blankenship, thank you for talking with us. am the grief tonight, there are powerful questions being raised. we heard today, in this briefing, it said, this was preventable, by definition, it had to have been prevented, it should never have happened. should you have prevented it? >> well, i think every accident should be prevented. that's what the definition -- >> reporter: could you have prevented it? is there anything you could have done? >> not that we know of, because we don't even yet know what happened, so, once we know what happened, we'll know whether it was preventable by someone or not. >> reporter: this is clear. citations, incidents above the norm. at this mine. reportable incidents at this particular mine. >> yeah, this paicular mine has had more violations than some of the others. it hasn't had a lost time accident until these fatales this year. and this incident, which, you know, an explosion of some sort that we're not sure what happened yet. we don't really know what to say about it. >> reporter: should have mi

>> reporter: to many, blankenship is a symbol of arrogance and greed of cole in west virginia. >> my experience with him has been he's an accountant bottom line guy and if -- his emphasis is on the bottom line. >> reporter: in nearby whitesville, west virginia, miners and their families gathered for prayer. >> reporter: it's a dangerous job. a lot only ties we take for granted what we shouldn't. we should always pray for your miners. this may bond people closer together. >> reporter: tomorrow, the rescue and recovery teams will try a last ditch effort to see if anyone is still alive in the mine, bringi ing everything to halt to assure silence and sending tap signals that miners would recognize, and if alive and able, respond to. after that, with no response, the effort will fully shift to recovering the bodies of the worst mine disaster in the last 25 yea in this country. terry? >> all right, brian. there's another night, then, of hope and prayer and grief in west virginia coal country. thanks to brian ross for that report. >>> when we come back, we'll have new details in a bullying

the big is massy's c.e.o., don blankenship. a patron looks up from his chicken strip basket, nice shirt. thanks, brother, the man says, ambling over to extend his calloused hands. another customer rolls her eyes and gig else, nudging her friend across the table. she turns and shakes her head in disgust. bonds cab ems at mention of the man in the t-shirt. i'm so glad he's out today, ain't he great. located about 10 miles downstream from whites vim, the elementary school stands in the shadow of one of west virginia's largest impoundments, operated by massy energy. standing 385 feet tall, it holds 2.8 billion gallons of coal slurry, another impoundment, built a few miles upstream contains eight billion gallons of coal slurry. the ponds that surrounded whitesville, making some residents concerned for their safety. despite assurances from massy energy, many, including bonds, still have their doubts. the disasters at buffalo creek, west virginia, in 1972 and martin county kentucky in 2003 are still too fresh in their memories. we had

blankenship said the memo was taken out of context.2006 two miners died at a fire at the massey mine. the company was hit with the largest financial settlement in the history of the coal industry for willfully violating safety standards. tamron. >> lisa, there are two more resignations in the aftermath of that spending scandal that involved a trip to a bondage-themed nightclub. a high profile consultant and committee member have left the committee. that's putting added strains on the gop's political machine and its chairman michael steele after a spending scandal that erupted last week. politico.com writes on what to watch in the coming days, including are there any more drips to drop. meaning are others headed to the exit door. there seems to be a, quote, deafening silence from rnc members. could that change from an organization effort to -- or organized effort to push steele out. communications director for democratic national committee. thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> i feel bad, you're a democrat, republicans wil

many people think it is no accident that among the big sponsors of the tea party is don blankenship, president of massey coal, because he has been able to profit by the lack of effective government regulation. so, one of the problems of populist movements often times is that they are overtaken by people who distort the good work that they might be doing, and that is the problem with the tea party, that the issues are so complex today and they have been dumb down to the point where many of the people don't really understand who it is they should be angry at. >> i would say with respect, gentleman, that the tea party movement would probably argue with both of you on that point. as for mine safety and other things, it is just not on the tea party screen at this point. it may change. >> government -- do you want government to do all of these things, all the things the government is asked to do -- something about the decline in bees affected crops, the death of the tradition of non of because it is a clone and they cannot go on anymore. we assume there are scientists doing this. last week

