Assignment 1: Week 3 Centralia No. 5 PAD 500 Modern Public Administration Presented to Dr. Mark Pantaleo By Anthony McKenzie April 22, 2012

Driscoll O Scanlon was highly recommended by a state delegate to Dwight Green the governor of Illinois. The governor had promoted him to the position of mine inspector for district No.5 Driscoll Scanlon had started working for Centralia Oil Company, since the age of 16 at one of the mines closet to where he lived. Scanlon attended school at night, to get his degree in engineering, and worked for the Centralia Oil Company for 13 consecutive years as a mining inspector (Stillman, 2010). The Centralia coal mine explosion was an incident, that shouldn’t have transpired in the first place. This didn’t occur overnight, it was some years prior before the explosion had happened. Both Scanlon and other inspectors were sending negative reports about the condition of this mine. As a result, these reports were being disregarded. By both state and federal agencies that were responsible for taking care of these mines. They were forewarned before the Centralia coal mine explosion that had transpired on March 25, 1947 (Fledge, 2009), as a person assigned to the position of an inspector, some of Scanlon’s duties include the following: He is responsible for recommending to officials and workmen about different alternatives in regards to safety in all different stages; He is also in charge of the closure and the reopening of mines; and also in control of leading in any cleanup efforts, after a fire or mine explosion (Duties and authority of mine inspectors n.d), Thesis Statement: This essay, will discuss how coal mine explosions, can affect both the environment and the public. In an effort to support the conclusion, this essay will discuss What are the four logistical alternatives that Scanlon could have addressed? Were these miners able to take care of themselves during an imminent disaster? What are Scanlon’s thoughts about the Constitution (the law), bureaucracy (as a public administrator responsible to the public) and obligation? What are your two choices of action that Scanlon could have taken and defend your choices, and why was discussing these four logistical alternatives were important? At a press conference held by Scanlon. In his press conference Scanlon will speak on these four logistical alternative questions. The first problem that Scanlon will be discussing will be about controllability. The notion behind controllability states that agencies are more inclined to seek out as much information as they can when disasters strike, and the government is a part of that, because they have to prepare themselves for, and to how to react to a disaster when it happens (Arceneaux, & Stein n.d.), Generally speaking, individuals will accuse the government of not being responsibility of not doing their job by taking care of those unforeseen disasters that tend to pop anytime without any given notice. This same type of motivation can be seen as well, in the realms of natural disasters. Because there are forces that we as human beings; have no control over. Human activity being it can be willful, or malicious, caused the disaster, and human involvement is needed in order to stop, or eliminate the many incidents of these natural disasters or just get disaster agent under control (Arceneaux, & Stein n.d.), When we sit down and evaluate the responses given by the residents of Centralia, Illinois it seems that controllability has become a political issue (Couch & Smith n.d.). The second problem that Scanlon could address is. Are these miners incapable of protecting, themselves against the impending disaster. Although there are not existing safety laws for coal miners, coal miners putting themselves in harm’s way and endangering their lives, they are subjecting themselves to catching different illness such as cancer, they are breathing in dangerous toxins such as coal dust, and if the injury is to severe it could result in death (Alford & Lewis n.d.). A high demand for remedial legislation is done when there is a need for more laws. These laws are created by committees; the entire legislature will not be used to create these laws. These specific committees are responsible for conducting the review process for each of these agencies (Bruce, n.d). The third questions that could be addressed, is federal officials and mines complacent about a growing problem. The explosion that happened in Centralia, Illinois that took the lives of 111 coal miners just do not happen out the blue. This tragedy had transpired because of the ignorance of some of the Centralia Oil Company, executives and governmental regulators who had no interest at all about the safety or the lives of their miners. They were more interested in making money (Mine disaster exposes the brutal realty of American capitalism, 2010). Lastly, what was the purpose of Scanlon, discussing these four logistical alternatives? These issues seems to be of some great importance, and the fact of the matter is that this issues need to be put out for the people to know about. The public’s opinions and their feedback are very important because they can provide solutions and ideas that can help to solve some of these problems. Before an unlawful act can be executed, the individual that is executing this thus said illegal act has to be coerced into doing so. These contributing factors are the driving forces their cravings, urges, and their wants can have an impact the individual who is trying to reach a particular goal. The connection between the motive and what they are expecting at the end are the driving force that can affect the resulting behavior (Understanding Motivation and the Unique Sources Driving Individual Behavior n.d.). According to Scanlon opinions about the law, he believes that when an individual makes a decision to execute an illegal act that there are consequences behind their actions. In order to hold, someone legally liable for their actions for their inappropriate behavior is based on constitutional principles (Scanlon, n.d). What morality is asking of us to examine what our duties are to others and how we can help them? In essence, contractulism clears up one’s perception about what our actually duties are when it involves providing assistance to those in other countries. However, Scanlon’s theory is not concerned with institutional design; it is about the individual duties that are owed to each other, and those around the world (Werner n.d). Scanlon seems to be more interested in those standards that social institutions utilize when they are distributing their funds to the needy. Scanlon is extremely concerned about whether or not these public institutions are promoting human well-being (Werner n.d). The disaster that occurred in Centralia, Illinois can happen unexpectedly for no apparent reason (Hench, 2012). In a situation such as this; there were several different paths in which Scanlon could take. The first plan of action that Scanlon could take is to develop a disaster recovery plan, and the second path of action that Scanlon could take is he could do is a monthly maintenance of these mines. In my opinion, each of these plans of actions is very important simply because they can help to save lives. The disaster recovery plan is very important because in situations such as a coal mine explosion. In an explosion, the containments can leak into the air causing harm to those living in the surrounding area health problems, and by having a disaster plan this will help to evacuate the affected area. In conclusion, some of the points that were covered in this paper, were about Driscoll Scanlon, was a good inspector, and did his job very well, according to his job duties and responsibility while in his scope of employment with the Centralia Oil Company. Scanlon took his job very seriously by turning in his evaluation reports about the mines. He was very concerned about the miners (Stillman, 2010). [pic]