4 ms·

Coal baron Robert Murray has died

68 points by xenocratus 6y ago

rossdavidh 6y ago
Looks like misspelling of "baron"?
- fred_is_fred 6y ago
  How is it misspelled?
  - reiichiroh 6y ago
    It looks spelled correctly in the headline and throughout the article.
  - xenocratus 6y ago
    It was my fault, had misspelled it in the title - has been fixed now :)
reiichiroh 6y ago
“Eat shit, Bob!”
- bmmayer1 6y ago
  That really doesn't seem appropriate for HN.
  - toomuchtodo 6y ago
    Could've been better worded for sure (it's a Last Week Tonight reference to one of his workers returning a token check with that phrase on it), but: > U.S. coal baron Robert Murray, an ally of President Donald Trump and a leading industry voice who called global warming a hoax > A colorful and outspoken leader of the Ohio company he founded, Murray Energy, Murray blamed environmental regulation for the demise of the coal industry and opposed more stringent coal dust regulations for years. > While Murray applied for black lung benefits, bankruptcy enabled his company to avoid obligations to employees diagnosed with black lung, shifting its $74.4 million liability to the federal government’s Black Lung Disability Trust Fund, according to Labor Department estimates provided to Congress. A bit of (polite) disdain is warranted imho. EDIT: Of course don't gloat over the dead in a public forum. If that's your thing, save that for private conversation.
    - luc4sdreyer 6y ago
      He also applied for federal benefits to treat his black lung disease [1] while claiming that his disease has nothing to do with the exposure he had while working [2]. Which is _possible_, but seems unlikely to me. I must admit that I know nothing about the particulars of the disease. [1] https://uk.reuters.com/article/usa-coal-blacklung/coal-baron-murray-seeks-u-s-benefits-to-treat-his-black-lung-disease-report-idUSL1N2GS0YZ https://uk.reuters.com/article/usa-coal-blacklung/coal-baron... [2] https://thehill.com/regulation/energy-environment/519173-former-energy-ceo-requests-health-benefits-for-disease-he https://thehill.com/regulation/energy-environment/519173-for...
  - apazzolini 6y ago
    It's a reference to the scathing coverage of Murray from Last Week Tonight.
    - 1337biz 6y ago
      I hope we can avoid turning hn in another reddit style comedy show meme oh-so-ironic circlejerk.
  - akmarinov 6y ago
    It’s a quote from a squirrel.
  - jrockway 6y ago
    The background for this is that it's a John Oliver quote. He did an investigative piece into Murray's shady dealings. He got sued for this (a cornerstone of Murray's PR strategy). He fought the lawsuit and won. It culminated in a (mini) musical called "Eat shit, Bob!": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5W06xR8EYk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5W06xR8EYk TL;DR: this isn't a generic inflammatory remark.
  - lhl 6y ago
    The reference is specifically to a feud Murray had with John Oliver's reporting on him: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_E._Murray#Last_Week_Tonight https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_E._Murray#Last_Week_Ton... For those interested, here's the musical number, "Eat Shit Bob!" that coined the phrase: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXKO6lwYT9U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXKO6lwYT9U A bit more about Bob Murray from Wikipedia > In August 2007, six miners were trapped at the Crandall Canyon Mine in Utah, which was co-owned and operated by Murray Energy subsidiary UtahAmerican Energy. Three rescue workers died attempting to reach the miners, and a series of boreholes found that the miners were unlikely to have survived. The miners were declared dead and their bodies were never recovered. Prior to the collapse, the Crandall Canyon Mine had received 64 violations and $12,000 in fines. > On July 24, 2008, the U.S. government's Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) announced its highest penalty for coal mine safety violations, $1.85 million, for the collapse. The government fined Genwal Resources $1.34 million "for violations that directly contributed to the deaths of six miners last year," plus nearly $300,000 for other violations. The government also levied a $220,000 fine against a mining consultant, Agapito Associates, "for faulty analysis of the mine's design." > Robert Murray was heavily criticized for his actions during the rescue attempt. The MSHA cited his volatile behavior, especially at daily briefings for family members. MSHA reported that he "frequently became very irate and would start yelling," even making young children cry. He told family members that "the media is telling you lies" and "the union is your enemy." > In the wake of 2006's Sago Mine disaster, lawmakers in West Virginia and Ohio proposed legislation requiring mine workers to wear emergency tracking devices. Murray lobbied against the laws, calling them "extremely misguided." > On August 14, 2012, Murray hosted Mitt Romney at Murray Energy's Century coal mine in Beallsville, Ohio. Several miners contacted a nearby morning talk radio host, David Blomquist, to complain that they were forced to attend the rally without pay. > In October 2012, the non-profit group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission against Murray and his company alleging violations of federal campaign law in which employees of Murray Energy were required to give one percent of their salary to the company's political action committee. > Murray has filed over a dozen defamation lawsuits against journalists and newspapers, none of which reached judgment in his favor.