. >> reporter: don blankenship is the ceo of massey energy and told you his company is appealing most of those fines. blankenship claims his company as a record consistent with other companies and is being unfairly blamed for the accident. >> the people that manage the minds, the engineers that develop the mine, all of these people are distressed enough without allegations that they don't care about the people. >> reporter: the work to vent the mine shaft is not quick, drilling at 100 feet an hour will not be until noon on wednesday that the drills will reach the mine shaft 1200 feet into the mountain. a loss of time for a community that has left so much. neighbors took in neighbors. friends took in friends. they are resilient because they have no other choice. >> reporter: the coal production here at the big branch mine has increase the by nearly a third over the past year but so too have the safety violations, 50 in march alone. tom fitzgerald, fox 5 news. >> thank you so much. >>> you can go for myfoxdc.com for continuing coverage of the deadly mine explosion. on our web site, you

the owner of that mine, massey energy, and its chief executive don blankenship face serious questionsnvestigative correspondent brian ross has been asking those questions for two years now. >> reporter: massey says its but recent court cases suggest . otherwise. >> it was surprising how much evidence there was of a general disregard for safety of coal miners. >> reporter: over the last year there has been a surge of federal safety violations at the upper big branch mine. many described as flagrant and repeated. 548 citaons in 2009. 122 so far this year. 58 last month alone. including almost daily citations related to proper ventilation of a dangerous accumulation of coal dust. >> that's a red flag. it's going to say, wait a minute, something's gone wrong here. >> reporter: federal mine safety officials said today that even with the continued problems over the last month, the law did not allow them to shut the mine down. >> you're asking if i have the ability to shut a mine down based on what i find. and the answer to that is no. >> reporter: but other mine safety experts say the law d

this is about the fact that don blankenship basically is the biggest political power in west virginia to stand up to him. he goes after politicians who do anything that he doesn't like. he spent $3.5 million a few years ago in attack ads against a state supreme court justice who had made a decision in a case that he didn't like. the word on the street in west virginia is you don't mess with don. and there's just -- it's just a really simple kind of intimidation that goes on. and in these mines, you know -- you know, it's not as all above board as we would like to think. these inspections happen down in the dark and i know from talking to some of these mine inspectors, there's a lot of corruption in this, there's a lot of back slapping and turning it, looking the other way. especially in the case of massey. the obvious question is why wasn't this mine shut down? >> when we look at the disasters that have been happening so frequently in china, in the chinese coal mines. look at that and think, those chinese coal mine operators, they sure are shady. or those chinese coal miners, they don

don blankenship donates lavishly to west virginia candidate hess favors. and he's spent thousands to influence members of the west virginia supreme court, who voted in his favor in a case he had before the court. >>> again, the latest update, at least 25 miners have been killed. abc news has a team of reporters headed to the scene in west virginia. we will have the very latest on this tragedy coming up at 7:00 on "good morning america." >>> in other news, president obama unveils a new policy on nuclear weapons today. it reduces america's nuclear arsenal and limits when they could be used. mr. obama's policy announcement is the first in a series of events aimed at reducing nuclear weapons worldwide. thursday, he signs a new arms treaty with russia. next week, he hosts a major nuclear summit in washington. >>> a senior military official confirms that a battle video posted on the internet is authentic. the cockpit video shows a helicopter firing repeatedly on people in a baghdad street during the height of the insurgency, in 2007. 12 people were killed, inclu

massey's ceo don blankenship says his company puts safety first. >> you can't be productive if you're not safe. >> reporter: during a time of mourning and investigation many are reflecting. >> the mine will be here when we're long gone. >> reporter: and remembering those lost in a state with deep roots inside the mines. jane mets letter, fox news. >>> in jer use linemen thousands are coming together -- jerusalem thousands are coming together to remember the 6 million jews killed in the holocaust. air ride sirens went off marking 2 minutes of silence in memory of the victims. israeli prime minister netanyahu spoke at the memorial. other leaders were also in attendance. >>> you're supposed to get better in the hospital but all too often patients actually get sicker. find out how one hospital is pioneering a system that can sense how clean a nurse's hands are before they touch the patient. that's on the other side of this break. h ntis >>> a new york senator wants the federal government to ban airlines from charging fees for carry on bags. senator charles schumer says the fee is slap in

