Mine Disasters And Coal News.

Pa. coal mine owner, cited after fatal explosion, commits suicide

2007-10-17T06:25:00.001-07:00

Pa. coal mine owner, cited after fatal explosion, commits suicide
The Associated Press
ALLENTOWN, Pa. - A coal mine operator who was fighting record fines issued to his business after a fatal accident committed suicide at one of his mines.
David S. Himmelberger, owner of the R&D Coal Co. in Schuylkill County, died of a gunshot wound early Monday, county Coroner David Dutcavich said.
Himmelberger, who was known as Stu, was under stress from the investigation and litigation stemming from a deadly explosion at the company's Buck Mountain Slope Mine in Tremont, his lawyer, Adele Abrams, said Tuesday.
R&D was the first mining company cited for flagrant violations under new federal rules forged in 2006. Congress boosted mine-safety fines after a series of miner deaths, including those of 12 men at West Virginia's Sago mine.
The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration fined the company $874,500 following the October 2006 death of miner Dale Reightler, 43, of Donaldson.
"The record penalties that they proposed against a small company were just unconscionable," Abrams said. "They are not allowed to fine somebody out of business."
The company will continue to fight the fines in court, Abrams said.
Himmelberger's wife, Dawn, told The Morning Call of Allentown that "they are pushing these miners to the brink."
Himmelberger was part of a small community of anthracite miners still working in Pennsylvania. Anthracite, a type of hard, relatively clean-burning coal, once heated millions of homes but now represents a tiny sliver of the U.S. coal industry.
In March, MSHA released a report on Reightler's death saying the Buck Mountain Slope Mine had inadequate ventilation, unsafe blasting practices and improper pre-shift safety checks.
The state Department of Environmental Protection forced the company to close in January and revoked its mining permit for disregarding the "safety and well-being of the miners and their families."
The DEP said the company's alleged cover-up of a similar 2004 blast might have contributed to Reightler's death.
Himmelberger died at R&D's Orchard coal mine, leaving a wife and three children, Abrams said.
,,,
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/103-10162007-1424499.html

One killed in Pennsylvania coal mine accident

2007-10-17T06:24:00.001-07:00

One killed in Pennsylvania coal mine accident

POSTED: 2:26 p.m. EDT,
October 23, 2006
From Zak Sos
CNN) -- A Pennsylvania coal mine accident killed at least one worker Monday morning, the state Department of Environmental Protection said.
The investigation at the Buck Mountain Anthracite Mine, in rural Schuylkill Haven, was taken over by the Mine Safety and Health Administration, the State Police said.
"We have one confirmed fatality," Kurt Knaus, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection, told The Associated Press. "I believe it is a recovery and not a rescue operation."
The mine -- in eastern Pennsylvania 70 miles northwest of Philadelphia -- is operated by R&D Coal Co. Calls to the company were not immediately returned.
According to records on the MSHA's Web site, an explosion occurred at the same mine in 2004 injuring 4 workers.
Eastern Pennsylvania has the nation's only deposits of anthracite, a type of hard, relatively clean-burning coal that once heated millions of homes but now represents a tiny sliver of the U.S. coal industry, according to the AP.
The mines still operating are typically small with only a few miners, the AP said.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/23/mine.explosion/index.html

Coal mine owner commits suicide

2007-10-17T06:23:00.001-07:00

Coal mine owner commits suicide

Allentown Morning Call - Allentown,PA, USA

By Chris Parker
October 16, 2007
The owner of a Schuylkill County coal mine where a miner died in a blast last year committed suicide at the business early Monday.
David S. Himmelberger of Tremont died of a gunshot wound, county Coroner David Dutcavich said.
Himmelberger was president and owner of the R&D Coal Mine in the township, where a methane blast on Oct. 23, 2006, killed Dale Reightler, 43, of Donaldson, Frailey Township, Schuylkill County.
The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration subsequently fined the company $874,500 for ''flagrant'' safety violations at the mine.
''Mr. Himmelberger committed an act of self-harm this morning and was successful at taking his own life,'' Dutcavich said. ''He apparently left home very early this morning, as was his habit, and didn't say anything to anybody.
Dutcavich said Himmelberger' s co-workers said he had been out of sorts.
Reached by phone, Himmelberger' s wife, Dawn, said she was at a loss for words, but added, ''They are pushing these miners to the brink.''
Himmelberger' s attorney, Adele Abrams, said he was distressed by the prolonged case and potential fines that would have sent him into bankruptcy, according to the Mine Safety and Health News newsletter.
Cindy Rothermel, president of the Independent Miners and Associates, an anthracite mine industry advocacy group based in Tremont, said, ''We have no words -- everybody is just totally astounded.''
R&D was the first mining company cited for flagrant violations under new federal rules forged in 2006. The rules allow much higher financial penalties, and the company could have been fined about $1.33 million for the violations investigators found.
In a report released March 26, MSHA blamed the blast on inadequate ventilation, poor blasting practice -- including leaving an uncovered box of explosives 30 feet from the blast area -- having unqualified miners doing the blasting, firing the blast before miners could move to a safe area and improper preshift examinations of the work area at the company's Buck Mountain Slope Mine in Tremont Township.
The report said mine operators waited more than an hour after the explosion to call 911, and almost 90 minutes to notify federal mining officials. Though the report also said it was miner Reightler who left the explosives at the blast site, was to have checked for methane gas, and who gave the signal for the blast and who disconnected an air hose from pneumatic drilling equipment for ventilation, it was still R&D's responsibility to ensure mining regulations were followed.
The report found seven ''root causes'' for the blast that, if eliminated, would have prevented or mitigated it. Among them were that the miners who conducted the blasting activities were not qualified to handle, load or fire explosives. The report also said the shots were fired before miners were in safe areas, and that Reightler was ''in a straight line with the force of the blast when the shot was fired, causing fatal injuries.'' In addition, it said mine operators didn't ensure there was enough circulating air current to dilute or carry away ''explosive noxious and harmful gases.'' The report also says the mine used long entries with temporary ventilation even though MSHA officials told Himmelberger two weeks before the blast that it was in violation of federal mine regulations.
The state Department of Environmental Protection forced the company to close in January and revoked its mining permit for disregarding the ''safety and well-being of the miners and their families.'' The DEP said the company misled the agency on details of a 2004 blast that injured four miners, saying it was an air line explosion when in fact it was a methane explosion similar to the October 2006 blast.

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-a1_1coaldeath.6093272oct16,0,4127666.story

Yellowknife court hears arguments about blame in bomb blast that killed nine

2007-10-16T06:30:00.000-07:00

Yellowknife court hears arguments about blame in bomb blast that killed nine

The Canadian Press
October 15, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - The blame for one of Canada's worst mass murders is being debated in a Yellowknife courtroom today.
Fifteen years after nine miners were killed by a deliberately set underground bomb at Yellowknife's Giant Mine, lawyers for groups including the Canadian Auto Workers union and the territorial government are appealing a ruling that found them partly responsible.
The groups were ordered to pay ten million dollars to the families of the victims.
Lawyer Lyle Kanee told the appeal court that blaming the union for the actions of one its members would be like blaming a hockey coach for the actions of an out-of-control goon, or blaming parents for the crimes of their children.
He said the original 2004 decision goes against the notion of individuals taking responsibility for their actions.
Other lawyers argued that the trial judge failed to point to any specific action that caused Roger Warren, who is serving a life sentence for second-degree murder, to set the bomb.

Rescue workers learn the drill

2007-10-14T06:08:00.001-07:00

Rescue workers learn the drill

By Jessie Halladay

Louisville,KY,USA
October 14, 2007

As dusk began to fall, two men hobbled from the rubble of the old Philip Morris plant at 18th Street and Broadway calling for help. In front of them, two men lay bleeding on the ground, writhing in pain.
Cautiously, firefighters from Louisville Fire & Rescue began to approach as victims yelled at them to hurry up.
As real as it seemed, with patients screaming in pain and begging for help, it was only a drill designed to prepare for mass-casualty emergencies.
“It’s a phenomenal opportunity,” said Maj. Tony Cipolla, a leader with the Metro Search and Rescue task force. “This is what all along we’ve been building to.”
The owners of the property, The Mardrian Group, allowed the simulation to take place there as they are preparing the site for demolition. Eventually, the land will be used to develop housing and retail space.
For more than three years, the search-rescue team has been in development — from writing a federal grant to pay for the equipment and training to actually training firefighters and EMS for the team.
Tonight’s exercise — dubbed Operation Jericho — was the first on a large scale, incorporating a variety of skills including structural collapse rescue, debris removal, high-angle rescue and confined-space rescue. The simulation was expected to continue until about 7 tomorrow morning.
Simultaneously, medical personnel were able to practice handling large numbers of casualties and varying degrees of injury. Medical teams deployed a field hospital tent recently acquired by the city to handle patients that require treatment at a site.
The drill offered a chance for EMS and hospital employees to test their skills under lifelike conditions, said Dr. Neal Richmond, director of EMS, who was at the scene.
“It changes the whole tenor of being in a classroom,” Richmond said. “It immediately creates that perception of ‘pretty real.’ And it makes people really test their skills.”
Over the past year and a half, nearly 150 people have been trained in special tactics to qualify them for the search-rescue team, Cipolla said. About 60 of them participated in last night’s drill.
The team is designed to respond to emergencies, whether they be construction accidents or terrorist attacks, both in Louisville and around the state and the region.
In the drill, which took more than 140 people to carry out, emergency responders were told that there had been a gas explosion at a construction site that caused a collapse. In all, there would be about 30 “sick” people to treat.
In addition, nine mannequins were placed inside the building to simulate people trapped by debris.
The exercise cost about $60,000 in federal grant money.

