President Obama has ordered inspections at all US mines with bad safety records following the disaster that killed twenty-nine miners in West Virginia last week. On Thursday, Obama said poor government oversight and irresponsible management had led to the explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine.

President Obama: “Starting today, we’ll go back and take another look at mines across this country with troubling safety records and get inspectors into those mines immediately to ensure they aren’t facing the same unsafe working conditions that led to this disaster. We do know that this tragedy was triggered by a failure at the Upper Big Branch Mine — a failure first and foremost of management, but also a failure of oversight and a failure of laws so riddled with loopholes that they allowed unsafe conditions to continue.”

The Upper Big Branch explosion was the worst mining disaster in forty years. The owner and operator of the mine, Massey Energy, has been cited for thousands of safety violations in recent years, with fifty-seven citations just last month.