at this point what caused this explosion, but what about massey's ceo, a controversial guy, don blankenship. >> he has become very controversial. he's become a major factor in politics there raising millions of dollars to support certain candidates including members of the west virginia supreme court who voted in his favor in certain key cases. when abc news tried to ask him about that, he attacked our camera man and said you're liable to get shot if you take pictures of me. >> i remember that. brian, thanks very much on the reporting on the massey energy company. we will continue to monitor that situation in west virginia. >>> we're going to turn in a different direction. big story today in the world of sport masters week has arrived. that means the return of golfer tiger woods. today, the golfer has been center stage in a sex scandal played golf, fans watched and he sat down for a grilling that has been months in the making as john berman reportses. >> reporter: he has been playing golf since he could walk, but still it was a day of firsts for tiger woods. the first time in five months he

don blankenship says that the company will pay for all of the miner's pune rals. >> terrell brown, thanks. >>> four americans were killed in a crash of an air force tilt rotor aircraft in afghanistan. it went down in southeast afghanistan late last night. three of the victims were service members. one was a severalian employee. it's designed to land and take off vertically like a helicopter, but can fly much faster. it has a history of problems. the cause of last night's crash is unknown. >>> turning how to golf, they turned back the clock at the masters. 50-year-old fred couples holds the first round lead, but just two strokes back is tiger woods who returned to competitive golf after a five month layoff without missing a beat. joel brown is in augusta. good morning. >> reporter: michelle, good morning to you. tiger woods said it felt like business as usual out there and by the back nine, fans had seemingly forgotten about woods, the tabloid fixture, fixating again on the best golfer in the world. >> we're having some technical difficulties unfortunately, joel, thank you, though, very mu

. >> on the question of these violations, we spoke with the ceo of massey energy company, don blankenshipesterday, and aired some of that this morning. he said the violations are up partially as a result of the miner act. you tighten the regulations, companies violate these violations because they find it difficult to get compliance. do you buy that argument? >> well, some companies fought the miner act implementation. others agreed to change it when necessary and they wanted to do what was necessary to improve the mine safety health underground. and because violations are up doesn't mean it's necessarily because somebody's after them. it means that you have to do a better job. and most responsible mine operators want to do a better job. they want to prevent accidents. they do not want to cut corners. they do not want to shortchange a miner's life in exchange for the bottom line profit. and, you know, that's number one in every mine operator's heart should be the protection of the health and safety of their employees. >> tame, though, the politics of it is complicated because of these min

. >> and when we asked in 2008 if a conflict of interest existed, blankenship became angry. the white house is demanding accountability. >> if there are safety violations, as the present believes, those violations have to be met with the full force of the law. >> some lawmakers are calling for hearings about delays that could undermine safety. >>> for the traffic situation, eric thomas has been watching the roads for us. >> this is tysons corner, 123 and international drive. they are continuing to work on the road and on the water main. southbound, traveling from the belt way, all lanes are open. northbound from vienna, all lanes are blocked. you can turn right or left on international drive, which is very slow from route 7. one of the biggest problems is going to be on 95 southbound. we had a crash that had things backed up onto the inner loop of the beltway. northbound 95 also have a crash. that is north of wharton. that will slow things down quickly. traffic in virginia has been terrible today. let us put it that way. >>> coming up, lighting is about to get even more expe

