especially in the case of massey. the obvious question is why wasn't this mine shut down?ok 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't know what they are doing in terms of safety. we from this comfortable distance look and say, china's got a problem. china's got a problem, they're growing so fast they don't care about the lives of their people. we look at that problem and decide that's a government problem, a problem about government priorities. i feel that way about the mining industry in this country too and i'm not at a comfortable distance from it. what is the best hope for things actually getting better? >> i think that part of what we're seeing is the bush administration spent eight years kind of gutting the mine safety administration, so that became kind of a ineffective agency. there's good signs the obama administration has put in a tough administrator in the mine safety administration. i think w

are you comfortable with the way massey has been operating in your state?>> you're never comfortable when you have this. i just asked the same question you're asking me to my chief here and mr. stricklin. let them explain this process, how this works, because a violation, you would think, if somebody's in violation, i'm going to believe that that must be a very serious violation. why would that continue? there are so many things that the people who work with this every day can give you a better explanation of how they inspect, what they look for. i have said if something is to where a person's health is jeopardized and their safety, stop it. shut it down. they know how i feel. >> governor, when talking about a horrific size, give us a sense comparatively -- >> the size of the mine? >> explosion. >> i can only tell you, say that when the rescuers this were in the mine and saw what they were able to see until they had to come out and the type of damage that was done, that it had to be a horrific explosion because that kind of damage. for instance, rails that

. >> overnight, massey energy announced that 25 of its miners are dead. and the dangerous mission to rescue four more has stopped. when families were told the news overnight, some became hysterical. >> this is taking place at the upper big branch main. t.j. winick is tracking the overnight developments for us. t.j.? >> reporter: the explosion at the undergrod coal mine happened about 3:00 monday afternoon. miner steve smith was working nearby. >> we were going on our way to go to the other side of the mountain. we got called up. it was almost like a tornado. it stopped us dead. we couldn't go any farther because it was so much air towards us. >> reporter: over two dozen are now confirmed dead, and at least four others are still missing more than 1,000 feet under ground. the search has been suspended because rising methane gas levels in the mine made it a risk for another explosion. >> as catastrophic as this was, if another explosion had occurred and we would have lost 50 rescuers, it could have been -- it would have been just something unfathomable. >> r

. >> reporter: the owner of the mine, massey energy, is a big company, with some 35 underground mines. record profits. and a criminal record for willfully violating mine safety laws. >> i believe that profits were placed ahead of people. >> reporter: massey says its workers are taught safety first. but an investigation of a fatal mine accident in 2006 that killed two miners at another massey mine suggests otherwise. >> the evidence showed a fundamental and basic disregard for the safety of the miners at the alma number one mine. so much so that the subsidiary agreed to plead guilty to multiple criminal charges as a result of a federal investigation. >> reporter: the company pleaded guilty to a total of ten criminal counts, including one felony, and paid a then-record fine of $4.2 million. but the massey ceo, don blankenship, told diane sawyer today that his company is a leader in mine safety. >> massey has probably the safest record, you know, in 18 of the last 20 year, we've been safer than the industry average. >> reporter: but over the last year at the upper big branch mine, there

that's what massey does. whatever happened here, if it was some sort of spark, methane, we'll try to correct it, but -- >> reporter: is it just a cost of doing business? another day of doing business? >> no, i think anything you do in live has risk, and coal mining, of course, is more risky than some businesses, but it's a business that despite its risk has proven itself to be, you know, safer than many other industries that don't pay as much attenti to safety as this industry. >> reporter: what do you say to them about the danger? >> well, the danger of anything is there, whether it's construction work, wherever it's driving trucks, whatever. there's 42,000 people a year killed on the highways. so, there's danger in everything, and we're trying to min nice that danger as best we can. >> and again, don blankenship, a lot of these families are waiting for the chance to sit and talk to him. >>> coming up, the president's plans for a new nuclear era for the u.s. and the world. q'q7 to stay on top of my game afte

