A Washington Post story published Wednesday highlighted data from the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) that further demonstrates the incestuous relationship between the US government and the oil industry. Of the more than 600 lobbyists employed by the oil and gas industry in Washington, the article reveals, 430 once had jobs in the legislative or executive branch of government.

The Post notes that among the 430 oil and gas industry lobbyists who once worked in government are 18 former members of Congress (15 of whom are from oil-producing states), dozens of former presidential appointees, 2 former directors of Minerals Management Service (MMS), several top officials from the Bush White House, former federal inspectors, and aides and staffers to numerous congressmen and women.

The CRP numbers show that the oil and gas industry’s 600 lobbyists are one of the largest lobbying groups, and that its nearly $175 million spent on lobbying in 2009 was the third highest of all industries represented in Washington.

BP, responsible for the oil spill that is poisoning the Gulf of Mexico, is a particularly powerful player on Capitol Hill, what the CRP categorizes as a “heavy hitter.” The CRP’s website, OpenSecrets.org, details the multitude of ways the company attempts to influence government.

This article is the second of a series on the history, economy, social and environmental conditions in the Appalachian region of the United States. Part 1 was published on July 22, part 3 on July 27, and part 4 on July 30. World Socialist Web Site reporters recently visited the coalfields of southeastern Kentucky and southwestern West Virginia and interviewed residents on their conditions of life. Accompanying interviews are posted in four parts here: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4.

By virtually every measure, the working class and poor in the United States confront a crisis in social infrastructure. In the coalfields region of eastern Kentucky and southwestern West Virginia, where most residents are poor, and access to health care and other basic services is limited, the levels of disease, drug addiction, and other ills are a stark expression of the inequality that exists throughout the country.

Statewide, poverty stands at 22 percent in Kentucky, and the official unemployment rate is 10.6 percent. In West Virginia, unemployment rose to 9.5 percent in March 2010 from 6.9 percent a year earlier; 19.1 percent of West Virginians live below the poverty line. In both states, the median annual income for households is $10,000 below the national median.

John Northern, 28, is an unemployed lumber worker from Leslie County. He is currently homeless, and suffering from bowel cancer, but is desperately seeking work. He spoke with World Socialist Web Site reporters at the Christ’s Hands shelter in Harlan, Kentucky.

John told the WSWS that he has not been able to find work since the Begley Lumber mill closed two years ago, laying off dozens of workers. He told the WSWS that the mill folded when the housing market collapsed, depressing construction industry demand for lumber. “When the property values went down, everything went down. Then the whole mill shut down. They couldn’t sell logs. Nobody needed lumber to build houses.”

At the same time, John said that his own mortgage collapsed. “The bank took the house, and then somebody burnt it. I was already behind on the mortgage because of work. I can’t find work.

“When I got behind on my mortgage, I borrowed some money off a finance company. I have three kids, so I had to go borrow money to take care of them some kind of way.

This article is the second of a series on the history, economy, social and environmental conditions in the Appalachian region of the United States. Part 1 was published on July 22, part 3 on July 27, and part 4 on July 30. World Socialist Web Site reporters recently visited the coalfields of southeastern Kentucky and southwestern West Virginia and interviewed residents on their conditions of life. Accompanying interviews are posted in four parts here: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4.

By virtually every measure, the working class and poor in the United States confront a crisis in social infrastructure. In the coalfields region of eastern Kentucky and southwestern West Virginia, where most residents are poor, and access to health care and other basic services is limited, the levels of disease, drug addiction, and other ills are a stark expression of the inequality that exists throughout the country.

Statewide, poverty stands at 22 percent in Kentucky, and the official unemployment rate is 10.6 percent. In West Virginia, unemployment rose to 9.5 percent in March 2010 from 6.9 percent a year earlier; 19.1 percent of West Virginians live below the poverty line. In both states, the median annual income for households is $10,000 below the national median.

The Committee Against Utility Shutoffs (CAUS) condemns legislation signed into law by Michigan’s Democratic governor, Jennifer Granholm, Tuesday, sanctioning a crackdown on poor residents in Detroit and other cities for alleged “energy theft.”

The five-bill law is chiefly sponsored by Democratic state senators in Detroit, but it is overwhelmingly supported by both parties in the state legislature. The legislation is designed to cover up the responsibility of the real criminals—utility giants DTE Energy and Consumers Energy—for the deadly house fires and other tragedies that result each year from the termination of gas and electrical service to hundreds of thousands of working class families in Michigan.