blankenship told you? in the weeks leading up to this -- we haven't talked about any of that.said, my main focus right now -- and when you have a situation like this you have your safety people and wootin has been here for some of the briefings. they are up there and they will get into all of that. all of that will be unveiled and finding out what happened. >> any idea as to when the rescuers went in and when they were pulled out? >> i got there and it had to be 2:30, 2:30 range, 2:45 when i was at the command center and they were just all being pulled out and came out at that time. the 2:30 time frame would be when they ran into the high methane levels. >> did they say they passed the 25 bodies and were looking for the four additional bodies? >> they had -- they have a body. they have a count. that count is they worked their way in and there are the four that are in the furthest part of the mine. govenor, we were told earlier that a couple of the oxygen masks were removed. is there any reason to believe -- >> we have heard that. this was a horrific blast. when the reports are

done blankenship is in a case study of someone trying to affect the political system. first of all, at the state level, he got a lot of attention a few years ago for spending more than $3 million to unseat a west virginia supreme court justice after the west virginia courts had given a $50 million verdict against massey energy. secondly in terms of federal campaigns, our friends at the center for responsive politics, have compiled a list of more than $300,000 to federal candidates by massy, and hits political action commit aye action includes contributions to some of the high-profile candidates. finally there's the issue of the -- affecting the executive branch. during the latter part of the bush administration, it is head of the mine safety agency was a former executive richard stickler. he did find massy for violations, so it wasn't a one-sided record, but now you have the obama administration looking at that record, looking at the way that massey has tried to contest the many, many safety violations that hampton pearson mentioned in their report. of course, the mine

blankenship has been called before congress? >> i don't think we know that or yet what shape a congressional inquiry will take. about an hour ago at a briefing on site, nick rayhall who chairs a natural resources committee on the house side basically said he will be involved in upcoming congressional hearings. that's as far as we have gotten thus far. >> if congress is involved in calling people who have taken required writeoffs for health care costs they ought to call this executive in front of them who, if i heard them correctly, every violation means an improvement in safety. that is alice in wonderland logic. >> he is technically correct that we got into this yesterday. the way the system works when you are cited by the feds you get to make short-term fixes of the violations which, in essence, keeps you open but that also clogs up the system. couple other things to throw out for you guise. you know, a lot -- >>q any time i get a ticket for speeding going 90 miles an hour in a 35-mile-per-hour zone and the next week i drive a

>> yeah, it really surprises me, especially someone like don blank blankenship, who is the ceo of masseygy and has often been outspoken as a champion, as he says, of his employees and workers. the fact he has not contacted them is really surprising. >> there were also a lot of questions for the mining inspectors about the violations that company has already faced. they've racked up more than $380,000 in fines and in the last couple of months, you're looking at the mine safe safetisiatio safetisiatiosafety citations. if you go in and find a problem, you fix it and then the mine continues to operate. if you're looking at things like ventilation problems, ventilation problems, 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 wel

was told the night before last there was a meeting and one of the mining families told koeb don blankenship we have not heard yet is sorry. john. >> they are all in our thoughts and prayers. a major apology from virginia's republican governor. bob mcdonnell now says it was a mistake to omit any reference to slavery regarding the state's recognition of confederate history month. in a statement issued, governor mcdonnell calls slavery an abomination. the governor added a paragraph to that proclamation saying it is important to understand that slavery was among the factors that led to the stifl war and was a "evil and inhumane practice." in a few moments we'll discuss this controversy with an african-american state senator, henry marsh. president obama departs for praug. it was there that the president outlined an ambitious goal of ridding the world of nuclear weapons. it is there where eltake whhe wa step in that direction. while that plan to slash the u.s. and russian nuclear arsenals, the president's broader call for a new strategy is generating more of a controversy. >> reporter: that's ri

this was her response to don blankenship's claims his mines are the safest in the region. >> honestly? bull [ bleep ]. that's bull [ bleep ]. >> what would you say to him if he was here now? >> honestly, i would -- [ laughter ] it's hard to. i'm very mad. >> reporter: and a lot of people here are very, very mad. tammy is one of the few who will say it publicly. >> shepard: a number of families of hopeful there are still miracles in that mine. >> they're praying and hoping for four miracles to walk out of the mine. but as you heard the governor say, it's really only a sliver of hope. those four may have made it to one rescue chamber you hopes are dimming with every hour. >> shepard: jonathan hunt, on the scene at breaking news. we'll get back who him. rescues of course working to pump water out of another mine, this one in china to locate missing miners from the flooded tunnels. it happened last month in the northern part of the country. we're told workers tigging tunnels broke into a water filled area and trapped 153 miners. crews pulled 115 to safety after more an a week underground.

