Attalea (plant) important economically. Products extracted from "A. speciosa" were reported to support over 300,000 households in the Brazilian state of Maranhão in 2005, and in 1985 it was estimated to support over 450,000 households throughout the Brazil. Piassava fibres, extracted from the leaf bases of "A. funifera", are commercially important, and generated about US$20 million in annual income to Brazilian farmers in 1996. Attalea (plant) Attalea is a large genus of palms native to Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. This pinnately leaved, nonspiny genus includes both small palms lacking an aboveground stem and large trees. The genus has
Sago Mine disaster and that the support system is not meeting the needs of the roof." On January 3, 2006, Bruce Watzman of the National Mining Association, interviewed by Tom Foreman for Anderson Cooper 360, was asked whether any of the violations "leaps out at you as endangering miners' lives?" Watzman explained that they could be "paperwork errors [or] reporting errors. A lot of violations, but many of which were not significant to really impact miner safety." By contrast, a report in "Christian Science Monitor" on January 6, 2006, quotes McAteer as saying "Sago raises red flags for mine oversight ... If you