in 2006 two miners died at a fire at the massey mine. 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 will watch and say this isn't fair, let us explain. there

two weeks later, the environmental protection agency suspended the entire massey coal permits. [applause] there has never been a better time in the last 30 years to get involved with this fight than now. people in the coal industry say, well, wind energy would only generate 5% of the electricity. and the mountains. mountaintop removal only generates 5% of the electricity in the mountains. so now is really the time to be -- for us to be pushing this fight and begin thinking about a new economy, a sustainable economy, for the mountains. a prophet said without vision, the people perish, and i think what we've lacked in this state for a long time is a vision, a vision for the mountains. and this now is the time for us to really begin to push your utility company, lg & e, to stop buying mountaintop removal coal and to begin being renewable energies. we have the technology to do this. we can put up the wind farms, the wind turbines. we can mount solar panels on south facing mountain hills. we can feed all of that energy in to a direct current smart grid. we can decentralize the power

the upper big branch mine is owned by massey energy company. the mine has extra oxygen stored along emergency escape routes and airtight chambers which can keep trapped miners alive for up to four days. >> it's a risky operation. the refuge chambers have the ability to have 96 hours of oxygen in them, so we have time on our side. >> it's just a tough time for the area down there, and i think with all the safety features and things we came along with, maybe we got in our heads that we weren't going to have another one of these things like this. it looks like we are. >> time on our side. we certainly hope so. our search will continue to nitor. we turn to brian ross. he reported extensively for "nightline" on controversiies fr massey energy company. what can you tell us about their safety record? >> this is the sixth largest mining company in the country based on production and it has a checkered safety record. federal safety records show this mi alone has had three fatalities over the last 12 years and in the last year, there are reports of a spi

massey has taken an aggressive stance towards contesting those violations. they have contested two-thirds of those in 2009. that's one of their strategies. another has been to work the political process very hard in terms of campaign donations. 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 hav

just as traveling to massey mice have more citations. one of these, is a pattern violent. if msh prevails, it will be the first my pace on a pattern violations status since the passage of the 1977 mine act. so in the wake of this tragedy, we know the weaknesses even in our strongest are not clear. most important, changes are needed. changes are made for mine operator to take more response but for the high number of violations being cited in mines across the country. increasing mine opera inspection requirements in reforming the pattern of violation program. trantwo's program should be most effective over hold bad actors accountable for policies that is the destination inherited make it easy for operators like massey to avoid the pattern of violations status. matthews the popular pattern of violations status in testing the violations, bloc msh and using violations to put the mine in a potential pattern of violations status for over 500 days. when you figure it's a two year history that is used out of the process, another 500 days you're looking at three years to get to a st

. >> overnight, massey energy announced that 25 of its miners are dead. and the dangerous mission to rescue four more has stopped. when families were told the news overnight, some became hysterical. >> this is taking place at the upper big branch main. t.j. winick is tracking the

massey, we did institute federal safety laws.se laws put into place did have features that were in place at this mine but perhaps were not given a chance to kick in because of the severity of this mine explosion. we certainly need to find out what happened here and we need to hold those responsible accountable. >> but we have these accountability questions only have brave men die. my question to you, sir, is if this place was a bad actor. you used those terms yourself, has a maverick reputation assed on our air this morning, we talked to miners who were worried about the evacuation plan, there were citations about methane gas and coal dust, why isn't there a system, but enough allegations have been raised that we're going to stop work until we figure this out? if my car doesn't have a blinker, i can't get a safety inspection. the government stops me because that car might hurt somebody or kill somebody. why doesn't the government, the congressman, somebody stop a mine when people are saying it's a ticking time bomb? >> that's a v

massey is actually the largest coal producer in central ap lash sha. from massey and conso are on the scene, as well as from the miners health, safety and training. the upper big branch south mine has extra oxygen stashed on escape routes underground. they also reportedly have air-tight refuge chambers that are supposed to be able to keep trapped miners alive for up to four days. if they are underground and can't get out. joining us by phone is ken ward, jr., he is a reporter with the "charleston gazette." thank you very much for your time tonight. >> thank you for having me. >> what can you tell us on the rescue efforts right now? >> well, we can't tell you very much at all about the rescue efforts because we're not getting that sort of information out of the department of labor. we know that there are nine rescue teams, highly trained, very well equipped special teams that would be able to go underground and search, try to find any survivors. we know that they are on-sit

heard so many times before, this big branch mine is owned by a major conglomerate, a company called massey energy company, a company that has been cited numerous times for both safety and environmental violations.

