Al Gore or Tom Friedman: care to comment?

XIANGNING, China — Safety rules and danger warnings had been ignored in a rush to open a coal mine in northern China where flooding of the shafts has left 153 workers trapped for nearly three days, a government safety body said Wednesday.
Officials say there have been no signs of life at the Wangjialing mine in Shanxi province since 108 miners escaped or were rescued following the flooding Sunday. Desperate relatives of miners have pleaded for rescue work to be speeded up.
A notice posted on the Web site of the State Administration of Work Safety said all mines in China had been told to learn from the mistakes at Wangjialing and take precautions. It said a preliminary analysis showed that during tunneling workers broke through into an old shaft, triggering the flood.
“They violated regulations and policies during the work process, did not conform to the regulations on coal mine prevention of water leaks,” it said.
The notice said that in a rush to finish the work, extra tunneling crews were assigned, overcrowding the shaft.
“Water leaks were found numerous times on underground shafts but still they failed to take action to eliminate the potential risks,” it said.