Joe Manchin

As of today, West Virginia's made a commitment and we are changing things and the mines will be the safest in the nation in this state.

I'm going to Washington tomorrow. I'm taking what we've done in this historic first step. We did it in one day.

Every person with the responsibilities that they take -- I can only speak about myself, being governor of the state of West Virginia and the responsibility I believe that we have, I have for the people, for the families and for the…

Time is not our friend, those words today by West Virginia's governor, Joe Manchin.

I feel so strong about this. And I've been now with families for the last three weeks, through some of the most difficult trying times. Human suffering that families should not have to go through. And we can do something and we will.

The good news is that apparently there wasn't an explosion. We're just talking about a fire, but obviously that smoke and the carbon monoxide is a big problem.

Let me just say right now all of our attentions are towards rescuing these miners. Everything we're doing. As soon as this rescue operation is completed, whatever time today, tonight or tomorrow, I will have a statement that will change…

We want to thank you all for a job that you have to do, it is extreme difficult and we recognize that, but this is a special little state, a special state because we have special people that are so strong that I can't explain the strength…

All of you have been through this scenario with us before. Time is not our friend. The time -- and the longer the time goes, the -- the more difficult it becomes.

I'm the most optimistic person that you'll probably ever meet. I'm the most hopeful person that you've ever met. And I'm realist also.

What happens now is, you have a lot of theories, a lot of hearsays. They try to construct everything they can, and then put it factually, present that in an open forum, which has never been done in our state before. And then we're going to…

That's not going to happen in West Virginia, not under my watch. And I'm committing and committing all the resources of our state to make the changes.

I can tell you, we're going to fix -- something's broken. It must be fixed. And it's an absolute horrible price that we in West Virginia have had to pay.

Company -- Anderson, company officials won't be there either.

They can be assured that the loss they have and the loss they suffer might be the loss that be prevented and be suffered by another family in America.

The rescue team's allowed to go back in. That means the air quality had to be good enough so there was no danger to them, or a very minimal danger. That's a good sign.

I understood, we have a crew down in? You make sure you call me back and brief me before I go to that church because people will be asking me questions. Is anybody talking to the families at all?

I'm still very optimistic and very hopeful and still praying for that miracle, but our odds are pretty much against us, as you know. It's an uphill fight and the people still have a lot of faith and I do too.

I'm sure all the families have gathered together now and they're all pulling their strength from within, praying for the best and I want them to know the state's doing everything -- the government's doing everything humanly possible to…

The one body that has been recovered was the one person that was left right there where the force of the blast came. And the 12, the tram was in perfect condition. It was on the tracks. There was no disturbance.

I said, if we can just give families information, Anderson, that's all I wanted. I said, let them know what's going on the best that you can.

I said, we better find out what is going on, walked in there. And they're yelling and cheering that 12 are alive; 12 are alive. And I'm thinking, oh, my goodness, the miracle of all miracles has happened.

I said, well, what is the correct? Do we have one, two, three, four? What -- how many? What is it? We just don't know for sure, is what I was told. And I said, we have got to get -- we have got to be for sure on this.

I feel confident that Jerry would have taken the time to pray.

How that got misinterpreted or miscommunicated, I can't say.