Topic: NewsBusters
In an Aug. 10 NewsBusters post, Dan Gainor criticized "anti-coal liberal Jeff Goodell" for, well, being an anti-coal liberal in Goodell's examination of Robert Murray, owner of the Utah mine where several miners were trapped:
Goodell also doubted Murray's claim that the collapse was caused by an earthquake.
"[T]hey're saying, look, this has all the indications of a mine collapse and we don't have much doubt about that," Goodell said. "I mean, they're reserving final word until they really look at this stuff. And, you know, Murray is going around saying that this was caused by an earthquake but really offering no evidence or there is no - he is not telling us why he believes that. He is just asserting that."
But Murray has indeed explained why he thought the mine collapse was caused by earthquake. Murray defended the earthquake claims on the August 9 CNN "American Morning."
But Gainor doesn't mention that there is evidence supporting Goodell and contradicting Murray's assertion that the mine collapse was caused by an earthquake. As we've noted, both the U.S. Geological Survey and seismologists at the University of Utah have stated that there was no earthquake in the area, and that the collapse itself caused the recorded seismic event. Seismologists at the University of California-Berkeley have made the same determination.