It is designed to sanction the actions of DTE that led to the deaths of two wheelchair-bound brothers (Marvin and Tyrone Allen) and their housemate in a January 5 fire on Dexter Avenue and another deadly fire March 2 on Bangor Street. In both cases, the company cancelled service to the homes, allegedly because they had illegal connections.

Home foreclosures in the Detroit Metropolitan area set a record for the first six months of 2010, according to figures released by RealityTrac based in Irvine, California. There were 47,563 foreclosures from January to June, representing a 35 percent increase from the first six months of 2009, the previous record for home foreclosures.

Meanwhile, despite a small, largely statistical, decline in unemployment in June, Michigan’s unemployment rate of 13.2 percent still ranked it second highest among the 50 states, just behind Nevada. It was the first time in the past 50 months that Michigan did not have the top spot.

The decline in Michigan’s June unemployment rate was almost entirely caused by a drop in the labor force, as discouraged workers gave up the hunt for jobs. Some 47,000 fewer workers were seeking jobs in Michigan last month compared to June 2009. Meanwhile, Michigan employers added just 3,000 jobs in June. When people who have quit looking and part-timers seeking full-time work are counted, Michigan’s rate of unemployment and under-employment is 21.7%.

Judy Putnam from the Michigan League for Human Services told the WSWS, “We know that people are out there looking and there are no jobs available. There have been anecdotal reports of food banks experiencing huge increases in needs.”

Coal miners who worked at the Upper Big Branch mine in Montcoal, West Virginia, where a deadly blast killed 29 miners on April 5, told federal investigators that Massey foremen ordered an electrician, over his objections, to disable a methane detector on a continuous mining machine in the months before the explosion occurred.

Ricky Lee Campbell and other witnesses said that they witnessed the incident on February 13 at a site in the mine several miles from the location of the April disaster.

The company has confirmed that the incident took place, but claims that it was done because the detector was malfunctioning. Massey says that it wanted to move the machine to a safer area, where it could be repaired.

Campbell and the other miners have disagreed, however, stating that the machine was kept in operation. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which first reported the story, interviewed the electrician, George Holtzapfel, who confirmed Campbell’s account.

“That’s how it went,” Holtzapfel told the Post-Gazette after hearing Campbell’s story. “I’ve worked for probably six or eight coal companies. They’re all the same. They all do the same practices. It’s not something that was new. It was just new to me,” he said.

Louisiana fishermen hired by BP to assist with cleanup efforts in the Gulf of Mexico went out on strike Tuesday to protest against the oil giant’s decision to force them to stay in quarter ships nicknamed “flotels.” Workers, who were obligated to stay on the ships for periods of 18 days straight with only 3 days off, were not paid for their time on the flotels.

The ships can house over 500 workers, with each compartment containing bunks lining the walls, up to 12 per room. Dining halls and showers are shared, with one bathroom for every 4 compartments.

BP is relocating workers to these ships in order to extract more productivity from them by eliminating the time it takes to transport workers to cleanup sites, and to save on the cost of hotels.

The local press in Louisiana this week reported the angry protests of some of the fishermen on strike in Myrtle Grove. Jules Dag, a fisherman for half a century who has been hired by BP to lay oil containment boom in the Gulf, told New Orleans’ WDSU station, “We’re on strike, so we’re not going to work. So [my boat’s] got to sit here till we go back to work.”

“I’m not living on no quarter boat,” he added, “When I signed up, the agreement was we lived at a motel or somewhere they supplied us to live.”

Two internal Transocean reports obtained by The New York Times shed further light on the criminal negligence of both BP and Transocean in the lead-up to the April 20 explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, which killed 11 workers and set off one of the most devastating environmental catastrophes in human history.

The reports reveal that Deepwater Horizon workers were well aware of mechanical and safety problems aboard the rig, but they feared reprisal should they speak out. The documents also strongly indicate that BP and Transocean knowingly disregarded basic safety and maintenance.

The first, a 33-page report, details confidential surveys of at least 40 workers aboard the rig, carried out by a third party and commissioned by Transocean, the owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig. The surveys, conducted from March 12-16—just one month before the blowout—reveal serious concerns among workers about safety procedures and the reliability of rig equipment.