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And so it is no political accident that we are talking to a member of congress from california. you are chairman, though, you are in a position in power to make something happen and it is important to hear your voice on this. the president has suggested, i think, in his comments that the bush administration, his predecessors, were somehow more lax on this than we have seen in the past. can we really look back at the record and say it's -- or democrats have been somehow better than republicans on this -- on the issue of mine safety over time? >> there's no question about it. you look back at th...

The industry, with some wonderful exceptions in representatives pup b representatives. but they control things like it's the 1800s as opposed to 2010. the factor the matter is they continue to jeopardize lives. you have this mixed signal. 2009 was the safest year in many, many years in mining history and then at the end of this comes this accident. but the fact of the matter is the law is inadequate to provide the kind of protection that these miners are entitled to. it's just that simple. the law is inadequate. and everybody recognizes the loopholes. the regulators, the mining companies, the ...

Issue and we could not make that happen tonight. and so it is no political accident that we are talking to a member of congress from california. you are chairman, though, you are in a position in power to make something happen and it is important to hear your voice on this. the president has suggested, i think, in his comments that the bush administration, his predecessors, were somehow more lax on this than we have seen in the past. can we really look back at the record and say it's -- or democrats have been somehow better than republicans on this -- on the issue of mine safety over time? >> ...

Wonderful exceptions in representatives. but they control things like it's the 1800s as opposed to 2010. the fact of the matter is, they continue to jeopardize lives. you have this mixed signal. 2009 was the safest year in many, many years in mining history and then at the end of this comes this accident. but the fact of the matter is the law is inadequate to provide the kind of protection that these miners are entitled to. it's just that simple. the law is inadequate. and everybody recognizes the loopholes. the regulators, the mining companies, the unions, the workers, the congress, and so ma...

Ventilation problems, isn't that an indication these workers were going into an unsafe workplace? >> it certainly is when you see repeat violations. i think we're going to have to look at what happens in the investigations, in the weeks and months ahead, but it's really important to say that massey energy has a, is well-known for its sort of aggressive mining practices, for flouting mountain top mining laws. it is well-known for its behavior in the coal fields. >> when you're doing research on coal as an industry, what have you learned about not only the health and safety concerns for the peop...