i mean, why is massey paying all of these penalties? that's right.to the stockholder's pocketings and they're not. they're going to pay civil penalties to the government or criminal fines and sanctions. so it really does surprise me that the stockholders themselves are not holding the directors more responsible as well. >> yeah at the end of the day though, the fact that they're not held responsible because once again the government has accommodated the corporate parent company at the expense of everybody else, the power of big coal immune from a lawsuit, families must prove deliberate intent. i imagine it's harder to prove that you deliberately jammed a mine full of people and then killed them. misconduct, misconduct and negligence don't qualify so there no lawsuit here, fair? >> well, that -- and that's a state law. that's a -- you know, these are worker comp laws, they vary from state to state. you know i'm in new york state, so the people would argue another way in new york state. but in west virginia, yeah, it's really hard for those workers, if

>> reporter: the controversial ceo of massey energy is concerned about tougher new mine safety laws. >> no matter how you look at, the accidents are a human tragedy. second, they disrupt you and cause additional regulations and issues. >> reporter: jim lucas was at the mine at the time of the explosion. safety is not just the k company's job, he says, is's also each miners' responsibility. >> every day we put our head between two rocks. if you think about that, probably wouldn't do it. but we just go and do our job. >> reporter: many miners also insist inspectors need more authority to shut down unsafe mines. >> the law's got to change. in this country, unfortunately, every law that's ever been written for a coal miner has been by blood. >> reporter: inspectors have the authority to temporarily shut down a shaft or a mine until a particular violation is then addressed, but they don't have the authority to permanently shut down the mine for excessive or repeated violations. brian? >> tom costello rounding out our coverage from west virginia tonight. thanks. >>> there's been a change o

it sounds like from everything we've heard that massey had a reputation of not doing that. to say the least. why does national mining association tolerate that? >> center, i don't think it's a question or an issue of tolerating. you know, i'm not sure that there is much value gained in austin sizing an individual or organization. what we would rather do and what were trying to do it, as i said earlier, is raise the performance of the entire industry. you know, through the sharing of best practices, through the voluntary a awareness programs that we have initiated through the new website that we have created called safety sure.org. to make sure that we can disseminate across the industry, you know, the best practices, the best of the best so that we can bring that level of performance of. and i'm not sure that austin sizing an individual or an organization moves us in that direction. >> if that organization will fully devise a, i mean, they're not going to respond to the newest web video on safety, massey, obviously. i mean, i think that's silly. frankly. mr. addington, when

i assume there is no love lost between msha and massey. but, you say that the mines have stayed open and have been held open because of the way the law was interpreted. my question is, by whom? even when there is dust, a violation if and gas leaks this is what we expect to cause the explosion. the way the law has been interpreted it will keep them open even in the face of all of these violations to interpreted the law that way? >> there is different litigation that has happened that has led to the current application. the historical applications have been developed through the commission and that is one of the reasons we need to take a look at some of the provisions better at the center of the universe for limiting the msha ability to use some of these things and appointed earlier the notion of a promise ability violation review have a piece of equipment that has a gaap only takes a spark to blow up a coal mine at ast to go to an extraordinary step before you consider that a serious. >> i am sorry but you are saying that the courts? >> gue