a growing number of shareholders are calling for ceo don blankenship to step down. but the board says blankenship has its full support. >>> air travel is finally returning to normal in europe as the volcanic ash continues to dissipate. stranded travelers are returning home and so are many people in iceland who were forced to flee after the volcano near their homes began to erupt. meanwhile, the u.s. air force is warning that its concern that some of its fighter jets in europe could suffer long-term damage if the volcano doesn't stop spewing ash into the air. >>> nasa launched a top secret space plane. >> and liftoff of the united launch alliance, atlas v rocket. >> inside there is a top secret space plane called the x-37. the military is using the plane as a way to test new equipment, sensor sensors in space. >>> next week, airlines will be banned from stranding passengers on the tarmac and there will be no exceptions. the rules establish a three-hour time limit for keeping passengers on the tarmac. five airlines wanted temporary exemptions, jet blue, delta, america

blankenship's upper big branch mine has appealed or is dleeng went on 21 major fines worth $90 millionors still owe the government for safety violations in the past three years. coal may not cost much money. but it really, really, really does not come cheap. i'll be right back. stunning high gloss and flawless gray coverage all in just 10 minutes that's why it won the most awards from beauty editors perfect 10 the color that changes everything youtube didn't exist. and facebook was still run out of a dorm room. when we built our first hybrid, more people had landlines than cell phones, and gas was $1.75 a gallon. and now, while other luxury carmakers are building their first hybrids, lexus hybrids have traveled 5.5 billion miles. and that's quite a head start. ♪ so, at national, i go right past the counter... and you get to choose any car in the aisle. choose any car? you cannot be serious! okay. seriously, you choose. go national. go like a pro. another heart attack could be lurking, waiting to strike. a heart attack caused by a clot, one that could be fatal. but plavix helps save liv

meantime, more questions about mine owner massey energy and its ceo don blankenship as the company, moreo $104 million. the stock actually up fivefold from 11 to 55, simultaneous to a massive spike in violations and an incredible political campaign to disable the west virginia government for enforcement, particularly from the unions. at the upper big branch alone, 197 violations in '08. then profits doubled. and the stock price went up fivefold. and there were 515 violations in '09. so about five times as many, four times as many. 124 violations in just the first three months of this year. they say it's the first four months this the data, but we haven't -- it hasn't been four months so that's impossible. serious violations include ventilation problems, excessive dust and methane gas -- all of which obviously kills people. massey has aggressively fought off hefty fines, by the way, by drowning federal regulators in appeals because coal mining is so profitable, it costs about half of natural gas. you can save a lot of money for lawsuits and lobbying. a bill established to improve mandator

his name is don blankenship, he says, quote, we want to assure of the families of all the miners we aretaking every action possible to locate and to rescue those that are still missing. he said that the names will not be released until the next of kin, obviously, is notified. that has not happened yet so we're not getting the names of those individuals who have died. again, seven individuals have been killed. because of this mine explosion. we don't know at this point what exactly happened, how it exploded. they are preparing for more patients, they are telling us, at the hospital there. there are about -- they really -- they produce about 1.2 million tons of coal at this mine. 200 employees. again, 19 are still trapped. continuing coverage. we have fox news crews on the way. and we'll continue to keep you posted throughout the night. i will be working through the night. again, 19 trapped. seven killed. and this has happened in west virginia in raleigh county about 30 miles south of charleston. and i'll key keep you posted. 19 trapped. seven killed. i'm ainsley earhardt. now back to the