E.China gas eruption kills one, traps 18 miners

2007-10-14T06:07:00.001-07:00

E.China gas eruption kills one, traps 18 miners
China Daily - China
October 14, 2007
NANCHANG -- A sudden coal and gas eruption in East China's Jianxin Province on Saturday night has left one miner dead, two injured and 18 others trapped, said a spokesman with the provincial work safety watchdog on Sunday.
The accident occurred at 11:45 pm Saturday in Shangtang Township, Fengcheng City when 283 miners were working underground.
Twenty-one of them, 14 gas drainage workers and seven electricians, were at the tunneling working surface when the outburst took place. One was confirmed dead and two others were injured.
As of 8:00 am on Sunday, 262 people and the two injured have escaped safely, said the spokesman.
The rescue work is going on.
The Jianxin Coal Mine, established in 1958 and and affiliated to Jiangxi Coal Group Co, is a large State-owned mine with an annual capacity of more than 80,000 tons.
The mine had previously experienced two deadly accidents in November 2003 and August 2006, which claimed 49 and five lives respectively.

Mine safety chief: Still too dangerous to look for bodies

2007-10-12T20:08:00.000-07:00

Mine safety chief: Still too dangerous to look for bodies

Deseret Morning News

October 12, 2007

More than two months after the disaster, the Crandall Canyon mine still is too dangerous to try to recover the bodies of six men, the government's mine-safety chief said Friday. Richard Stickler said the issue came up during a private meeting Thursday in Huntington with relatives of the miners who were trapped more than 1,500 feet below ground during the Aug. 6 cave-in.
"We've left the door open on that. ... I didn't tell them it was impossible," said Stickler, head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration. "I told them we didn't have a safe way to do it at this time."
He said seismic activity still is occurring at the mountain, 120 miles south of Salt Lake City in Emery County.
A recovery effort would involve tunneling through rubble that is supporting walls inside the mine, Stickler said.
"That would create an unsafe condition," he said in an interview with The Associated Press before boarding a plane for Washington, D.C.
Stickler said he was in Utah to also meet with MSHA staff, who are investigating the Crandall Canyon collapse and what lessons can be learned. Three people died in another cave-in Aug. 16 while trying to clear a path toward the six victims.
"We would all like to have answers yesterday," he said. "Historically, investigations take eight months to 16 months.
"I'm not close enough to the accident investigation to know what they're learning," Stickler said. "As soon as they have enough information, I want to be informed."
If changes in mine safety are necessary, "we want to implement them as soon as possible," he said.
MSHA's reputation has taken a beating in Congress. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., last week released a report from another federal agency that warned about conditions at Crandall Canyon in 2004. MSHA apparently never saw it.
"I'm not going to get into that," Stickler replied when asked if Democrats in the House and Senate were unfairly treating his agency. "They have their role to play. We're trying to do the job the best we can."
He said he has not talked to the mine's co-owner, Bob Murray of Murray Energy Corp., since August.
Stickler told the Deseret Morning News that at one point during the recovery efforts, he asked the Emery County sheriff to keep Murray away from daily briefings with families because of his loud, aggressive style in answering questions.
The search for the six miners was suspended Aug. 31.
"We tried to work together as a team, but now that's over. That teamwork has ended," Stickler told the AP, referring to Murray.
Utah is considering whether to inspect mines for safety.
"Certainly two eyes are better than one. ... I don't think there's any problem with that," Stickler said.

Fed mine-safety boss calls for better standards for deep coal operations

2007-10-12T20:07:00.000-07:00

Fed mine-safety boss calls for better standards for deep coal operations

The Salt Lake Tribune
October 12, 2007

the aftermath of the Crandall Canyon mine disaster, the head of the federal mine-safety agency said Thursday that he would like to see better standards to gauge the potential risk of mining deep coal seams, like those common in Utah, and a policy to encourage the sharing of mine safety information.
Assistant Secretary of Labor Richard Stickler said he would like to see the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) moving toward targets for mine stability, although it's too soon to set those standards.
"I don't think we know enough to put the parameters on it, but I think that's where I'd like to see us head," Stickler said.
In his wide-ranging interview with The Salt Lake Tribune, Stickler also said he is working on a policy to encourage the sharing of information on mine safety, assured MSHA would hold itself accountable for any shortcomings and supported a state role in mine inspections.
Stickler would not discuss the adequacy of MSHA's review of the Crandall Canyon mine plan or the engineering work behind the mine's design, saying those are issues that need to be addressed by the agency's accident investigation.
He said he was shaken by the Aug. 6 collapse that entombed six miners, and a subsequent cave-in on Aug. 16 that killed three rescuers. It is easy to say, in hindsight, that the rescuers should not have been in the mine, he said, but experts told MSHA the safety precautions would protect the people.
"Anyone who was there and part of that and wasn't traumatized in some way, I don't know, they're a lot stronger than I am," he said.
Stickler was in Salt Lake City to meet with investigators and the families of the victims of the Crandall Canyon collapse.
While the investigation is ongoing, Stickler said he has asked MSHA's technical experts to begin looking for common threads in mines that are prone to "bumps" - a frequent phenomenon in Utah's deep coal mines that occurs when the pressure from the mountain bearing down overwhelms the coal pillars supporting the mine, jolting the structure and shooting coal from the walls.
"There's no engineering methods to guarantee there won't be mountain bumps tomorrow or the next day," Stickler said. "There are some guidelines you can put in that will reduce the risk, and that's what I hope, that we'd move in the direction of reducing the risk."
He said he would eventually like to see data crunched on all working mines, so MSHA can develop guidelines for the approval of mines. Now, he said, designing coal mines is "a little bit of science, but you've got a lot of art," allowing for debate over whether a specific plan would work.
"At some point in time, you've got to say, look folks, the arguing is over. You pick something that gives you a high enough margin of safety and you mandate it. That may be one way to deal with it."
Stickler said MSHA is crafting a formal agreement to encourage the sharing of safety information with the Bureau of Land Management.
A BLM inspector who was in Crandall Canyon months before the collapse raised questions about the safety of mining being done, but the information never got to MSHA. At a hearing last week, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., likened the communication breakdown to the failure of intelligence agencies to share information prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Stickler said the release of an engineering study of the mine last week was "unfortunate," because the engineering firm that designed the mine subsequently said it would not participate in the mine collapse investigation. Agapito Associates, the engineering firm, said Thursday it only sought to reschedule its meeting with MSHA investigators and would cooperate with investigators. The former director of coal mine safety in Pennsylvania, Stickler said having state inspectors working in Utah coal mines could improve safety. A Utah Mine Safety Commission, appointed by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., is reviewing whether the state should take a more active role in regulating mines in the future.
"The answer to the question is pretty obvious: Two eyes are better than one, two people checking is better than one, two agencies is better than one," Stickler said.

THE MISTAKES IVE MADE

2007-10-12T07:21:00.000-07:00

THE MISTAKES IVE MADE

I sit and ponder my life everyday, I think of the things I've done, seen, and lived through. I get down alot, when I think back at how some have judged me, and the decesions in life I have made. When I drive to work every morning now, I dont get down anymore.
I've been to Iraq twice, I was a firefighter, I've seen live lived, and how quick it gets taken from you. So unlike those who throw stones, I dont. Everyone makes mistakes.
Before you talk about someone or judge them, look into thier eyes, think of where they have been or been through.
I cant even get mad at those who judge me anymore, or throw stones at me, for now I know and understand, they arent or will ever be half the man I am.
I was raised dirt poor, worked for everything I ever had. Ive looked in the coal stained face of my grandaddy and my dad, and wondered why they would do what they do. Of course, it was good money, the best around here, but also a pride thing. They were Miners, Underground Miners. Not many men would ever think of doing what they do. Now I am following in thier footsteps, and I realize now, after everything ive been through, the meaning of life.
When I drive to work every morning, and see the morning dew sparkling in the moonlight, and deer grazing in the fields, I understand life, gods creations, peace and happiness.
When I come out of the mines everyday,. and see the sunlight once again, and feel the feeling of racing home to see my family, all the while thanking the lord for letting me see it all one more time, I realize the true meaning of life. It aint money, it aint talking about someone elses mistakes, its about being the best you can, doing the best you can, not only for you, but your family. Its about the smile on your little boys face, or the look of relief in your wifes eyes that you made it home again. Its about that all day fishing trip with your wife and son on the lake, taking pictures of your son with his frst fish, or petting a grey squrill.
Life to me, is much more than listening to you ridicule or down me for what ive done wrong, for i know you could never do what i do everyday, for your family, or for yourself. Those who throw stones at others have problems theirselves, and downing someone else is just your way of makng yourself feel like a man. I feel sorry for your kids, for if your thier picture of a man, your son will never be much.

Church group opposes Bush mine rule change

2007-10-11T12:32:00.002-07:00

Church group opposes Bush mine rule change

October 11, 2007 3:09 PM
CHARLESTON, W.Va.

The West Virginia Council of Churches is slamming the Bush administration and its proposed revision of federal mining rules covering mining near waterways.The group says exempting valley fills from a so-called buffer zone requirement defaces creation and abuses God's gift to humanity.
The council announced its stance today at a press conference outside the state Capitol.

The press conference preceded hearings scheduled for October 24th in Charleston; Hazard, Kentucky; Knoxville, Tennessee; and Washington, Pennsylvania; for comment on the proposed rule change.
The U.S. Office of Surface Mining wants to exempt valley fills from a 20-year-old rule that prohibits any mining activity within 100 feet of a stream.
The new regulations would allow mining that would alter a stream's flow as long as any damage to the environment is repaired later.
While the proposal would apply nationwide, valley fills generally refer to mountaintop removal mining sites. During such mining, excess rock and dirt is dumped in fills that often bury streams.

On the Net: Office of Surface Mining: http://www.osmre.gov/

Hearings set on proposed revision of mining rule

2007-10-11T12:32:00.001-07:00

Hearings set on proposed revision of mining rule

October 11, 2007 5:35 AM

CHARLESTON, W.Va.