massey stock today very heavily traded. hampton pearson brings us the latest on the rescues. >> particularly the high number of violations at the mine where the latest tragedy has occurred. last year federal inspectors found more than 450 violations and fined them in excess of $382,000, related to problems regarding the ventilation and equipment plan. this afternoon, the ceo offered a partial explanation. >> i don't think it would be classified as having issues with safety. it's not massey's -- i think at times it's been higher than the industry average, but it's a large mine, and large mines with lots of people, you get more violations, because you get a larger area to be inspected and a lot more people involved. that doesn't mean the mine isn't safe, because every violation improves the safety issues. >> when it comes to shutten down a mine, their hands are tied by the current rules for dealing with safety violations. >> you're asking if i had the ability to shut a mine down based on what i find, and the answer to that is

the mine's energy massey energy was fined more than $383,000 for repeated serious violations involving its ventilation plan and its equipment in the past year. records show the mine got more than 450 citations last year. more than 50 were for problems that the operators knew about, but had not fixed. here's the ceo o. >> i think the reason it was operating is all the people that were very knowledgeable whether they be with the federal government, state government or massey had concluded that mine was safe to operate and these violations and the efforts on the ventilation are effort to improve it. >> the associated press reports that massey energy is challenging more than a third of the violations at the mine since 2007. >>> michael jackson's doctor might lose his california medical license even before the courts reach a decision. the state medical board is starting its own proceedings to suspend dr. con rad murray's license. murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter in michael jackson's death. >>> you know, we may be in the middle of witnessing one of the most dominant

massey c.e.o. 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 f

massey was slapped with a string of safety violations including two the same day as the explosion. 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

massey paid over $1 million in fines in the past year alone. and has failed to pay out hundreds of thousands of dollars. >> it's not the safest coal mine and at times it has been higher than the industry average, but it's a large mine and large mines with lots of people. you know, you get more viilations because you get a larger area to be inspected and a lot more people involved. that doesn't mean the mine is unsafe because every violation actually means an improvement in the safety. >> accompanying that labor department announcement within the hour of its investigation plan labor secretary hilda solice saying "25 hard working men died unnecessarily. the best way to honor them is do our job and find out what happened." michelle, tyler? >> do we know mr. 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 congres

mine safety administration, the company that operates big branch mine, massey energy, racked up 1342 safety violations from 2005 through monday for a total of $1.8 million. the head of that company says he is feeling a backlash from the victim' families. >> anger, frustration, understandable distress. >> 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 produ

and we're finding out a little bit more about massey, as well. that there have been no fatalities at this plant, the montcoal plant, but there's an injury record here that is higher than the national average. the company was fined over $380,000 for their 458 violations just last year. >> wow. jim axelrod, thanks. that's it from west virginia. we want to go back to new york. >>> switching gears here now to the latest on tiger woods. he took one more step towards making his comeback at the masters this week by answering tough questions about his fall from grace. cbs news correspondent armen keteyian is in august take with t latest. >> reporter: tiger woods has been coming to augusta for almost half his life. he's 34 years old and this is the 16th masters he's attended. but it's safe to say he's never held a press conference like the one he did yesterday. it was tifd tyiside of tiger wo rarely seen, more human. >> the fact i won tournaments is irrelevant. it's the pain, the damage i've caused, my wife, my mom, my wife's family, my kids. i made the d

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

the massey energy company started operations at what's called the upper big branch mine in 1994, about 200 people work at this mine. last year it produced 1.2 million tons of coal. and what happened yesterday, of course, reminds us all just how deadly this work in the mines can be. now, this explosion is the deadliest mining disaster that we've seen in decades, but in 1984, remember, a fire broke out at an orange in orangeville, utah, 27 miners died in that tragedy, and in this case, if the four who are not yet found are added to that number, it's going to make this the worst incident since the 1970 explosion that killed 38 people in kentucky. it is tough, tough work. bill: we're awaiting a few things this hour. we'll get a press conference we believe at 10:00 a.m. eastern time, about 54 minutes from now. that's when we'll get our best information from the officials on the scene. so wait for that at 10:00 a.m. eastern time. also we'll hear from the president a bit later this hour, we know that last night the president talked with west virginia governor joe manchon expressing condolence

