Don Blankenship was head of Massey Energy when 29 coal miners lost their lives in a massive explosion. Forced to resign, he has been largely invisible since.

Now he’s filed papers to start another coal mine venture.

In a time of accident like we are seeing at the Daiichi Nuclear Power Stations facts are a very good thing. So let me provide you with some facts, then we can talk about what is known at this point about the accident there.

Overnight there was an explosion at one unit of one of the two Fukushima nuclear stations that have been slowly failing since the earthquake and tsunami. Earlier reports had said that in one unit, the still hot fuel rods had been exposed by falling cooling water while problems continued at Unit 2 and three other units at a nuclear station about 15 km away. There have also been reports of releases of cesium with seriously high radioactivity being reported in the vicinity.

After a devastating 8.9 earthquake, damage to the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant led to some sort of explosion.

The US government as a total body may be completely foolhardy and tone deaf. In the wake of the Horizon disaster, sadly, a Federal court has allowed Shell to move forward on drilling in the Artic without a murmur from the Congress or White House. Even as a semi-submersible (a la the Horizon) Venezuelan gas [...]

We still don’t know what caused the blowout and explosion, but the Wall Street Journal is running a story suggesting the cause may have been related to the process Halliburton used for sealing the holes and gaps created during the drilling process.

As the oil spill continues unabated from the collapsed riser pipe left behind the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon, the politicians begin their inevitable tepid response. Mary Landrieu scuttles for cover.