Public hearings will be held the same day in four coal states on a proposed revision of federal mining rules that would exempt valley fills from a buffer zone requirement.The U.S. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement said Wednesday that the hearings are set for Oct. 24 in Charleston, Hazard, Ky., Knoxville, Tenn., and Washington, Pa.
The agency wants to exempt valley fills from a 20-year-old rule that prohibits any mining activity within 100 feet of streams.
Valley fills are waste dirt and rock from mountaintop removal mining, which involves shearing off the tops of ridges to expose a coal seam.

Information from: The Charleston Gazette, http://www.wvgazette.com

Mine disaster drills address safety, family and media

2007-10-11T12:31:00.000-07:00

Mine disaster drills address safety, family and media

October 10, 2007 4:23 PM

HOLMES MILL, Ky.

Rescue drills have always been a practice of U.S. coal companies.But high-profile mine disasters over the past two years have forced the industry to practice something else: dealing with victims' families and the media.
That was part of the focus of a mock disaster drill today at Lone Mountain Processing Company's Clover Fork Mine in Holmes Mill, Kentucky.
Nearly 100 federal and state officials, miners and other personnel role-played not only as first-responders and investigators, but also as reporters and panicked family members.
Company President and General Manager Thurmond Holcomb says the drill was in response to recent disasters.
The mock disaster took place less than a mile from the Kentucky Darby Mine, which lost five men to a May 2006 underground explosion.
Those deaths, plus the 12 at West Virginia's Sago Mine last year and the recent cave-in that killed six more in Utah, drew criticism about how victims' relatives were treated. Mine companies also took hits for how information was released to the public.

Bush administration ‘weak link,’ Byrd says

2007-10-09T06:48:00.000-07:00

Bush administration ‘weak link,’
Byrd says
Mine safety mission diluted, senator says

Charleston Gazette - WV,
;
October 9, 2007

The Bush administration has been the “weak link” that has eroded mine safety protections in the coal industry, Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., said Monday.
Byrd continued his criticism of the administration’s mine safety policies during a visit to the federal Mine Safety and Health Academy near Beckley.
In a prepared statement, Byrd said that coal miners rely on a “chain of command” — elected officials, federal Mine Safety and Health Administration inspectors and the administration — to protect their health and safety.
“This chain of responsibility is only as strong as its weakest link,” Byrd said. “And I am here today to draw attention to the fact that this administration has been the weak link.
“They have allowed the capacity of MSHA to grow weaker,” Byrd said. “We don’t have enough inspections, or inspectors.
“They have allowed the core mission of safety to be diluted by a preoccupation with compliance consulting,” Byrd added. “They have not realized that weakening mine safety ultimately weakens the whole mining industry.”
Byrd continued his criticism after last week’s disclosure by MSHA that it is behind on completing required inspections at coal mines across the country.
New MSHA data show that the inspection problems started during the 2006 federal financial year, which ran from Oct. 1, 2005, through Sept. 30, 2006.
That year, MSHA’s inspection completion rate dropped from 99 percent nationwide in financial year 2005, to 95 percent nationwide, the lowest in more than a decade.
In MSHA District 4, which covers Southern West Virginia, the completion rate dropped from 98 percent in the 2005 financial year to 82 percent in 2006, the new agency data show.
MSHA has been under fire from Byrd and Rep. Nick J. Rahall, D-W.Va., over inspection lapses at mines in Southern West Virginia. Last month, the Gazette reported that MSHA was behind schedule to complete inspections at two Southern West Virginia mines where workers were killed. The agency is behind schedule to complete required quarterly inspections at 60 percent of the active underground mines in Southern West Virginia, MSHA records show.
Since 1969, federal regulators have been required to inspect all underground mines in their entirety at least four times per year. For years, MSHA’s written policies have interpreted that as a requirement to complete regular inspections of all underground mines each quarter.
By law, strip mines must be inspected in their entirety twice a year.
Last week, MSHA chief Richard Stickler announced a “100 Percent Plan” for the agency to catch up on required inspections.
Stickler has ordered inspectors to be temporarily reassigned and for MSHA managers to authorize 46,000 hours of overtime nationwide to correct missed inspections across the country’s coalfields.
In a statement, Stickler blamed the inspection problems on “the large number of inspector-trainees replacing retired or departing inspectors.”
But those trainees were hired to fill inspection slots that were eliminated by budget and staffing cuts initiated by the Bush administration, Byrd and Rahall have noted.
“I am here today to remind all West Virginians that there is an ideological struggle taking place between the administration and those with genuine concern for the safety of America’s coal miners and their families,” Byrd said Monday

MineTheft.com is Helping to Eliminate Mining Related Thefts.

2007-10-08T14:48:00.000-07:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

:CONTACT
:James NagleMineTheft.com
304-855-7080 x1 –
Phone888-396-0418 –
FaxEmail:
info@...http://www.minetheft.com

MineTheft.com is Helping to Eliminate Mining Related Thefts.

Chapmanville, WV
– October 08, 2007.

MineTheft.com is a website whose mission is to put an end to miningrelated thefts. Since launch of the website on August 15th, 2007numerous mining operations have signed up for this free service andmany thefts have been reported online. "This website gives theentire mining community a portal to share information concerningthefts. As of today, there have been 60 mining operations sign upfor this service. But most alarming, a total of 74 SCSR's have beenreported stolen from these various mining operations." said JamesNagle of MineTheft.com.SCSR's, or Self-Contain Self-Rescuers, are a breathing apparatusdesigned to aid a miners escape during an event in which theatmosphere becomes toxic.A West Virginia legislator, Del. Virginia Mahan, D-Summers, issuggesting that the law be altered to provide enhanced felonypenalties for such acts. "We applaud Delegate Mahan," said JamesNagle. "Anyone who would steal an item designed to save someone'slife should get the maximum possible penalty." he added.Mr. Nagle has reported that the website is working to help curb someof these thefts.
One such incident involved an undisclosed miningcontractor whose employees were stealing from an operation. Oncethey were fired, they went to work for another mining company. But their reputation soon caught up to them once an anonymous tip waspassed along.MineTheft.com has reported that it is currently working to build anationwide database of rescuers to aid in the tracking of stolenSCSR's. Even though the SCSR's are stamped with a serial number andunder new laws have to be reported to MSHA as well as the state ofWV, no federal or state database exists to cross-reference theseserial numbers and find out where a stolen rescuer will end up.MineTheft.com currently has a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act)request into the US Department of Labor, MSHA, for copies of all SCSRreports which have been filed so as to build this database.MineTheft.com is a totally free service provided to all miningoperations nationwide. For continued support the organization issoliciting sponsorship from interested mining vendors. Vendors whosponsor the website pledge not to buy or sell any suspiciousmerchandise and to report any suspicious activities. Sponsorshipgets the vendor's name to the nations top mining companies andaffords the benefit of being associated with an organization such as MineTheft.com.
Mining operations are encouraged to ask that theirvendors become MineTheft.com certified.
For additional information, contact James Nagle @ 304-855-7080 x1

- END -

UA class will simulate miner rescue

2007-10-08T07:56:00.001-07:00

UA class will simulate miner rescue
Tucson Citizen -
Tucson,AZ,
USAOctober 8, 2007

Mine accidents trapping workers in darkness far below the surface have become a news cycle staple.

The latest incident occurred last week when 3,200 South African gold miners were rescued from a mile underground.

"I believe it has raised awareness that the dangers are still there," Arizona State Mining Inspector Joe Hart said. "It's good to keep training. That's the only thing people can count on when they are stuck in a situation underground."

University of Arizona students will participate in a realistic mine rescue and recovery exercise Saturday. The exercise will simulate an accident that leaves a miner injured in the lower level of an underground mine. Students will prepare the "injured" miner for transportation and remove him from the depths of the mine.

The victim will be transported by the Helmet Peak Volunteer Fire Department to a nearby helicopter pad, where a LifeLine helicopter will land and carry the miner to a hospital.

Then inspectors from Hart's office will conduct a simulated accident investigation and question the students about their role in the rescue.

"This is related to something like the Crandall Canyon Mine disaster in Utah that killed six miners underground and lost three more rescuers," said Ros Hill, UA professor of mining and geological engineering.

The training exercise begins at 9 a.m. at UA's San Xavier Underground Mining Laboratory, 6200 W. Ocotillo Ranch Road, said Hill, who directs the facility.

The mine has levels 150, 100 and 50 feet below the surface, Hill said.

The 15 to 20 participating students will be from the mining and geological engineering department's Mine Health and Safety class, Hill said.

"Any time you can train in a facility like UA has, it will be a great experience for the students involved," Hart said. "This is a very unique situation. We would not be doing this unless he had a good mine like this in the university system."

While none of Arizona's 629 active mines is a major underground operation - at least until the proposed Resolution Copper Mine near Superior starts up - Hart said that the estimated 50,000 dangerous abandoned mine sites in the state mean training for underground rescues and extractions remains important.

"What we're trying to do is give our students the best tools they can get before they graduate to know what to expect in an accident and what kinds of things can help them get out," Hill said. "This is an exercise, but it can really happen, and you need to be prepared, and you need to think of how you are going to take care of your fellow miners in case of an emergency."