. >>> we have learned about the safety problems on homes owned by massey, tonight at 6:00. >>> there are delays on the metro green line and yellow line after a woman was hit by a metro train at 1:15 at the mount vernon square metro station. the station was closed more than an hour. the trains are single tracking through the station but the trains are now running at normal. the woman is in critical condition. >>> residents are trying to stop the secret service from walking down streets around the convention center. stephen tschida has the fallout. >> they're calling to nuclear summit the nuclear disaster in this neighborhood, especially in this struggling -- especially with the struggling small businesses that will have to close down 2 days during the peak of the garden season. the people who live near the convention center say this neighborhood is about to be a nuclear dead zone. >> the secret service is declaring war on the neighborhood. >> of the nuclear security summit will draw more than 50 heads of state, and streets will be closed from sunday night until tuesday night. the extr

monday, we have learned by looking up records for the mine safety and health administration that massey for safety vices. i got the text of the standards for these two features. this is for escapeway maps. you're supposed to have maps for each working section and each area where mechanized mining equipment is being installed or removed. this is from the msha website. this is the standard for splicing cables, and it does show up here that massey was issued two violations -- citations for violations on monday. it is not clear whether those citations were issued right before or after the explosion, but on the very day, two citations for safety violations were issued to massey. >> it's going to reinforce the notion that there were a lot of problems at that mine. brian, stand by. we're going to get back to you. i know you're working on another report as well. >>> meanwhile, closer to home, right here in washington, problems, serious problems, for the republican party. but is the controversy over chairman michael steele taking a financial toll on the national party? take a look at this. in ma

massey's energy website talks about its low energy rate last year. the company does not operate any mines in maryland. >>> an update to a serious accident in baltimore county. kai is live in the newsroom to explain, the crash has now claimed a life. >> that's right, vic. 63-year-old mary jackson died her injuries last night at shock traum a. police say jackson's husband, 73-year-old james jackson, reportedly crossed the center line on reisterstown road yesterday afternoon, after losing control of their minivan. mr. jackson is listed in critical condition at last check. the couple's 2-year-old grandson who was riding in a car seat was taken to johns hopkins with minor injuries. vic? >> thank you, kai. another accident occurred after the first one. but no one was injured in those two vehicles. >>> new at 6:00, baltimore animal officials need your help to solve another upsetting case of abuse in the city. animal control says easter sunday, a group of young people were throwing rocks and bricks at a dog tied up in the 3700 block of greenspring avenue in

massey has repeatedly been cited for problems with vent ligs.ederal investigators are now trying to piece together what caused explosion ma killed 29 workers. >>> crews are work to recover all of bodies. they had to pull back yesterday as conditions became more dangerous. the virginia governor has restored $750 million for the state's budget for mine safety t had previously been cut in the state's struggle with finances sowment a five-year- old boy would went fishing with his father and fell overboard is still missing this morning. police say the boy and his father were fishing when the goat got caught in the current of a nearby dam t pulled the five-year-old under and right out of of his life vest. so far, search crews have only found the boy's fishing gear. >>> u.s. officials are urging russian officials for the to stop all adoptions by american families. russia threatened to suspend all adoptions after she put the 7-year-old boy a plane alone to russia with a note saying he was violent and had severe psychological problems. top u.s. officials

so far this year massey has been fined more than $188,000 for violations. less than $3,000 of that has been paid. since 1995 there have been more than 3,000 violations in upper big branch. gltz the other big story we're following tonight, a metro access driver arrested, accused of sexually abusing a passenger. tonight he's already lost his job. roz plater is live in the newsroom with more on the investigation that started back in january. roz? >> reporter: shawn, what is most alarming about this is we've had two incidents in just one month. both with drivers whose job it is to transport folks can special needs. metro transit police say not only is one of its contract metro access drivers out of a job, but he was also arrested yesterday. the case goes back to january 28 at the arc special needs school in temple hills. according to court documents 54- year-old jose dell castillo picked up 26-year-old woman with down syndrome. somewhere along the 18-mile ride to her home, he pulled the bus over, tried to kiss, fondle and grope her but she pushed him away and h