[39] As an example of the repeated lawsuits against journalists, Robert Murray and Murray Energy filed a lawsuit on August 27, 2012, against environment reporter Ken Ward Jr. and The Charleston Gazette. > In November 2019, John Oliver discussed the implications of the lawsuit on his show after Murray dropped the suit.[40] Oliver noted that Murray was able to incur little risk to himself by filing his lawsuit in West Virginia, a jurisdiction that neither Oliver nor Murray lived in and that did not have any anti-SLAPP legislation.[51][40] HBO was forced to cover $200,000 in legal fees, which smaller media outlets would not be able to absorb, discouraging negative coverage of Murray.[52] Murray's reputation for litigiousness may have deterred other media outlets from covering him, including sexual harassment charges against him. > In 2019, two lawsuits were filed against Murray for sexual harassment and misconduct against his employees.[56] In one of the corroborated claims, Murray asked a female assistant to search for the kidney stone he passed.[52] Murray denied the allegations. > Following the presidential election in November 2016, Murray pressed for Donald Trump to withdraw the United States from all international agreements on climate change and stated: "so-called global warming is a total hoax."[59] These claims were made in spite of near-universal agreement in the scientific community that climate change is a real, progressing, and primarily human-caused phenomenon.
  - codecamper 6y ago
    That's right. We are a bunch of large corporate butt kissers. Can I please have a cushy job at Apple & engineer nothing for 4 years please?
guntars 6y ago
Here's a great John Oliver episode about the guy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw6RsUhw1Q8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw6RsUhw1Q8
- luc4sdreyer 6y ago
  And after he was sued by Robert Murray for the above episode, the follow up episode [1] won an Emmy award [2] [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN8bJb8biZU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN8bJb8biZU [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/72nd_Primetime_Emmy_Awards#Programs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/72nd_Primetime_Emmy_Awards#Pro...
amacbride 6y ago
Just like his industry.
- aejnsn 6y ago
  As someone who worked near that industry, he was just another one of the original boys’ club breaking the CWA since its inception.
  - lallysingh 6y ago
    CWA?
    - alt219 6y ago
      The Clean Water Act[0]. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_Water_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_Water_Act
whoknew1122 6y ago
At least something good happened in 2020.
- pupppet 6y ago
  We're turning the corner!
- dwardu 6y ago
  cheering for the death of others. very stunning and brave.
  - whoknew1122 6y ago
    I have a simple rule in life. Don't want to be remembered as a jerk and have your death celebrated? Don't be a jerk. His death doesn't absolve him of the despicable things he did while he was alive. It just means he can't continue doing despicable things. Which is a good thing.
    - luckylion 6y ago
      > Don't want to be remembered as a jerk and have your death celebrated? Don't be a jerk. Your behavior is that of a jerk. Do you want to be remembered as a jerk?
      - whoknew1122 6y ago
        > Your behavior is that of a jerk. Do you want to be remembered as a jerk? Don't really care, to be honest. I won't be there. Nor do I care about my funeral, where (or if) I'm buried, or any thing else post-death. But please tell me how my behavior is that of a jerk. I'm of the opinion that someone's reputation should be based on what they did while they are alive. How does the act of dying change or otherwise mitigate a dead person's despicable actions? And how does pointing that out make me a jerk?
        luckylion 6y ago
dsm4ck 6y ago
I've never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure.
codecamper 6y ago
karma
- redwoolf 6y ago
  That's not what karma means. Also, everyone dies eventually.
chad_strategic 6y ago
This isn't really Hacker News... regardless it has brightened my day. But then again it really isn't my job to judge people's death... (I might take a pass on this moral dilemma) Cheers to John Oliver. Now I'm just conflicted... Oh well.
hristov 6y ago
This reporter chickens out. He does not say that Murray lobbied against those black lung benefits for which he applied for towards the end of his life.
danans 6y ago
It will be interesting to see if public opinion on coal finally passes with him, or whether he will become its patron saint. I suspect both will happen, depending on who and where.
Kiro 6y ago
Don't know who it is but this is a disgusting comment thread. Glad it was flagged.