Underground fire kills illegal miners

2007-10-08T07:55:00.002-07:00

Underground fire kills illegal miners

Independent Online -
Cape Town,South Africa
October 8, 2007

An underground fire has claimed the lives of 23 miners illegally working inside a disused shaft at the St Helena Mine, in Welkom, on the Free State Goldfields, police said on Sunday.
A number of illegal miners, known as "zama-zamas", were feared to have suffocated or burned to death while trapped underground by the fire - which they were thought to have started last month.
Rescue teams were not immediately able to reach the origin of the fire and several shafts were sealed to smother the flames, the Volksblad newspaper reported at the time.
Two groups of miners refused to surface, despite negotiations with Harmony Gold.
It was thought the miners had fled eastwards from the fire in the west to the working President Brand, President Steyn and Bambanani mines where they could get fresh air and a chance to make their way out.
Security at the mines was increased and 120 of the illegal miners were arrested when they surfaced last Monday, said Free State police spokesperson Superintendent Motantsi Makhele.
He said they had since appeared in court on a charge of trespassing.
Some of the miners returned to the mine on Sunday to look for the missing colleagues.
They brought eight bodies to the surface at 11.30am. Another 15 bodies were later recovered. All had been taken to the state mortuary in Welkom.
Makhele said Welkom detectives had opened inquest dockets.
"Some of these bodies can still be identified, while others were already beyond recognition due to the period they spent underground," he said.
"Post-mortems will be conducted on them, as well as some forensic tests on those which can't be identified."
He said the bodies would be available for viewing at the mortuary from Tuesday.
Provincial Commissioner Amon Mashigo said the illegal miners had no records and were possibly from neighbouring countries including Lesotho and Mozambique.

Funding a top concern for mine-training base

2007-10-08T07:55:00.001-07:00

Funding a top concern for mine-training base

By Mike Gorrell
The Salt Lake Tribune
October 8, 2007

PRICE CANYON - Across a two-lane highway from the Western Energy Training Center is a hardscrabble cemetery where weathered headstones mark the graves of many of the 1924 Castle Gate coal mine disaster's 172 victims.
Traces of soot also are visible here and there on training center buildings, a remnant of the dense smoke that an underground fire belched out of the Willow Creek mine after a series of methane explosions killed two coal miners and injured eight others in the summer of 2000.
For the most part, however, those buildings have been scrubbed clean. With the mine's permanent closure, company surface offices have been transformed into a training and research facility for the energy industry as a whole.
But the center's coal-mining sector seems likely to receive additional emphasis now because of August's Crandall Canyon disaster, which killed nine and wounded six.
Initial meetings of a gubernatorial commission examining what role the state should play in future mine-safety efforts have zeroed in on the need for more training in an industry scrambling to replace an aging work force with a new generation of technically oriented employees.
All the Western Energy Training Center needs to deliver that training is money.
Robert Topping, hired a year ago as program director at WETC (pronounced wee-tech) is overseeing a $1.9 million budget for the fiscal year that began last Monday.
The Legislature is providing $200,000 of that through the College of Eastern Utah in Price, but the rest must come from federal and state grants and fees charged to training recipients. Topping said he has 11 grant requests out now and a 12th in the works.
But to Price businessman Jerry Carlson, who recruits miners for operators in five Intermountain states, relying on annual grants is not the way to assure that the center can meet the existing training needs of the energy industry, let alone adding whatever extra coal-mining training is required in the aftermath of Crandall Canyon.
"We need continuous funding to look out three to four years, not just six months," said Carlson, a CEU trustee and also a prominent figure in the Southeastern Utah Energy Producers Association, which includes mining, oil and gas, trucking and infrastructure-development companies.
A steady source of income from the state would solve the problem, he said.
Carlson, Topping and CEU administrators Dale Evans and Miles Nelson all told the Utah Mine Safety Commission last week that WETC is the vehicle for meeting work force training needs because it pulls together industry, academia and government regulators.
This unification of slightly different interests has been challenging. But it is picking up steam, aided by the Legislature's decision last spring to merge the industry-oriented Southeast Applied Technology College into CEU.
The two Price-based colleges had been working on parallel tracks, with the applied technology college handling MSHA's training grants while CEU provided other training for new miners, mine rescue teams and people seeking advanced certification as electricians or foremen.
Their programs now will be commingled, with CEU moving its mining department offices to WETC's buildings. Energy-related companies have paid to adapt rooms in the training center, which was bought and cleaned up with state funds. Energy companies also have donated used equipment to the center.
And Topping is lobbying the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, to open offices in WETC so that federal regulators can observe training programs first-hand to ensure they comply with codes.
"All of these groups have to be sitting at the table to develop curriculum and standards," he said.
But the energetic Topping also has some definite ideas about the best directions to go.
"Utah will never be known for its energy production. Utah will be known for its energy innovation," he said. "We hope to shift learning from knowing to doing. You have to have people hands-on, doing it, to know how regulations affect the real world."
Topping already has secured one grant that will convert a large WETC room into a simulated power plant control center. This simulator should be up and running by next May, he said, in time to help start training people to operate facilities, such as Rocky Mountain Power's three power plants in Emery and Carbon counties.
All three plants will face personnel challenges in coming years as the current crop of managers and workers start retiring, Topping said.
He hopes to acquire additional simulation programs that will enable WETC to train people to troubleshoot digital control systems for drilling oil and gas wells, for instance. And for the mining industry, he anticipates buying simulators that would allow incoming and experienced miners to don hard hats equipped with screens that would teach them to operate shuttle cars, continuous mining machines, roof bolters, bulldozers or haul trucks in real-world type of situations.
"We can program in conditions that [equipment] operators will have to deal with," Topping said, predicting this training also could open the industry to more women by "showing that some jobs are really about manipulation of knowledge rather than lifting and carrying."
Topping is intent on developing a certified mine safety professional program so retirees with a lifetime of knowledge about real-world conditions can become "effective adult educators."
In addition, he envisions research projects being conducted on site that could help modernize the Castle Gate power plant, develop a synthetic biodiesel plant or processes for using by-product gases to generate electricity.
Already, a pilot project spearheaded by Price-based Terra Systems has been processing fine coal waste materials into briquets of metallurgical grade coke.
"We're making premium product out of waste," said Terra Systems founder Clayton Timothy, noting that college students who worked on the pilot plant have moved quickly into industry jobs after completing their education.
That is just one example of how WETC can help meet work-force needs, Topping said, contending safety training will benefit companies and trainees in similar ways.
And, he added, "when we see the cemetery across the road, we see our responsibility in this area."

Stickler promises MSHA will catch up

2007-10-06T09:47:00.002-07:00

Stickler promises MSHA will catch up

Charleston Gazette - WV,

October 6, 2007

Federal mine safety chief Richard Stickler has promised to catch up on required inspections at the nation’s coal mines.
This week, the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration announced a new “100 percent initiative” to complete all required safety inspections at coal mines before the end of the year.
Stickler has ordered inspectors to be temporarily reassigned and for MSHA managers to authorize 46,000 hours of overtime nationwide to correct missed inspections across the country’s coalfields.
“The 100 Percent Plan will ensure that MSHA has the necessary resources to fully enforce the mine act,” Stickler said in a prepared statement issued Thursday.
Stickler announced the plan after MSHA revealed that its missed inspections were not limited to the agency’s district in Southern West Virginia, where officials implemented a plan to conduct “spot inspections,” because they were so short on inspectors they could not finish required complete mine reviews.
MSHA has not disclosed how serious the inspection shortfall is, saying that complete data for the federal 2007 financial year, which ended Sept. 30, are not yet available.
Stickler blamed the problem on the “large number of inspector-trainees replacing retired or departing inspectors.” Because of those staffing changes, Stickler said, “MSHA has faced challenges in completing regular safety and health inspections.”
Stickler did not mention that the agency’s new inspector-trainees are refilling spots that had been left empty by budget and staffing cuts put in place since the Bush administration took office in 2001.
Rep. Nick J. Rahall, D-W.Va., said, “It appears that MSHA is facing up to the result of years of neglect and is plotting an expeditious and concerted course to fix its lagging enforcement schedule.”
During a meeting with Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., Stickler reported that MSHA’s rate for completing inspections in Southern West Virginia dropped from nearly 90 percent in 2006 to 63 percent in 2007.
The MSHA inspection problems were made public after The Charleston Gazette reported that the agency was behind schedule to complete required inspections at two West Virginia mines where workers died earlier this year. After those reports, Byrd and Rahall began questioning MSHA about the issue.
Byrd pressed Stickler again last week about why Stickler did not act sooner to address the matter.
“MSHA needs to lay all of its cards on the table,” Byrd said later. “Coal miners have a right to know if the agency charged with protecting their safety is up to the job.
“And I need to know — in order to do my job as chairman of the Appropriations Committee — what MSHA’s true budgetary and personnel needs are.”