there were 85 union coal miners brought back by massey energy, the owners of the mine, but not to thee that exploded, they brought them back to another massey energy operation, mammoth mine in smithers, west virginia, 50 miles away. rush was wrong by 50 miles. that's actually real good for him. rush "wrong on the facts again" limbaugh, today's worst person in the world. to grasse, france to work with roxane. here in this centuries old town cargill creates flavors. and food companies come to collaborate with cargill. creating unique tastes from thousands of rare flavors. helped by roxane... an ingredient mixing robot. and a team of flavor experts. food companies find the recipe for success. this is how cargill works with customers. male announcer: be kind to your eyes with transitions lenses. transitions adapt to changing light so you see a whole day comfortably and conveniently while protecting your eyes from the sun. ask your eyecare professional which transitions lenses are right for you. female announcer: thanks to the eyeglass guide, it's never been easier to find the right pair o

far this year, four citations for improper ventilation, a pattern federal officials saw at other massey-owned mines. the head coal safety official arrived here before the explosion to confront the company about its record. >> ventilation's a big concern with us. if you ventilate you don't have explosion. >> reporter: massey, the company owned by don blainenship, issued a statement, we strive to be in compliance with regulations at all times. 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 shetting y intint you down, no. >> reporter: it will take an act of congress to do that. now may be the time. david kerley, abc news, montcoal, west virginia. >>> leaders from arrived the world have arrived in washington for today's summit on nuclear security hosted by the president. the 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 hav

it happened at the massey upper big branch mine which is a coal mine.shear a map of where this happened. it's in raleigh county about 30 miles south of charleston in west virginia. can you see there on the map. again, 19 trapped. seven are killed there. fox news does have crews on the way there so that we can get you the very latest information. we're hearing now from the ceo of the company of the massey upper big branch mine. his name is don blankenship, he says, quote, we want to assure of the families of all the miners we are taking 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 pro

and massey energy has a long history of safety violations. both in underground mines and in other kinds of violations in their larger surface mines also. they're really one of the most kind of notorious coal operators in. >> after sago, we thought things were going to get better. have they not? >> well, you know, there have been some modest improvements since the sago mine explosion and tragedy of a few years ago. then, of course, we had the utah mine tragedy. and every time there's lengthy investigations, and every time there's lots of recommendations. and every time those recommendations are put off, watered down and they're just not as tough as they should be. >> are they not as tough because the coal mines industry is very powerful and those who support it especially in that part of the country? >> certainly the coal mines industry is very powerful. especially a coal mining company like massey energy which has a lot of political weight in west virginia and has always fought against tightening mine safety regulations and always fought agai

the plant's owner, massey energy providing no details about the explosion, except to say five trainedescue teams from its company and a second company were now on the scene trying to get to these trapped miners, believed to be trapped miners. the upper big branch, just 100 miles from the scene of the 2006 disaster at the sago mine, offers some hope of recovery if there. it has caches of extra oxygen and so-called refuge chambers that could keep trapped miners alive for as long as four days. details are obviously, as we said, limited at this hour, as are the illustrations. we will bring them to you as they become available throughout the night here on msnbc. wellbeing. we're all striving for it. purina cat chow helps you nuture it in your cat... with a full family of excellent nutrition... and helpful resources. ♪ purina cat chow. share a better life. i've never had an accident. is there anything you can do for me ? yeah, i'm here with liz. i need a brilliant idea right now. guys ! i just gagged. here it is. deductible. take $50 off. wait. take $100 off for every year she doesn't have

