It's hard to remember now that the BP disaster has taken such precedence, but it was only in April that an explosion in West Virginia killed 29 people at Massey Energy Company's Upper Big Branch Mine. In light of that story, NPR investigated mine safety violations and reported yesterday that they found violations have increased by nearly a third since 2006. Many of the violations include coal dust and ventilation problems that could have led to the mine explosion.
This is another example, though, of a failure in the way we calculate the costs of continuing to use energy the ways in which we do. No matter how many studies come out showing that cap-and-trade is a deficit reducer, or that curbing greenhouse gases will ultimately lead to innovation, or that failing to restrict pollution will cost us a lot of money in the next few years because of innumerable problems relating to climate change, environmentalism is still portrayed as being at odds with economics. But mine safety violations that lead to death, and disasters like the BP oil spill, cost a lot more.
-- Monica Potts