Deep Debate Over Miners' Safety Training

2007-10-06T09:47:00.001-07:00

Deep Debate Over Miners' Safety Training

The Associated Press
October 5, 2007

GALATIA, Ill. (AP) — After 17 years of fixing cars, Greg Rothchild found the money from carving coal out of the earth's innards simply too hard to pass up.
The married 43-year-old father of two breezed through the 40 hours of training the federal government requires of new below-ground miners, then quickly landed a $1,000-a-week gig at a mine earlier this year in this southern Illinois outpost. He was content the schooling was enough to get him safely started.
Others aren't so sure.
The deaths of 12 men at West Virginia's Sago mine last year and the recent cave-in that swallowed up six more in Utah have the notoriously perilous line of work under fresh scrutiny. And the adequacy of training for new recruits at the nation's 600-plus underground coal mines is just one of the topics.
Tens of thousands of coal miners — by some estimates, as many as half the ranks — are expected to walk one last time out of the sooty, chilly caverns and into the light of retirement in the next several years. The push is on to fill the void.
All of this comes as coal surges in popularity as an alternative to pricey oil — lately around $80 a barrel — and natural gas. More than 120 new coal-fired power plants are being built or are on the drawing board. Coal already produces more than half the nation's energy, and by some federal estimates, U.S. electricity consumption could balloon by 40 percent by 2025.
At least so far, finding miners hasn't been a struggle, judging from the waiting lists at miner-training sites. And the risks are an accepted part of the turf in coal country, where jobs often are hard to come by and the money is like gold, commonly $50,000 to $70,000 per year.
While there are plenty of youngbloods ready to replace the retirees, some wonder whether there's enough prep work required of the rookies in a job where death constantly lurks.
"There are a couple of jobs, I guess, where somebody goes to work on any given day and you wonder if they're going to come home or not — a fireman, a policeman, certainly military people in a combat zone. And coal miners," said Clemmy Allen, chief of the United Mine Workers of America's Pennsylvania-based Career Centers Inc., which trains new miners.
"If you make a mistake down there, it'll kill you," he said.
So far this year, mine fatalities number at least 25 across the country, with 16 of the deaths involving underground mines, U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration data show. Since 1900, the agency says, coal mines have claimed more than 104,600 lives.
Terry Burtis, safety chief of a Marion, Ill.-based program that groomed Rothchild for the work, offers the 40-hour training regimen. But Burtis considers that flawed because it covers too much ground in too little time, and he thinks it should be more hands-on.
"I just feel like it'd be better for everyone," said Burtis, whose independent Workplace Development Institute includes a two-level smoke chamber where students can practice escaping a mine fire and other calamities.
States have the option of offering more stringent training standards: While Utah and Illinois call for new underground miners to get the 40 hours the feds require, West Virginia requires double that amount of training.
"We feel the miners are well-prepared here," said Bill Raney, the West Virginia Coal Association's president. "People, left to their own devices, still think there are probably some mines where there are mules pulling carts, and that simply is not true. Today's coal miner has to have a level of technical capacity probably well beyond what other industrial workers need."
Many training sites are going high-tech, increasingly turning to simulators in an effort to mimic real-world scenarios.
On 65 acres near Prosperity, Pa., a planned training center for Allen's UMWA program will feature a 100,000-square-foot simulated coal mine. Gov. Ed Rendell has called the site, which includes $4.3 million in state funds, vital in addressing the industry's expected run of retirements.
Allen's program already has two "mine mazes" in Ruff Creek, Pa., and Beckley, W.Va., to give recruits a feel of work hundreds of feet below ground.
Allen has heard federal safety officials' worries that the expected retirement boom could stoke the frequency of mining accidents and he won't criticize the 40-hour training, even when pressed. He prefers to insist that his training sites' 360-hour programs "are going to make good hard workers, but they're gonna be safe workers."
Allen says his classes are maxed out, with more than 200 new miners having rolled through the nine-week training course and waiting lists of up to two months. Not bad, he says, but others say only time will tell whether there will be enough recruits to replace all the retirees.
"I don't know that confident is the right word; I think hopeful is better," the National Mining Association's Luke Popovich said. "I wouldn't say it's panic. I think there's enough concern that the industry realizes it cannot expect this next generation to suddenly materialize and come gift-wrapped."
In Pennsylvania, Charles Waychoff has answered the call and become one of those "red hats," the moniker given to apprentice miners for the color of helmets they're forced to wear until they pass muster and advance to black ones.
During six years on a Navy sub, Waychoff underwent training three days a week, six hours at a time on how to handle fires, flooding or low oxygen — the very life-or-death issues that confront coal miners. Waychoff, 28, said there's no way 40 hours of schooling can ready a new miner for such challenges.
"You don't really get any hands-on or in-depth study," said Waychoff, now splitting his time between making $22 an hour for Maryland-based Foundation Coal Holdings Inc. and the two-year mining engineering program the company is paying for him to take at Penn State.
Waychoff said he believes his nine weeks of training, along with the guidance of veteran coworkers, keeps him safe.
"If I die, it happens. It's just the way it is," he said. "You're not going to stop it, whether it's a car wreck or getting burned up in a mine. When it's your time, I guess it's your time."
Raney, the West Virginia coal industry executive, and others consider the disagreement over the 40-hour training threshold overhyped after a couple of deadly years.
"When you look at the industry across the course of the last several years and you pull out those years where you had the unusual occurrences, you find out the safety record is pretty good," Raney said. "But you don't want to talk much about that because everybody is so superstitious. You're afraid you'll change it."
And when it comes to becoming a miner, nothing trumps actual real-world experience, the UMWA's Phil Smith said.
"You can simulate all you want, you can train all you want," he said. "But until you go underground and really see what's going on down there and try to work in that environment, you don't really understand how important it is that every step you take and every move you make needs to be done safely."

2007 National Electrical Troubleshooting Contest

2007-10-06T09:46:00.000-07:00

2007 National Electrical Troubleshooting Contest
November 15, 2007
National Mine Health & Safety AcademyMine Simulation Building
7:30 AM Details at http://www.msha.gov/ElectricTroubleshoot/electrictroubleshoot.asp

Holden to assist angry miners

2007-10-06T09:45:00.000-07:00

Holden to assist angry miners

Pottsville,PA,

October 6, 2007
A local legislator will try to get to the bottom of deep miners' anger over a federal regulatory agency.
A spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. T. Timothy Holden, D-17, said the Saint Clair lawmaker plans to meet with the Mine Safety and Health Administration on behalf of local miners who spoke with his staff Friday about ongoing concerns.
"I met with them and Tim is going to set up a meeting with MSHA next week," said Trish Reilly, Holden's chief of staff.
Holden was in Lebanon County and could not immediately be reached for comment.
The Mine Safety and Health Administration, a division of the U.S. Department of Labor, will also conduct an internal investigation after a Thursday meeting of local independent deep miners in Joliett.
There, more than 100 miners and supporters expressed rage over treatment by the agency's Wilkes-Barre district office for its enforcement policies, which they say are closing local deep mines and threatening the entire local deep-mine industry.
"MSHA is looking into the issues raised at the meeting," said Matthew Faraci of the agency's office of public affairs in an e-mail late Friday.
Members of the Independent Miners Association gathered at Joliett Fire Company Thursday said aggressive enforcement of federal mining regulation bordering on harassment had contributed to closing an estimated 17 deep mines since 2000.
Bob Klinger, co-owner of Pine Creek Coal, a coal-preparation plant in Spring Glen, warned the shutdowns would inevitably cripple his own and six other medium-sized coal processors in the region.
Klinger estimates his company, family-owned since 1939, relies on independent deep mining for most of the 60,000 tons of anthracite coal his company processes for home heating and other markets.
In his own mine in Hegins, contractor and owner Dennis Snyder said he had been sited for a "no smoking" sign that had blown off the wall while no one was at the mine working and he had been away on vacation; a tree root near the door to an air compressor building, some ankle-high weeds near a fan building used to ventilate the mine and an improper mine map when his mine was no longer in operation.
Darryl Koperna, whose S&M Coal Company in Lykens has been closed by federal officials for four of the last seven years, said authorities refused to allow him to use a ventilation tunnel considered acceptable for a previous operator, made him seal another airway in a new mine and required him to dig a 1,500-foot tunnel to connect with the airway of his original mine.
Miners say the 1969 Federal Mine Safety and Health Act regulated anthracite and bituminous coal with the same set of rules, ignoring differences in the industries and the minerals themselves.
They say they want a change in the law that reflects the differences between anthracite and bituminous mining techniques.

Utah mine investigation documents should not be public, agency says

2007-10-05T18:08:00.000-07:00

Utah mine investigation documents should not be public, agency says

Story Highlights
Government attorneys: Mine case documents shouldn't be open to public
CNN and other news media suing to make them public
Suit seeks decision on open proceedings, temporary stop to closed ones
On August 6, six miners were trapped when Crandall Canyon mine caved in

(CNN) -- Court proceedings of the investigation into the collapse of Utah's Crandall Canyon mine should not be made public, argue attorneys for the Mine Safety and Health Administration.
The records are not typically available to the public, and opening them would inhibit the amount and quality of information that could be gathered in the probe, the lawyers said in documents filed Thursday.
The documents included MSHA's response to a federal lawsuit filed in Utah earlier this week by news organizations, including CNN, The Associated Press, The Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret Morning News.
The suit seeks to stop the investigation into the mine incident until a judge decides whether the proceedings should be open to the public. It also asks for a temporary restraining order to stop investigators from conducting closed proceedings.

The suit also demands that a transcript of all closed hearings be released immediately.
On August 6, six miners were trapped when the Crandall Canyon mine caved in. Their bodies have not been recovered. Three other people, including an MSHA inspector, died as they attempted to rescue the trapped miners August 16.
Don't MissAgencies failed to share mine concerns, panel told Official: Collapse appears to be 'preventable tragedy' News media sue to open probe into Utah mine disaster The lawsuit filed by media notes that the same court ruled that MSHA had to make public its proceedings about a similar accident 20 years ago.
U.S. Department of Labor attorneys said in their response that media have not shown they are entitled to such actions.
The government attorneys cite a 1985 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that said "formal hearings" were open to outside groups, but closed to media.
The government's documents say that "MSHA is not holding formal hearings, but has simply dispatched investigators to interview individuals who may have information regarding" the mine incident.
News organizations "have cited no authority" for having access to the interviews, the lawyers contend.
Further, they say that the mine investigation will be adversely affected if interviews cease.