massey the company who owns the mine has been cited for more than a hundred safety and environmental year alone. it's only april. think about this. it's also paid record fines. now mining families and others in this tight-knit raleigh county are really coming together. they're clinging to each other, and obviously to hope, but they know as time passes the odds slowly work against them. >> i have to hold onto that hope, you know even though it may be, you know, just for my -- a tiny string or web, you know i think that all of us, until we know for sure that we have to hold onto that hope. >> always talks in plurals, we and us. they're really closely knit there and we're grateful they have each other but we'll continue to watch this very closely and bring you the details. >>> meanwhile, tiger woods' promised to be more fan friendly, as he returns to golfer for the masters tournament this week, but chairman of augusta national where the masters is held, has some harsh worlds for him. billy payne said that woods disappointed everyone with his sex scandal. >> as he has ascended in our ran

we should point out the company that was employeeing the workers, it was a nonunion shop massey energypany. mr. gerard, there are a lot of americans out there tonight wondering, could this have been prevented? is this in your opinion, from what you can see, a worker issue, a condition that surround workers that could have been prevented? >> absolutely. this could have been prevented, ed. this company at this mine over the last period of time since 2005 had over 1,300 safety violations and, remember, that was during the majority of that time was during the bush regime. so it even gets cited for a safety violation then and in those days was pretty spectacular. and of those violations they paid almost $2 million in fines, but they contested over 400 of those violations. clearly they would rather have paid the fines, contest the violations than make their mine safe. let me just say this, because i heard you say about who stands up for them. this is another series of fatalities at another nonunion mine. the united mine workers stand up for them, the united steelworkers stand up for them. we

. >>> the mine's owner massey energy denied putting the company's interest ahead of worker safety. >>> coming up tonight, police found marijuana in the backpack of a kindergartener in school. >> there are safety concerns about an airline that flies in and out of reagan national airplane. >> how drivers are paying to park with their phone. >> how about our weekend weather? >> earlier it felt like summertime. dawn tomorrow it will feel more like wintertime. the latest in the forecast coming up. what's happening in sports? >> tiger woods within striking distance at the masters. also the wizards pull off a shocker. >>> frontier airlines is facing a fine of nearly $400,000 for allegedly violating federal regulations. the carrier changed the way passengers can access some of the emergency exits in some of its planes. the faa says the placards were not updated. 900 flights took place with the old placards. >>> starting monday, drivers won't need to worry about carrying spare change when they park at some d.c. parking meters. the district department of transportation is testing a new pay-by-p

. >> ifill: the website of massey energy company the mine's operator posted the 2009 safety record but the company was hit with nearly $900,000 in fines for 458 safety violations last year alone. and the company paid out $4.2 million in penalties last year following a 2006 fire at massey's aracoma mine also in west virginia. a federal mine safety and health administration official said this afternoon that yesterday's blast should have been preventable. >> we put minimum parameters in place that a mine operator would need to follow to ensure that he has enough air and enough ventilation to keep an explosion from occurring, not only an explosion, an ignition. it's quite evident that something went very wrong here for us to have the magnitude of this explosion. so it's apparent that something was wrong. i would just ask to give us an opportunity to conduct a full investigation. we'll leave no stone unturned . >> ifill: late this afternoon senator jay rockefeller spoke in west virginia. >> a lot of us worked on the mine act in 1977 and 1997 there or 2007 there hadn't been any federal mine

what the agency knows, much we have already heard, that there may have been mistakes made tracking massey -- the white house will probably tie itself to the reform efforts on capitol hill. it should be noted president obama was a supporter of those additional efforts in 2007 when he was a senator, he and then-senator clinton were joining senator kennedy at the time to try to get them out of the senate. it never happened because illinois is a big mining state as well. he has some history with this, and obviously the white house is expected to throw some concern at it and try to get something done. >> ifill: thanks so much. >> any time, take care. >> lehrer: finally tonight, a story about toilets, investment bankers and the poorest of the poor in the slums of kenya. special correspondent fred de sam lazaro reports. >> this whole area used to be a toilet. >> reporter: a poverty and disease-ridden kenyan slum isn't exactly something that whets the appetite of most investment bankers. but it's exactly the kind of project jacqueline novogratz is looking to finance. novogratz has an m.b.a. from

