he said, is that engine manufacturers will be able to live with the proposed rule.
Crafting the Proposal
Schaeffer said that the EPA proposal will recognize the diversity of the trucking industry – a significant complicating factor in setting national fuel efficiency and emission standards. He also said that many of the techniques EPA will rely on will be familiar to participants in the EPA SmartWay program, which promotes technologies such as aerodynamics, low rolling resistance tires and reduction of waste heat as ways to improve fuel economy.
The EPA proposal will be guided in part by research recently published by the National Academy of Sciences.
That study says considerable fuel efficiency gains are possible through a range of technologies and methods across a variety of truck vocations, and recommends that regulators employ a fuel economy measurement that takes freight into account, such as gallons per ton-mile.
It was prepared by a 19-member committee that includes academics, members of public interest organizations and trucking industry experts, including Duke Drinkard, vice president of maintenance (retired) at Southeastern Freight Lines, David Merrion, executive vice president (retired) at Detroit Diesel, and Charles Salter, executive director of engine development (retired) at Mack Trucks/Volvo Powertrain.
Schaeffer said this announcement highlights the progress that’s been made in improving diesel engine technology, and sets the stage for even more gains. “Diesels can get even more efficient,” he said. “The companies are confident and they support the program because it will give them uniformity and certainty.”
American Trucking Associations President and CEO Bill Graves said the association has been supporting development of fuel economy standards and is looking forward to today’s announcement.
“Reducing fuel consumption and CO2 production is good for the trucking industry and great for the environment,” he said.
Another ATA representative, chairman Tommy Hodges, put it this way: “As chairman of the ATA Sustainability Committee that in 2008 offered truck fuel economy standards and five other recommendations to reduce fuel consumption by 86 billion gallons and carbon emissions by 900 million tons over a 10-year period, I am excited to see the administration moving forward.”
5/20/2010 APL Logistics Hires New Executive to Grow Domestic Rail Business
APL Logistics has appointed Dave Howland as its new vice president of land transport services.
Howland joins from Schneider National, where he served as vice president of rail management.
In his new role, Howland will concentrate on expanding APL Logistics North America domestic transport capabilities, focusing on land transport services and the link between customers’ international and domestic cargo movements.
“We’re moving forward to re-position APL Logistics in the domestic intermodal markets and in building greater coverage in our land-based transportation services to better serve our international, contract logistics and domestic customers,” said Jim McAdam, APL Logistics president.
Prior to joining Schneider, Howland was a manager in intermodal rail and truck brokerage with C.H. Robinson and Burlington Northern Santa Fe.
APL Logistics said it plans to significantly increase the company’s involvement in the U.S. domestic rail business.
Howland will be based at APL Logistics’ North America headquarters in Phoenix.
truckinginfo.com
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#FF Congress …
The Senate will Convene at 2:00p.mET May 24, 2010
There will be a period of morning business until 3:00 p.m. with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.
At 3:00 p.m., the Senate will proceed to the consideration of H.R. 4899, the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill.
At approximately 5:30 p.m., the Senate will proceed to a series of 2 roll call votes. Those votes will be in relation to the Brownback and Hutchison motions to instruct conferees with respect to Wall Street Reform.
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| CURRENT HOUSE FLOOR PROCEEDINGS LEGISLATIVE DAY OF MAY 21, 2010 111TH CONGRESS – SECOND SESSION
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OFA … Will you co-sign with us?
Kentucky Republican Rand Paul was born a year before the Civil Rights Act was enacted, but in the past few days, he’s said repeatedly that he opposes key pieces of the law.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was an unambiguous victory in the struggle for equality in the United States. In a single moment, legal segregation in schools and public places came to an end.
But, again and again, in interviews with local press, NPR, and Rachel Maddow, Paul has said that he doesn’t support the law as it was written. He believes that businesses should have the right to discriminate based on race, gender, disability, or any other factor. When asked about whether or not he supports desegregating lunch counters, Paul couldn’t even answer yes or no.
Rand Paul needs to know that his position is unacceptable, and it will take a massive public outcry for him to feel the political consequences. Help us send a message — sign our letter to Rand Paul today.
If you think it’s ridiculous that we’re still debating the merits of the Civil Rights Act today — 46 years after the fact — you’re correct.
But political views like this are exactly why Rand Paul has become a champion for the extreme wing of his party. If he is elected, he will be their voice in the Senate — taking up their plans to roll back all the changes that we’ve worked so hard to achieve and undermine the accomplishments of those who came before us.
It’s time that Rand Paul heard from people who aren’t ring-wing extremists. We’ve written an open letter to Paul to make it clear that his views have no place in 2010. Will you co-sign with us?
http://ky.barackobama.com/RandPaul
Thank you,
Jim
Jim Glenn
Kentucky State Director
Organizing for America
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Pop Quiz …
Pop quiz: Who should pay the bill for the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico?
A) Oil companies*
B) Taxpayers
*Clicking here will add your name to this petition: “Oil companies, not taxpayers, should pay for oil spill damages. Congress should get rid of the limits on oil spill liability.”
Thanks for all you do.
–Steven, Kat, Adam, Ilya, and the rest of the team
Be a Seed for Change 
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