Comments about ‘System failed mine workers, families’

I fear that the DNews has jumped on a slippery slope of socialism! First you called for responsible government regulation of fracking, and now you decry the lack of state rules overseeing coal mine safety. Not only are you not demonizing government, but you are actually admitting that we need strong safety and environmental laws to protect our citizens. If the Deseret News insists on being this reasonable, I'll have to go back to reading the Tribune!

"Mine owners have been able to deal with the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, or MSHA, by lobbying and stonewalling."

Folks howl against the regulators unless and until there is a problem. Then they ask "where were the regulators?" Usually, the truthful answer is the regulators were doing exactly what they had been told to do. Told by whom? By the legislature and executive in whose ears industry whispered that regulators were unnecessary and that they would take care of things just fine without the need for govt. supervision.

If you want govt. regulators to have teeth, you have to live with the fact that sometimes they will bite. They will close down your mine, your industrial facility, etc. This will put your families temporarily out of work while they make sure things are right.

When there is no accident or other problem found, folks will complain that the shutdown was a waste of time and that the action was evidence of intrusive govt. overreach.

But you can't have it both ways. Either you have effective regulators or you do not. We have to choose and then live (or not) with the consequences.