and so many of those mines have, virtual lal of those mines from massey have come from union busting. they all now are completely nonunion mines. this is a big issue because none of these disasters happened in union mines. there you have much better regulation, no union would ever have stood and allowed 50 of these types of violations to stand. except now you have these nonunion mines where the workers can literally do nothing or they lose their jobs. >> mr. biggers, i appreciate your time on msnbc this afternoon. thanks so much. >> thanks for your time. >> keep it on msnbc for live updates of our rescue efforts in west virginia. coming up at 3:30 eastern we'll get another update from the governor of west virginia. we'll bring you that live right here on msnbc. contessa brewer now joins us for a look at some other headlines today. >>> ed, we have breaking news coming out of boston. authorities are now at the scene of a fire at a ten-story condominium in boston's back bay area. we're just getting our first shots on the scene. you can see the fire trucks with their ladders pulled out. a

it happened at massey's energy performance coal company mine in raleigh county. >> coal mining community when you hear that many ambulances it has to be bad. >> as we can duly as a community is come together and pray. if you are from here, we are all comining families. my whole family, grandfathers. and father. and brother. >> seven dead in a coal mine in west virginia. more on the story as it becomes available. >> the tea party movement in maryland s getting criticism tonight. it comes on the heels of a new poll showing that 57 percent of those in the tea party movement call themselves republicans. another 28 percent call themselves independents. and 13 percent call themselves democrats. michael buczyner is live with the group organizing the tea party rallies in maryland. michael? >> jennifer, baltimore city has played host to several tea party rallies already. tonight one man said that some of the groups, organizers need to register, as lobbyists. >> we are a grassroots free market advocacy group. >> for the past years ago dave schwartz and his group americans for prosperity has been a

massey says it still is not clear exactly what sparked the explosion. today, they started a website to provide informs about the upper big branch mine. you can access that site by logging onto ours, wusa9.com, just click on 9news extras. >>> arlington police have been hit with an avalanche of harassment complaints. somebody has been calling up thousands of people in the middle of the night. when they answer the phone, there's no one there. scoot bomb has been look -- scott broom has been looking into this. the phone company are victims of a scam called spoofing. >> reporter: in is what jasokoffman heard four times. >> now i'm awake. they called again, i actually answered the phone. hello, hello, no one there. >> reporter: they are getting a call with a 307 area code exchange. we have received over 150 complaints this weekend. >> reporter: the number appears to trace back to wyoming. victims in northern virginia and suburban maryland, hundreds posted warnings about it on the internet. >> i have been here for 27 years. this is the first that i have heard

in addition to scrutinizing massey, we immediate to look at msha authority as well.does ms-ha nude more authority to carry out its -- does msha need more authority to carry out its mission? i will be working closely with chairman miller, ranking member kline and congresswoman mcmorris rodgers and representative rahall and all of the others in this congress which is probably 435 of us knowing that we must take the steps that are necessary to prevent any future mining disasters. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the gentlewoman from washington. mrs. mcmorris rodgers: i will reserve until it's time to close. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves. the gentleman from california. does the gentleman reserve? mr. miller: i can reserve. >> it is hard to know. at some point, the markets will make a judgment about our political ability to achieve longer-term sustainability. at that point, interest rates will go up. that will be a negative for economic growth and recovery. we do not know when that point will be reached. for that reason

on that safety issue, of course, the mining company, massey, has come under heavy scrutiny in recentits safety record. white house aides have said in advance of the president's eulogy that, of course, he is not going to be ripping the company here. this is neither the time nor the place for that. there's ongoing investigations looking to the company, looking into the incident, what went wrong. even though this happened days, weeks ago, i can tell you, of course, emotions still very raw. i saw one very young girl who was walking with a stuffed animal in one hand and her other hand she was wiping away tears. as family members consoled her. obviously this is about this community trying to come together and grieve together, and the president coming to show his respects, fred. >> it's interesting, is it not, and very poignant that the president is going to be there, will be delivering this eulogy? because there has been a lot said about whether this community would have under other circumstances really embraced this president, particularly because of his approach on climate change and wha