Of Mining and Men

20060120

Two mining accidents in three weeks in West Virginia have brought the dangerous occupation of the coal miner to the forefront of the news. In this renewed exposure, we see the revelation that coal mining, indeed most mining, is a task only lightly affected by the march of time, progress, and technology.

It seems almost ridiculous to consider that the same nation that can send robotic explorers to Mars, let alone that those explorers still function two years and eight times longer that they were expected to, still expects its coal to be produced by the labor of men who descend deep beneath the earth to extract it.

There is no doubt that the automation of jobs like coal mining has many consequences that must be considered, but such consequences should not be considered as impediments, rather as checkpoints that must be fulfilled. Indeed, the development of mining automation technology is expensive. It will require the reemployment of coal miners in other fields. It may cut into the profits of the companies that own the coal mines. Again, these are all considerations to be overcome, not barriers to be succumbed to.

Consider that this nation is the great nation it is today because of the technological revolution brought about by the space race of the 1950s and 1960s. From that race came the technology- from computers to cell phones- that we rely on everyday. From that technology comes our standard of living, our economic power, and our military might, all which allow us to continue to live as a free, independent nation in the turbulent world stage.

Yet, we allow coal miners to descend into the depths of the earth to extract the rock that provides the majority of our electrical necessity in arguably the same way they always have? How can a nation like ours continue to maintain its place in the face of that kind of incongruity?

The answers to these questions are the same answers to so many of this nation’s problems. The solution lies in improved education, increased investment in science and technology, and greater freedom for the entrepreneurial development of that science and technology.

Until then, men will continue to descend beneath the earth to extract coal as they have for hundreds of years, and they will continue to die in accidents such as the ones that have recently occurred. Eventually, this reality will result in a great disaster, and this disaster will affect us in our economy and in our superiority.

DLH