Agency safety experts have already traveled to Utah, they pointed out, and the investigation is already under way. Stopping it will delay a final report, and delaying interviews could mean interview subjects might become unavailable or reconsider participating. In addition, recollections may fade, the government said.
And the release of transcripts could jeopardize the investigation by influencing other witnesses, or could cause information to become distorted, the attorneys argue.
Also Thursday, media organizations filed an affidavit from former federal mine safety official Tony Oppegard. He objects to the description of the investigation as a law enforcement matter, saying that an MSHA investigation differs from a criminal investigation in a number of ways.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/04/mine.collapse.investigation/index.html

Deep Debate Over Miners' Safety Training

2007-10-05T18:06:00.000-07:00

Deep Debate Over Miners' Safety Training

October 5, 2007

GALATIA, Ill. (AP) — After 17 years of fixing cars, Greg Rothchild found the money from carving coal out of the earth's innards simply too hard to pass up.
The married 43-year-old father of two breezed through the 40 hours of training the federal government requires of new below-ground miners, then quickly landed a $1,000-a-week gig at a mine earlier this year in this southern Illinois outpost. He was content the schooling was enough to get him safely started.
Others aren't so sure.
The deaths of 12 men at West Virginia's Sago mine last year and the recent cave-in that swallowed up six more in Utah have the notoriously perilous line of work under fresh scrutiny. And the adequacy of training for new recruits at the nation's 600-plus underground coal mines is just one of the topics.
Tens of thousands of coal miners — by some estimates, as many as half the ranks — are expected to walk one last time out of the sooty, chilly caverns and into the light of retirement in the next several years. The push is on to fill the void.
All of this comes as coal surges in popularity as an alternative to pricey oil — lately around $80 a barrel — and natural gas. More than 120 new coal-fired power plants are being built or are on the drawing board. Coal already produces more than half the nation's energy, and by some federal estimates, U.S. electricity consumption could balloon by 40 percent by 2025.
At least so far, finding miners hasn't been a struggle, judging from the waiting lists at miner-training sites. And the risks are an accepted part of the turf in coal country, where jobs often are hard to come by and the money is like gold, commonly $50,000 to $70,000 per year.
While there are plenty of youngbloods ready to replace the retirees, some wonder whether there's enough prep work required of the rookies in a job where death constantly lurks.
"There are a couple of jobs, I guess, where somebody goes to work on any given day and you wonder if they're going to come home or not — a fireman, a policeman, certainly military people in a combat zone. And coal miners," said Clemmy Allen, chief of the United Mine Workers of America's Pennsylvania-based Career Centers Inc., which trains new miners.
"If you make a mistake down there, it'll kill you," he said.
So far this year, mine fatalities number at least 25 across the country, with 16 of the deaths involving underground mines, U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration data show. Since 1900, the agency says, coal mines have claimed more than 104,600 lives.

Terry Burtis, safety chief of a Marion, Ill.-based program that groomed Rothchild for the work, offers the 40-hour training regimen. But Burtis considers that flawed because it covers too much ground in too little time, and he thinks it should be more hands-on.
"I just feel like it'd be better for everyone," said Burtis, whose independent Workplace Development Institute includes a two-level smoke chamber where students can practice escaping a mine fire and other calamities.

States have the option of offering more stringent training standards: While Utah and Illinois call for new underground miners to get the 40 hours the feds require, West Virginia requires double that amount of training.
"We feel the miners are well-prepared here," said Bill Raney, the West Virginia Coal Association's president. "People, left to their own devices, still think there are probably some mines where there are mules pulling carts, and that simply is not true. Today's coal miner has to have a level of technical capacity probably well beyond what other industrial workers need."

Many training sites are going high-tech, increasingly turning to simulators in an effort to mimic real-world scenarios.
On 65 acres near Prosperity, Pa., a planned training center for Allen's UMWA program will feature a 100,000-square-foot simulated coal mine. Gov. Ed Rendell has called the site, which includes $4.3 million in state funds, vital in addressing the industry's expected run of retirements.

Allen's program already has two "mine mazes" in Ruff Creek, Pa., and Beckley, W.Va., to give recruits a feel of work hundreds of feet below ground.
Allen has heard federal safety officials' worries that the expected retirement boom could stoke the frequency of mining accidents and he won't criticize the 40-hour training, even when pressed. He prefers to insist that his training sites' 360-hour programs "are going to make good hard workers, but they're gonna be safe workers."
Allen says his classes are maxed out, with more than 200 new miners having rolled through the nine-week training course and waiting lists of up to two months. Not bad, he says, but others say only time will tell whether there will be enough recruits to replace all the retirees.
"I don't know that confident is the right word; I think hopeful is better," the National Mining Association's Luke Popovich said. "I wouldn't say it's panic. I think there's enough concern that the industry realizes it cannot expect this next generation to suddenly materialize and come gift-wrapped."
In Pennsylvania, Charles Waychoff has answered the call and become one of those "red hats," the moniker given to apprentice miners for the color of helmets they're forced to wear until they pass muster and advance to black ones.

During six years on a Navy sub, Waychoff underwent training three days a week, six hours at a time on how to handle fires, flooding or low oxygen — the very life-or-death issues that confront coal miners. Waychoff, 28, said there's no way 40 hours of schooling can ready a new miner for such challenges.
"You don't really get any hands-on or in-depth study," said Waychoff, now splitting his time between making $22 an hour for Maryland-based Foundation Coal Holdings Inc. and the two-year mining engineering program the company is paying for him to take at Penn State.
Waychoff said he believes his nine weeks of training, along with the guidance of veteran coworkers, keeps him safe.
"If I die, it happens. It's just the way it is," he said. "You're not going to stop it, whether it's a car wreck or getting burned up in a mine. When it's your time, I guess it's your time."
Raney, the West Virginia coal industry executive, and others consider the disagreement over the 40-hour training threshold overhyped after a couple of deadly years.
"When you look at the industry across the course of the last several years and you pull out those years where you had the unusual occurrences, you find out the safety record is pretty good," Raney said. "But you don't want to talk much about that because everybody is so superstitious. You're afraid you'll change it."
And when it comes to becoming a miner, nothing trumps actual real-world experience, the UMWA's Phil Smith said.
"You can simulate all you want, you can train all you want," he said. "But until you go underground and really see what's going on down there and try to work in that environment, you don't really understand how important it is that every step you take and every move you make needs to be done safely."

Owners say U.S. rules kill coal mines

2007-10-05T12:34:00.000-07:00

Owners say U.S. rules kill coal minesOperators in Schuylkill and elsewhere allege federal bullying
.Allentown Morning Call - Allentown,PA

By Chris Parker
October 5, 2007

Owners of small, independent coal mines in Schuylkill and Northumberland counties say the federal government is unfairly enforcing safety rules, shutting down and fining the operations to the point of killing the industry in this region.
The Independent Miners and Associates of Tremont, an anthracite mine industry advocacy group, wants the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration to call off what they believe is a concerted effort by MSHA's District One office in Wilkes-Barre to close mines in the region.
On Thursday, they called a meeting of miners at the Joliett Fire Company.''These people are angry. All they want to do is work for a living,'' said IMA president Cindy Rothermel.
Rothermels' father was killed in a mine accident; her husband and sons are miners. She, too, worked in the industry. Two weeks ago, MSHA shut down her husband's mine, the RS&W Coal Co., Pottsville.
Several miners spoke, saying that MSHA is harassing them. They complained of endless paperwork, citations issued for trivial infractions, and bullying, threats and intimidation.
William D. Sparvieri, MSHA's acting district manager, on Wednesday declined to comment on the accusations.
The gathering drew at least 125 people, some of whom proudly wore the black grime of coal dust on their faces. Among them was Roland Klinger of Spring Glenn, a miner at least 45 years.
He's been hurt ''a couple times -- couple scars, nothing major,'' he said. He said he ''hopes to get something accomplished'' through the meeting.
''These inspectors are coming in here and they're trying to tell us what to do. They make it sound like we're going down in there and doing things illegal. We don't do it that way. You've gotta keep it safe for yourself, and we always did, and we always will.''
Underground, men are brothers, Klinger said. ''We are like family. You keep it safe -- one guy watches out for the next guy,'' he said.
Sparvieri did not attend. ''I was not invited to the meeting,'' he said. ''To my knowledge there has been no one from this office invited to the meeting.''
Rothermel said she invited U.S. Rep. Tim Holden, D-17th District; Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa.; Sen. Robert Casey, D-Pa.; U.S. Rep. Chris Carney, D-10th District; and state Rep. Tim Seip, D-Schuylkill, to the gathering. Seip and a Carney aide attended. Rothermel said her group would meet with Holden and the others in coming days.
''It is our position that, unless we are able to change the environment in which underground miners are regulated, the industry in this area will be wiped out within a short amount of time,'' the IMA wrote in an invitation to the politicians.
''Not only will there be a significant impact on our local economy, but it will also be extremely difficult for some of your local constituents to find coal to heat their homes this winter.''
Holden's office in 2005 urged an investigation into the allegations, but turned up no wrongdoing.
MSHA has been looking hard at area coal mines since the fatal mine disasters in West Virginia and Utah; closer to home, there was the methane blast that killed miner Dale Reightler, 43, of Donaldson, at the R&D Coal Mine in Tremont last Oct. 23. MSHA has shut down the mine and fined its owners nearly $900,000 for what the agency calls ''flagrant'' violations of safety rules.
R&D owner David Himmelberger is fighting the ruling.
He attended the meeting, but declined to speak to a reporter. R&D was the first mining company cited for flagrant violations under federal rules forged in 2006. The rules allow much higher financial penalties, and the company could have been fined about $1.33 million for the violations found.
But Rothermel and others say the push has gone too far. She said changes in management at District One have resulted in unfair enforcement of safety rules.
MSHA a few years ago placed John Kuzar and Sparvieri in charge of that office. Since then, too many mines have been closed, Rothermel said.
''We have lost about half of our mines through shutdowns. There were 29. Now there are 10,'' she said.
Her group wants Sparvieri and Kuzar out. ''These folks aren't only interested in applying the law,'' she said. ''They are interested in shutting us down, period.''

Utah Mine Disaster Hit One Family Hard

2007-10-05T12:33:00.002-07:00

Utah Mine Disaster Hit One Family Hard

An entire community was crushed by the deadly Crandall Canyon mine disaster in Utah,
but for the Allred family, the losses were almost too much to bear.