68 points by xenocratus 6y ago

rossdavidh 6y ago

Looks like misspelling of "baron"?

fred_is_fred 6y ago
How is it misspelled?
- reiichiroh 6y ago
  It looks spelled correctly in the headline and throughout the article.
- xenocratus 6y ago
  It was my fault, had misspelled it in the title - has been fixed now :)

reiichiroh 6y ago

“Eat shit, Bob!”

bmmayer1 6y ago
That really doesn't seem appropriate for HN.
- toomuchtodo 6y ago
  Could've been better worded for sure (it's a Last Week Tonight reference to one of his workers returning a token check with that phrase on it), but: > U.S. coal baron Robert Murray, an ally of President Donald Trump and a leading industry voice who called global warming a hoax > A colorful and outspoken leader of the Ohio company he founded, Murray Energy, Murray blamed environmental regulation for the demise of the coal industry and opposed more stringent coal dust regulations for years. > While Murray applied for black lung benefits, bankruptcy enabled his company to avoid obligations to employees diagnosed with black lung, shifting its $74.4 million liability to the federal government’s Black Lung Disability Trust Fund, according to Labor Department estimates provided to Congress. A bit of (polite) disdain is warranted imho. EDIT: Of course don't gloat over the dead in a public forum. If that's your thing, save that for private conversation.
  - luc4sdreyer 6y ago
    He also applied for federal benefits to treat his black lung disease [1] while claiming that his disease has nothing to do with the exposure he had while working [2]. Which is _possible_, but seems unlikely to me. I must admit that I know nothing about the particulars of the disease. [1] https://uk.reuters.com/article/usa-coal-blacklung/coal-baron-murray-seeks-u-s-benefits-to-treat-his-black-lung-disease-report-idUSL1N2GS0YZ https://uk.reuters.com/article/usa-coal-blacklung/coal-baron... [2] https://thehill.com/regulation/energy-environment/519173-former-energy-ceo-requests-health-benefits-for-disease-he https://thehill.com/regulation/energy-environment/519173-for...
- apazzolini 6y ago
  It's a reference to the scathing coverage of Murray from Last Week Tonight.
  - 1337biz 6y ago
    I hope we can avoid turning hn in another reddit style comedy show meme oh-so-ironic circlejerk.
- akmarinov 6y ago
  It’s a quote from a squirrel.
- jrockway 6y ago
  The background for this is that it's a John Oliver quote. He did an investigative piece into Murray's shady dealings. He got sued for this (a cornerstone of Murray's PR strategy). He fought the lawsuit and won. It culminated in a (mini) musical called "Eat shit, Bob!": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5W06xR8EYk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5W06xR8EYk TL;DR: this isn't a generic inflammatory remark.
- lhl 6y ago
  The reference is specifically to a feud Murray had with John Oliver's reporting on him: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_E._Murray#Last_Week_Tonight https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_E._Murray#Last_Week_Ton... For those interested, here's the musical number, "Eat Shit Bob!" that coined the phrase: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXKO6lwYT9U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXKO6lwYT9U A bit more about Bob Murray from Wikipedia > In August 2007, six miners were trapped at the Crandall Canyon Mine in Utah, which was co-owned and operated by Murray Energy subsidiary UtahAmerican Energy. Three rescue workers died attempting to reach the miners, and a series of boreholes found that the miners were unlikely to have survived. The miners were declared dead and their bodies were never recovered. Prior to the collapse, the Crandall Canyon Mine had received 64 violations and $12,000 in fines. > On July 24, 2008, the U.S. government's Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) announced its highest penalty for coal mine safety violations, $1.85 million, for the collapse. The government fined Genwal Resources $1.34 million "for violations that directly contributed to the deaths of six miners last year," plus nearly $300,000 for other violations. The government also levied a $220,000 fine against a mining consultant, Agapito Associates, "for faulty analysis of the mine's design." > Robert Murray was heavily criticized for his actions during the rescue attempt. The MSHA cited his volatile behavior, especially at daily briefings for family members. MSHA reported that he "frequently became very irate and would start yelling," even making young children cry. He told family members that "the media is telling you lies" and "the union is your enemy." > In the wake of 2006's Sago Mine disaster, lawmakers in West Virginia and Ohio proposed legislation requiring mine workers to wear emergency tracking devices. Murray lobbied against the laws, calling them "extremely misguided." > On August 14, 2012, Murray hosted Mitt Romney at Murray Energy's Century coal mine in Beallsville, Ohio. Several miners contacted a nearby morning talk radio host, David Blomquist, to complain that they were forced to attend the rally without pay. > In October 2012, the non-profit group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission against Murray and his company alleging violations of federal campaign law in which employees of Murray Energy were required to give one percent of their salary to the company's political action committee. > Murray has filed over a dozen defamation lawsuits against journalists and newspapers, none of which reached judgment in his favor.[39] As an example of the repeated lawsuits against journalists, Robert Murray and Murray Energy filed a lawsuit on August 27, 2012, against environment reporter Ken Ward Jr. and The Charleston Gazette. > In November 2019, John Oliver discussed the implications of the lawsuit on his show after Murray dropped the suit.[40] Oliver noted that Murray was able to incur little risk to himself by filing his lawsuit in West Virginia, a jurisdiction that neither Oliver nor Murray lived in and that did not have any anti-SLAPP legislation.[51][40] HBO was forced to cover $200,000 in legal fees, which smaller media outlets would not be able to absorb, discouraging negative coverage of Murray.[52] Murray's reputation for litigiousness may have deterred other media outlets from covering him, including sexual harassment charges against him. > In 2019, two lawsuits were filed against Murray for sexual harassment and misconduct against his employees.[56] In one of the corroborated claims, Murray asked a female assistant to search for the kidney stone he passed.[52] Murray denied the allegations. > Following the presidential election in November 2016, Murray pressed for Donald Trump to withdraw the United States from all international agreements on climate change and stated: "so-called global warming is a total hoax."[59] These claims were made in spite of near-universal agreement in the scientific community that climate change is a real, progressing, and primarily human-caused phenomenon.
- codecamper 6y ago
  That's right. We are a bunch of large corporate butt kissers. Can I please have a cushy job at Apple & engineer nothing for 4 years please?

