The New Magic Bullet Theory

Lightning. That's the official assessment of the lead apologist for the mining industry as to the cause of January's Sago Mine disaster:

A mining professor suggested that an electrical pulse from a lightning strike snaked into the mouth of Sago Mine and traveled down a conveyor belt, where it caused the explosion that led to the deaths of 12 miners.

Once inside, the charge stopped just feet from the sealed-off section where the blast occurred, Thomas Novak, a professor at Virginia Tech, told a panel Wednesday on the second day of hearings into what caused the blast.

"Lightning doesn't have to strike something directly" to cause an explosion, Novak said, then agreed under questioning that his preliminary findings could be characterized as a "hypothesis."

[...]

United Mine Workers President Cecil Roberts challenged Novak on the improbability of the explosion having been caused by a lightning strike so far from the mine and one traveling such an indirect path.

"In the history of coal mining in North America … can you cite one single incident where lightning has struck the ground without going through a conduit of some type, such as metal pipe?" Roberts asked.

"No, I can't," Novak said.

"But you come today suggesting that that's what happened at Sago, is that correct?"

After a pause, Novak replied, "That's correct."

Arlen Specter would be proud. (I know, I gave Specter some love earlier in the day, but you have to be fair and balanced.)

It's comforting that an industry which has been so maligned this year with their record on worker safety is coming up with fanciful, act-of-God explanations for why their mines unsafe. I mean, maybe a badger accidentally dropped a lit match into an opening! Why aren't we fighting a war on badgers?

There are legitimate reasons why those miners aren't alive and well today. Like the slow response, and the poor ventilation system, and the buildup of combustible methane gases in unsealed areas, and the failure of emergency air packs, as described by the accident's sole survivor, Randall McCloy.

Why is the mining industry focusing on magic runaway lightning?