.-- don blankenship-- went on the social media site twitter, and urged prayers for both victims and rescuershe also criticized news coverage of the disaster. president obama ordered mine safety officials to report next week on the west virginia disaster and on how to prevent a repeat. two american soldiers were killed today on patrol in northern iraq. and a nato servicemember died in fighting in eastern afghanistan. the taliban also released video of a u.s. army private first class bowe bergdahl. he's been missing in afghanistan since last june. in the message, bergdahl pleaded to be sent home. meanwhile, afghan police said they arrested five would-be suicide bombers in kabul early this morning. they found explosives stashed below the engine block of the men's vehicle. heavy rains overnight triggered massive mudslides near rio de janeirio in brazil. at least 200 people were buried and feared dead. rescue workers searched for victims in a slum that was built on top of a landfill. officials said that made the ground especially unstable, under recent heavy rains. mudslides earlier this week alr

don blankenship conceded that number was above the norm. >> this particular mine has had more violations than some of the others. it hasn't had a lost time accident until these fatals this year. and this incident, which, you know, an explosion of some sort that we're not sure what happened yet; we don't really know what to say about it. >> lehrer: the federal government levied more than $1 million in penalties against massey last year alone. the company has only paid 16 16% of that amount. it's contesting the rest. and we get more now from the disaster scene from frank langfitt of national public radio. >> lehrer: frank, first of all, there just has been news that moved off the wires that it turns out that the federal officials had cited massey energy with two violations on the day of the blast itself, according to these reports from the wires. can you tell us anything about that? >> well, one of the things that a lot of people are talking about is the record of the mine in the last few months. a lot of this seems to be focusing on the ventilation, in terms of keeping the methane levels

and the blankenship memo, the massey sends a memo, we seem not to understand that coal pays the billsamilies to be patient. >>> good news, slavery was not among the most significant issues of the civil war. so says virginia's new republican governor bob mcdonnell, reinstituting confederate history month. celebrating treason, violence and not even mentioning slavery. >>> the awful truth, conservatives reveal mitt romney is a socialist. and ronald reagan as president was a leftist. >>> and this is a would-be tea party congressman talking about the democratic incumbent. >> you've got to make the fellow scared to come out of his house. >>> and rupert murdoch humiliated by his own employees. >> i didn't think we should be supporting the tea party or any other party. but i'd like to investigate what you're saying before i condemn anyone. >>> sarah palin and sean hannity covering the speech. today --

sam and peter blankenship are the co-founders of streamline, a medical device company that manufactures. thank you for having us. >> gretchen: you're welcome. you came up with this invention a few years ago. you actually have it now in five hospitals across the country. what's going to happen to you when this medical device tax, 2 to 4%, hits you? >> well, we're lucky streamline is fortunate in that we are exempt from any fda regulatory process because this is a class 1 device. however, we, like any other medical company, will need to manage this tax, which is, like you said, 2.3%, we believe now. it was originally going to be up 4. that's going to mean slower hiring process, it's going to mean just more efficient ways of handling our cash, which is nothing new, but it's something to really be mindful of or over the next four years, it will cost $1 million. >> gretchen: won't it stunt innovation? you're in minnesota, which is a state that is well-known for having these kinds of inventions, especially in the medical field. what's it going to do as far as passing that cost along to the co

i wish they would stop accusing blankenship of being a murderer. do you think this man wanted this to happen? guest: i absolutely do not think that anyone wanted this to happen. that would be too horrible to even consider. no one wants a tragedy like this to happen. we know that people make choices and that mines make choices. this mine was a mine that has a pattern of significant health and safety violations that far exceed the average in the country. there are other mines that are clearly more focused on not only producing coal but maintaining the conditions in the mind that makes them less threatening to the minors, not just when msha is present but at all times. host: could york agency had taken a tougher stance against this company? guest: our agency follows the rules and we will continue to thoroughly examine. we are in recovery mode. part of our invested station will not be the immediate -- part of our investigation will not be the circumstances leading to this but let me assure you, that every person that has had any time to touch this mine