guntars 6y ago

Here's a great John Oliver episode about the guy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw6RsUhw1Q8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw6RsUhw1Q8

luc4sdreyer 6y ago
And after he was sued by Robert Murray for the above episode, the follow up episode [1] won an Emmy award [2] [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN8bJb8biZU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN8bJb8biZU [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/72nd_Primetime_Emmy_Awards#Programs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/72nd_Primetime_Emmy_Awards#Pro...

amacbride 6y ago

Just like his industry.

aejnsn 6y ago
As someone who worked near that industry, he was just another one of the original boys’ club breaking the CWA since its inception.
- lallysingh 6y ago
  CWA?
  - alt219 6y ago
    The Clean Water Act[0]. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_Water_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_Water_Act

whoknew1122 6y ago

At least something good happened in 2020.

pupppet 6y ago
We're turning the corner!
dwardu 6y ago
cheering for the death of others. very stunning and brave.
- whoknew1122 6y ago
  I have a simple rule in life. Don't want to be remembered as a jerk and have your death celebrated? Don't be a jerk. His death doesn't absolve him of the despicable things he did while he was alive. It just means he can't continue doing despicable things. Which is a good thing.
  - luckylion 6y ago
    > Don't want to be remembered as a jerk and have your death celebrated? Don't be a jerk. Your behavior is that of a jerk. Do you want to be remembered as a jerk?
    - whoknew1122 6y ago
      > Your behavior is that of a jerk. Do you want to be remembered as a jerk? Don't really care, to be honest. I won't be there. Nor do I care about my funeral, where (or if) I'm buried, or any thing else post-death. But please tell me how my behavior is that of a jerk. I'm of the opinion that someone's reputation should be based on what they did while they are alive. How does the act of dying change or otherwise mitigate a dead person's despicable actions? And how does pointing that out make me a jerk?
      - luckylion 6y ago

dsm4ck 6y ago

I've never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure.

codecamper 6y ago

karma

redwoolf 6y ago
That's not what karma means. Also, everyone dies eventually.

chad_strategic 6y ago

This isn't really Hacker News... regardless it has brightened my day. But then again it really isn't my job to judge people's death... (I might take a pass on this moral dilemma) Cheers to John Oliver. Now I'm just conflicted... Oh well.

hristov 6y ago

This reporter chickens out. He does not say that Murray lobbied against those black lung benefits for which he applied for towards the end of his life.

danans 6y ago

It will be interesting to see if public opinion on coal finally passes with him, or whether he will become its patron saint. I suspect both will happen, depending on who and where.

Kiro 6y ago

Don't know who it is but this is a disgusting comment thread. Glad it was flagged.