Mourdock's record as President of Buck Creek Coal

Richard Mourdock likes to beat his chest about being a successful businessman in the coal industry.  I guess it depends on what ones definition of what success is?  I think we can all agree that no matter what one defines success as, Mourdock's time at Buck Creek Coal (7/91 to 3/92) could not qualify by any definition.  

This is the same information that took what was predicted to be an easy win for Congress in 1992 over Democrat Frank McClosky and turned it into a stunning defeat for Mourdock.  And to take it a step further, success many times is defined by how a company performs in the immediate future after a persons tenure is over.  You be the judge:

Overview of Mourdock's time as Preisdent of Buck Creek Coal (Koester Coal)

Buck Creek Mine (ID 1202033)

Mine Accidents: 32 (MSHA’s Online Mine Data Retrieval System)

Download 2 Buck Creek Mine Accidents

Coal Dust Violations: 5 (MSHA’s Online Mine Data Retrieval System)

Download 3 Buck Creek Coal Dusk Violations

Health and Safety Violations: 47 (Evansville Press 09/01/92)

Download 4 Buck Creek Safety Violations

Unfair Labor Practice Charges: 3  (NLRB Cases 25-CA-21666, 25-CA-21092, 25 RC-892)

Download 5 Buck Creek NLRB Charges

Unionization Settlement: October 1991 Mourdock signed an agreement to hold early union elections to set aside previous health and safety violations as well as unfair labor charges resulting in the miners organizing and joining the Untied Mine Workers of America. Before unionization, miners claimed poor mine safety was a primary concern. 

(NLRB Set Aside Agreement 10/3/91)    

Buck Creek Coal's Legacy directly after Mourdocks tenure:

• Buck Creek Raided by Federal Authorities (FBI) in 1994 (Indianapolis Star 03/14/96)

• Buck Creek Received a 47-page indictment
  (Indianapolis Star 03/14/96)

  Download Buck Creek Guilty Plea-1

• Buck Creek Endures Violent 19-Month Strike (April 1993-November 1994) and is Later Cited in Manual on What-Not-To-Do with Labor Unions and Strikes

  Don Wilson, Total Victory: The Complete Management Guide to a

  Successful NLRB Representation Election (2nd Ed.) (1998), pp. 185-194.

• Buck Creek Eventually Shuts Down in December 1995

  (Sullivan Daily Times12/13/95)

• Buck Creek Mired in Court Cases Spanning the Early 1990s into the 2000s MSHA v. Buck Creek Coal, Inc. (1993-1996)

• Buck Creek Defaults on its Monetary Reclamation Obligations to the State Utica Mutual Insurance v. Vigo Coal Co., Inc. 393 F.3d 707 (2004)

• Buck Creek Cited in A Manual for Federal Prosecutors (October 2009)