By Jim Moscou
Special to Newsweek

Oct. 4, 2007 -
The Crandall Canyon mine tragedy devastated many families, but none more than the Allred clan, which lost two men. Several others were nearly killed, and a dozen or more worked on the rescue effort. So with the mine tragedy on the agenda of two congressional committees this week, the Allreds came to Washington from Utah along with the other families who lost loved ones.
Wendy Black told a chilling tale Wednesday morning to the House Committee on Education and Labor. The night before the Aug. 6 mine cave-in that killed six miners, her husband Dale Black (a member of the Allred family) told her the mountain was rumbling with “big bounces that were registering” on the Richter scale. “I’ve never known my husband to be afraid to go to work,” she told the panel as Dale’s extended family listened intently. “But the last part of his life, he was.”
Hours after his confession of fear, those nerve-rattling bounces imploded Crandall’s coal walls with enough force to split a multiton mining machine. Six miners lay trapped 1,500 feet below the surface, including Kerry Allred, Dale’s cousin. Then, during the rescue 10 days later, another massive mountain bump hit Crandall, killing three rescuers—including Dale.
In Utah’s Castle Valley—a vast, open territory two hours south of Salt Lake City with sagebrush landscapes and mountain peaks in the distance—the Allred clan runs deep. More than 200 family members trace their heritage back to three 19th-century homesteading Allred brothers. Today dozens of their descendants work the local coal mines or in the area’s coal-fired power plants. They are a tight, supportive group, proud of their family, their lineage and their name. And for the Allreds who came to Washington, their message was clear: their family members died needlessly.
Sitting at the witness table four seats away from Wendy at the hearing in Washington was Steve Allred, Kerry’s brother and Dale’s cousin. Two seats away was Kerry’s son-in-law, Mike Marasco. Behind Wendy was Cody Allred, Kerry’s teenage son. In more than an hour of heart-wrenching testimony, Wendy, Steve, Mike and two relatives of other miners killed at the Crandall Canyon mine shared their stories with the committee. Evoking the emotions of the day, each put a picture of his or her lost loved one next to the microphone; Kerry in a mine, donning his gear; Dale pictured smiling in the outdoors that he loved so much.
Steve Allred, who has worked the area mines since 1978, told the committee the lack of a union at Crandall Canyon fueled a deadly silence by its workers. The miners were too afraid to speak up for fear of losing their jobs, he said. “A unionized mine would have let the miners pull back if they felt nervous.” Marasco blamed mine owner Robert Murray and the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, which oversaw operations at the facility. “From day one we have been let down by Mr. Murray and MSHA,” Marasco said. He later told NEWSWEEK, “All [the owners] cared about was getting their coal out.”
Wendy Black told the committee that her husband died in the rescue operation in part because he had volunteered to fill in for another miner who declined to operate his machine to help dig out the trapped six. Why, a congressman asked? The miner usually in charge was too scared to go back into the mine, she said. (Miners took part in the rescue operations voluntarily.) So Dale stepped up. “Dale was that kind of guy,” she added.
Not all of the Allred clan’s official business was in Washington. The same day that Black, Allred and Marasco testified before Congress, Bodee Allred, the Crandall Canyon mine’s safety supervisor and cousin to Dale and Kerry, spoke for five hours to a closed session of an MSHA panel in Price, Utah, investigating the disaster. It was Bodee Allred’s first official debriefing, which he said he could not discuss. Bodee, along with most of his relatives, can barely talk about the disaster. “Half of [the Allred family] are still strong,” Bodee told NEWSEEK. “And the other half, well, they are just realizing what happened.” Bodee counts himself in the second group. “I feel like I’m two months behind the grieving process.” Bodee was especially close to Dale. “My first boss was Dale,” Bodee said with a cracking voice. “He took care of me for many years in the mines. He practically raised me. Then he worked for me.”
For Bodee and the half dozen or so other Allreds working Crandall—like Bodee’s brother Benny, who was originally assigned to the crew of the trapped six but was called home the day of the collapse—the memories of those August days are still haunting. When Bodee got the call that the second mountain bump had hit, he took off running. “My brother was down there,” he explained. “When I got there, they handed me the first guy, and, well, he didn’t look good. I gave him CPR from that location all the way to the surface—30 minutes until I got outside the mine. He was deceased at that point. I just collapsed.” Benny, only feet away from the second mountain bump, had cheated death again. He escaped uninjured.
Unlike his relatives Mike Maresco and Steve Allred, Bodee says he doesn’t hold a grudge against Bob Murray and Murray Energy Co., part-owner and operators of the mine. Crandall is being stripped of valuable parts since Murray announced he will seal the mine, entombing the Crandall six, whose bodies were not recovered. So Bodee transferred to another of Murray’s three mines in Castle Valley, the Tower mine. “I have no problem with Bob,” Bodee said. “Not everything he does I agree with, but that’s part of life. My hat’s off for him, for what he did and how he presented himself. I feel good working for him. If I didn’t I would have left.”
But others in the Allred clan obviously feel differently. After his harsh testimony in Washington about Murray and federal regulators, Steve Allred was asked if there is division in the Allred family. “No! God, I sure hope not,” he said. “I have the utmost respect for all of them and love them to death. They are all good people.”
Wednesday’s testimony revealed that Dale Black wasn’t the only one afraid to work at Crandall. Manual Sanchez, another trapped miner, also had an eerie premonition, according to his brother Cesar. “My brother was so concerned about the safety at the mine, he had asked me to get him a job at the mine I was working at, in Wyoming,” Cesar told the committee. That request, Cesar said, happened just the day before his brother was trapped. “Unfortunately, he did not leave soon enough.”
For Sheila Phillips, whose father and grandfather worked the Castle Valley mines, her message was on her lap, as she wiped tears from her eyes. Her son, Brandon Phillips, was caught in the initial collapse, too. Sheila brought Brandon’s five-year-old son Gage, who squirmed on his grandma’s lap. She implored the committee to help locate the spot where her son was buried. “I want to know where my son is,” she said. “Even if they are never able to get them out of the mine, I want to know where to lay a marker.” Later, after his grandmother was finished testifying, Brandon’s little boy made his way up to the seat of the committee’s chairman, Rep. George Miller, sitting on Miller’s lap as Utah’s Gov. Jon Huntsman gave testimony.
The day before the family testimony, the senate committee, led by Sen. Ted Kennedy, heard mining experts question whether Crandall should have been allowed to mine even a single rock of coal. A 2005 BLM report called a proposed mining plan—which was later approved by MSHA in 2006 after Murray purchased Crandall—“untenable.” MSHA officials said they did not know about the BLM assessment, which prompted Kennedy to respond, “That’s like the CIA not talking to the FBI when we’re getting attacked by terrorists.” Robert Ferriter, a director at the Colorado School of Mines, noted that months earlier, and only 900 feet away from the trapped miners, mountain bumps had caused a section of the mine to shut down. Would he have gone into the Crandall mine, a senator asked? “My visit would be very limited and very short,” Ferriter said.
But perhaps the most poignant political point came from Wendy Black. With MSHA conducting the investigation into a mine disaster—the same agency that approved the Crandall mining operation and, later, the rescue plans—Wendy had one question for the congressmen: “Now, explain something to me: How do you investigate yourselves?” Dead silence met her query.
For the Allreds the Washington testimony was another step toward healing. Mike Marasco said he thought the hearings had gone well and had given him a sense of relief. Afterward Steve Allred looked like a drained man. Sitting on the steps of the Capitol, he stared out at the Washington traffic. “This is all helping me,” he said. “It’s not closure. But it’s a start. It’s helping.”
© 2007 Newsweek, Inc.URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21138591...week/?from=rss_______

Congressional commission finds negligence in Mexican mine disaster

2007-10-05T12:33:00.001-07:00

Congressional commission finds negligence in Mexican mine disaster

October 5, 2007

MEXICO CITY: A congressional commission found that negligence contributed to a Mexican mining disaster that killed 63 men.
Operators of the Pasta de Conchos coal mine should have avoided a buildup of gases and coal dust by venting or sealing off affected areas before the Feb. 19, 2006, explosion, according to the report issued Thursday.
Sixty-three miners died. Only two of their bodies have been recovered.
"The disaster was caused in part by negligence and serious omissions by the operators of the mine, given that they did not comply in a timely way with measures demanded by labor authorities," according to a summary of the report issued by the lower house of Congress.
"There was also negligence and omission on the part of authorities at the Labor Department because they did not ensure the implementation of the measures" or order the mine closed, it said.
Grupo Mexico SAB de CV, the mine's operator, has insisted the mine met safety standards and denies allegations that safety precautions were ignored. It does not plan to reopen the mine once efforts to recover bodies conclude.
The congressional report was a finding only, and did not force authorities to take any specific action.
In April, a U.S. expert advised Grupo Mexico to halt recovery efforts, saying the mine is unstable and likely contaminated with toxic gas.
In March, a judge ordered five mine officials to stand trial on negligent homicide charges.

STATEMENT OF KEVIN G. STRICKLIN

2007-10-04T17:30:00.001-07:00

STATEMENT OF KEVIN G. STRICKLIN
ADMINISTRATOR FOR COAL MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH
MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR, AND PENSIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
October 2, 2007

http://www.msha.gov/Media/CONGRESS/2007/20071002.pdf

MSHA Certifies Helicomm and Venture Design Services' Mobile Location Transponder

2007-10-04T17:28:00.000-07:00

MSHA Certifies Helicomm and Venture Design Services' Mobile Location Transponder

October 4, 2007
Helicomm, Inc. and Venture Design Services Inc. (VDSI) today announced that another milestone in their joint product development for mine safety has been reached.

The Mobile Location Transponder (MLT), an integral part of MineTracer, the ZigBee-based tracking, monitoring, and emergency messaging system, was fully approved for intrinsic safety in a methane-air environment by MSHA.

MineTracer is a location, tracking and communications system now under review by owner/operators of more than 60 coal mines. The majority of these mines are located in West Virginia where safety plans have been mandated by state law. The MLT is a device for tracking miners or "tagging" anything in a mine: rover, mantrip, longwall machine, or other equipment.