blankenship. new regulations were drawn up with the miner act, talking about families and how they should be informed and kept apprised of what was going on in the event of an accident. we've had several complaints from families that massey has not reached out to them and not telephoned immediate family members about the situation. can you explain what happened? >> i don't know any particular incidents, but i know we're updating the families every two hours with our chief operating officer and other key people involved. i've been to three people myself and we're giving them the best information we have available. whether someone was missed for some reason or whatever, i don't know, but we've set up a communication center for the family that's functioning every two hours. >> so, john, does he think his mine was operating safely even with all of the safety violations? >> reporter: he made the argument yesterday, kyra, that regardless of the safety violation and there have been 638 of them in the las

don blankenship, the head of massey energy, very involved in supreme court election in state of west virginia. also the federal mining agency head during the latter part of the bush add manage was a massey executive. he did fine massey for some violations. you can't say he was entirely looking the other way. people, particularly democrats, union officials who are looking for a more aggressive stance from the obama administration look at the administration, bush administration's record of working the coal industry and using coal executives in regulatory positions as part of the argument for a stronger stance. that's part of the update. >> we appreciate the update on this evolving and tragic story in west virginia. >>> in less than an hour the fed is going to release the minutes of its march meeting. all day long we have been bringing you thoughts on a range of topics from one insider at the meeting. it's not our senior economics reporter steve liesman but it could have been. he joins us with the final installment. this is like harry potter, the final installment of your exclusive with

. >> reporter: massey, the company owned by don blankenship, issued a statement, we strive to be in compliancels say enforcement efforts are up 20% in the past five years. but during that same period, owners' appeals of citations jumped 400%. you have the authority to shut them down? >> to -- to go to a mine and say, we don't like your safety record, we're shutting you down, no. >> reporter: it will take an act of congress to change that. after this week, after 29 deaths, some say now may be the time. david kerley, abc news, montcoal, west virginia. >>> leaders from around the world have arrived in washington for today's summit on nuclear security hosted by the president. the president's goal is to secure all vulnerable nuclear materials within four years. it's a goal intelligence experts say may be unrealistic but necessary. >> time is not on our side. as long as you have terrorist groups and others with the intent, and not just groups. iran, north korea, other states. the world's got to treat the nuclear threats that we face with a much greater sense of urgency than we have in the last few y

don blankenship beliefs in production, production, production. at the cost and safety of those people who work so hard, this is back-breaking, really difficult work for people in poor economic situations. there are no gas stations, no grocery stores, no target stores to work at, nothing, no cell phone coverage, the only choice they have is to work at the mine. coal makes up 50% of our energy use. we could not survive without what they're doing in mines, west virginia and kentucky, and other places. >> you were just there reporting. i was watching you the other evening on the fightly news. the last time i was there for a story was 15 years ago or so, and the conditions as you pointed out, are virtually unchanged. you creep along these beautiful roads, carved into the hollow of hills and you come along a general store. there's no 7-eleven. >> my whole family is from harlan county, usa, harlan county, kentucky. we've gop gone back to visit. it's frozen in time. as you mention, coal gives and coal takes away. it's a coal town. the whole town revolves

but blankenship drew criticism four and a half years ago with an earlier internal memo in supervisors in which he seemed to stress productivity over safety. "we seem not to understand that coal pays the bills." >> even if it wasn't stated, if you're saying that production is is the most important part of our operation, you're implying that safety is not the most important part." >> reporter: blankenship later said his memo was misconstrued and safety was not secondary. since the sago accident, numerous mine safety improvements have been mandated. mines are now required to have extra breathing packs, better communications, and safe rooms for protection. >> they're looking for roof falls, gas, this kind of thing. >> and looking for the people. >> reporter: and mine rescue teams like the one we joined in this underground drill train regularly for rescues. it's important to note that mine fatalities are down dramatically over the past 40 years, but clearly there's still serious safety enforcement issues. a new government report shows that in the year 2007 more than half of the mine inspec