Here’s the setup from Canada Free Press.
Excerpt:
Things looked grim for the miners when the San Jose mine collapsed on Aug. 5. It was going to take painstaking patience and a marvel of engineering to bring the men, trapped 2,100 feet below, to the surface.
When it became clear that all 33 miners trapped in the mine were alive, an emergency call went out to find the expertise to save them and was answered by the Mission Woods, Kansas Layne Christensen Company, who sent their most experienced drillers to the rescue.
Although they’ve shunned the publicity, the heroes in this rescue mission are ones of epic proportion. They include two drillers Jeff Hart and Matt Staffel, who had been drilling water wells in Afghanistan to support U.S. troops stationed there. Assisting the drillers were two Spanish-speaking drilling helpers, Doug Reeves and Jorge Herrera from Layne’s western region in the U.S.
(Layne’s Latin American affiliate) “Geotec operations manager James Stefanic said he quickly assembled “a top of the line team” of drillers who are intimately familiar with the key equipment, including engineers from two Pennsylvania companies—Schramm Inc., which makes the T130 drill, and Center Rock Inc., which makes the drill bits.” (Michelle Malkin, Oct. 12, 2010.)
From Investors Business Daily.
Excerpt:
The leadership of Chile President Sebastian Pinera, believing fiercely in globalization and free markets, and not believing in limits, seemed to make a critical difference.
Pinera refused to shut out foreign expertise. As the world focused on Chile’s miners underground, the rescue operation above was characterized by an Apollo 13-like sense of mission. Failure was not an option.
That gave the mission an international flavor a la “Star Trek.” Unlike President Obama, who invoked the Jones Act to spurn foreign offers of help in April’s Gulf oil spill, or Russia’s Vladimir Putin, who said “nyet” to American naval rescue ships after the Kursk nuclear sub sank in Arctic waters in 2000, leaving 29 to die at a depth of 650 feet, Pinera brought in the best brains outside his country to improve the odds of success.
Among companies responding was Schramm Inc., the Pennsylvania-based manufacturer of drilling rigs, which produced the drills that first reached the miners and then carved out their rescue path, with UPS shipping a 13-ton product from the Keystone State in just two days.
Another Pennsylvania company, Center Rock, provided the drill bit. Texas’ Techint came up with steel tubes that made the shaft safe. Geotec Broyles Bros.’ American engineers operated the drill, and Maryland-based Zephyr Technology provided the medical monitors during the rescue.
Argentine, Canadian and Australian companies also had roles, as did NASA. The result was a showcase of mostly American engineering that didn’t take any credit away from Chile.
Pinera also grasped the importance of just being on hand and transparent. The Chileans communicated clearly with both the miners and the outside world about what was happening. One of the first three holes drilled by rescuers was for communication.
Pinera spent a lot of time at the remote desert site. He was there when the incredible discovery of life was made, and he assured the miners the long wait for their rescue was strictly geological and logistical — not bureaucratic. He gave everyone hope by being engaged and involved.
Michelle Malkin writes:
In a different day and age, Jeff Hart would be the most famous American in our country right now. He would be honored at the White House. Schoolchildren would learn of his skill and heroism. But because Jeff Hart works in an industry under fire by the Obama administration, more people in Chile will celebrate this symbol of American greatness than in America itself. Jeff Hart is a driller based in my home state of Colorado. The father of two has been drilling water wells in Afghanistan at U.S. Army bases. When the San Jose Mine in Chile collapsed in August, he flew to lend his renowned expertise to the rescue effort. As part of an amazing three-way race to the trapped miners, Hart drilled for 33 days straight and was first to reach the caved-in workers. The AP recounts the story – and what strikes me again and again is how the world turned to American ingenuity and American fortitude and American equipment and American enterprise to get the job done…
Government cannot solve problems. Academic elites in the humanities cannot solve problems. Left-wing union thugs shouting slogans cannot solve problems.
Entrepreneurs and engineers solve problems. Capitalism solves problems. Businesses solve problems. America solves problems.
WINTERY KNIGHT 