"MineTracer continues to be the benchmark for self-configuring, low-power, location and tracking systems," said Ken Hill, director of sales, Helicomm. "This certification allows us to move forward with additional capability and continue our mission of improving mine safety."
MineTracer was included in the first group of approved products by the state's Office of Miners' Health Safety and Training on June 6, 2007. West Virginia required mine operators to submit initial plans for communications and tracking systems under legislative rule Title 56 Series 4 during Q2 2007.
It is expected that final plans will be submitted in October of this year to meet the requirements of the new rules.
"The key accomplishment with this approval is having proven the ruggedness and intrinsic safety against more serious impact and environmental tests. There are no restrictions for use of the device in any hazardous areas of any mine," said Eric Pirttima, business development manager, VDSI. "This technology provides a safer environment for the miners and peace of mind for their families."

About Helicomm

Headquartered in Carlsbad, Calif., with wholly owned subsidiaries in Beijing, China, and Taipei, Taiwan, Helicomm is a leading provider of voice and data wireless networks to improve tracking, management and communication of assets by providing wireless networking solutions built upon the IEEE 802.15.4 (ZigBee) and IPv6 global standards for reliable, secure, low-power, cost-effective wireless networks. Helicomm's networking SOFTWARE and development tools provide customers the quickest and easiest way to integrate wireless networking into their products and systems. For more information about Helicomm, please visit www.helicomm.com.

About VDSI and Venture Corporation

With R&D facilities in Santa Rosa, CA and Liberty Lake, WA, Venture Design Services, Inc. (VDSI) develops wireless communications products and systems focusing on remote sensor networks and data collection. VDSI?s parent company, Venture Corporation, Ltd., is a leading global electronics services company providing comprehensive manufacturing and engineering design services. Venture is a strategic partner with top Fortune 500 companies including Agilent Technologies, HP, IBM, and Intermec

Mine Safety In Deep Trouble

2007-10-04T17:26:00.000-07:00

Mine Safety In Deep Trouble
The NationOpinion
October 4, 2007

Two days of Congressional hearings on Utah's recent mining tragedy made clear that when it comes to government competency, the Mining Health and Safety Administration is neck-in-neck with FEMA under Mike Brown. Whether the Department of Labor agency proves as hard to clean up is the less certain issue that Congress - and mineworkers - face. The two hearings, which were held seperately by the House and Senate Education and Labor Committees, turned into a civics lesson on "When Government Doesn't Work." MSHA's failure to communicate with families after the explosion of Crandall Canyon's mine roof has been pretty well documented. But the hearings additionally indicated that the agency lacked an effective inspection system, had no way to get needed information from other federal agencies, and still lacks a good-faith effort to evaluate its shortcomings.
As New Jersey Democratic Representative Robert Andrews noted to relatives of the six miners and three rescue workers killed, "We are sorry that government has let you down in so many ways."
The hearing's most startling moment occurred on the Senate side Tuesday when Kevin Stricklin, the MSHA public health and safety administrator, told the committee that a graduate student inspected the safety of Crandall Canyon. The grad student worked for Agapito Associates, a company that mine operators Murray Energy Corporation hired to inspect Crandall Canyon.
Stricklin testified that the written report from Agapito was submitted directly to MSHA. He did not know whether MSHA checked the graduate student's work. Stricklin additionally told committee chair Ted Kennedy that the Bureau of Land Management had discovered before the mine caved-in that Crandall Canyon was unsafe. But MSHA had no contact with the bureau until after the fact.
"This is like the CIA not talking to the FBI while we're getting attacked by terrorists," Kennedy said to Stricklin, ruefully adding that, "maybe the graduate student knew" about the Land Management's report.
Almost every witness testified that Crandall Canyon miner's lacked a voice, as there were neither represented by the United Mine Workers of America nor, apparently, provided a safety net by MSHA. Despite protests from the agency, The UMWA is now representing the families of victims and flew them in Wednesday to testify.
Along with relating their personal grief, the relatives also explicitly pointed out systemic failures before and after the tragedy."There are not enough safety inspectors and safety committees in non-union mines," said Steve Allred, brother of trapped miner Kerry Allred. Allred compared miners relying on MSHA safety inspectors to playing Russian roulette.
Utah's Republican Governor Jim Hunstman focused on the emergency response failure of MSHA. "There was a lack of defined authority and coordination." Huntsman said. "The [MSHA] experts clearly had not operated in deep mines before."
Other witnesses characterized MSHA employees as glorified yes-men to Murray CEO Jim Murray. "We thought MSHA was going to be in charge but every time we went down there [to the mine] it was Mr. Murray," said Mike Marasco, the son-in-law of miner Allred. Relatives and union representatives said Murray and MSHA have continually lied and withheld information.
Such damning accusations ultimately beg the question of what Congress can and should do. Right now, lawmakers still don't fully know what happened. Department of Labor Secretary Elaine Chao did not appoint a graduate student to head the official government investigation, but she did name two retired MSHA inspectors. And Chao has hampered a more independent investigation by not turning over subpoenaed documents to Congress and the state of Utah.
Congress also doesn't know how to address the broader issue of mine safety. After the Sago mine tragedy in West Virginia last year, Democratic legislators successfully made into law the MINER Act, which was supposed to address the very issues now being debated. Except for members of Congress from Utah, most Republicans didn't show up for either hearing, and those who did argued that more laws are unnecessary. "We're in the business of making good, enforceable policy," explained Jon Kline of Minnesota. "Sometimes in our frustration we just pass a law and say things are okay."
It will be a while until MSHA is judged "okay."

http://news.yahoo.com:80/s/thenation/20071004/cm_thenation/15240126

MSHA Announces '100 Percent Plan'

2007-10-04T17:25:00.000-07:00

MSHA Announces '100 Percent Plan'

October 4, 2007
Plan will ensure completion of all mandated regular inspections

ARLINGTON, Va.,

The U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has announced a new initiative to complete 100 percent of mandated regular inspections for all coal mines in the country."Due to the large number of inspector-trainees replacing retired or departing inspectors, MSHA has faced challenges in completing regular safety and health inspections," said Richard E. Stickler, assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health. "The 100 Percent Plan will ensure that MSHA has the necessary resources to fully enforce the Mine Act."Under the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, only fully accredited inspectors (Authorized Representatives or ARs) have the authority to conduct inspections and issue citations. When inspector-trainees are hired, they must complete extensive training at the Mine Health and Safety Academy in Beckley, W.Va., in addition to fulfilling on-the-job training requirements, before becoming Authorized Representatives.Since July 2006, MSHA has hired more than 273 new inspector-trainees. Once these new inspectors receive their AR certifications, MSHA's coal enforcement ranks will be at their highest level since 1994. MSHA's new 100 Percent Plan calls for the temporary reassignment of MSHA inspectors to areas where they are most needed and provides for increased overtime for additional hours needed to complete inspections until all trainees are fully qualified.Editor's Note: The data that indicate inspection completion rates in coal mines from fiscal years 2000 through 2006 can be found online at http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/msha/MSHA20071537.htm.

Fiscal year 2007 data are not yet available.

Tragedy stunned rescuers

2007-10-04T06:19:00.001-07:00

Tragedy stunned rescuers

The tip-top Henderson Mine team fully expected to find the five workers alive.

October 4, 2007
In 33 years, the rescue teams at the Henderson Mine, 22 miles from the tragedy at Xcel Energy's Cabin Creek power plant, have never been used in a tragedy. But they practice all the time.
Earlier this year - pitted in a contest against mine rescue teams from across the United States - they placed first in the first-aid competition.
Tragically, they couldn't use first aid Tuesday.
The Henderson rescue team found the five maintenance workers dead, something they didn't expect, said Jim Arnold, the general manager of the Henderson Mine who accompanied his two teams.
"We were pretty hopeful we were going to get in there and find those guys," Arnold said.
"I mean the air was moving in the right direction. That's all they needed. We knew they weren't going to starve to death. We didn't have a problem with the roof coming down. We didn't have a problem with them dying of thirst.
"You just feel awful bad for the families when you come out of there with something like that. You've got five dead men - the heartache that just cascades down from something like that."
Arnold said the Henderson rescue squad started at the bottom of the shaft while the fire was still burning inside. They climbed up a 2-degree slope for about 1,500 feet; then another 1,500 feet going up a slope of 10 degrees and finally they climbed 1,000 feet up a shaft with a 55-degree angle.
When they reached the area of the fire, it had burned out.
Arnold would not go into the details about where the dead workers were found.
But he said he takes pride in what the Henderson teams did.
"I am proud of the guys. The professionalism," he said. "I mean they were going into an atmosphere where five men had died. We didn't know those guys were dead. But there was no doubt in anybody's mind that they were going into a life-threatening situation."

Rescuers save 1,700 trapped miners

2007-10-04T06:18:00.002-07:00

Rescuers save 1,700 trapped miners

October 4, 2007

Rescue teams working to save 3,200 miners trapped deep underground in a South African gold mine brought 1,700 to the surface on Thursday morning, mine and union officials said.
Harmony said the rescue operation was going smoothly and that a secondary lift was bringing up batches of miners stranded underground when the electricity cable of the main lift was cut in an accident.
But the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said it suspected negligence was behind the accident and vowed to push gold firms to build secondary, or emergency, exits in the mine.
Chief executive officer Graham Briggs said he was confident all the miners would be lifted to the surface in a small elevator at mine near Carletonville, south-west of Johannesburg.
"There have been no injuries or deaths ... It may take as long as 10 hours, the cage is travelling fairly slowly to avoid risks ... I'm very confident all will come out," Briggs said.
Briggs said production at the mine had been halted and would remain shut down until an investigation had been carried out and the damage repaired. Harmony is the world's fifth biggest gold producer.
But the NUM said it suspected that negligence and Harmony's practice of mining 24 hours per day caused the accident.
"We suspect negligence. Because of continuous operations there is no time to make adequate checks," NUM president Senzeni Zokwana told reporters.
Zokwana said emergency exits were needed to give workers an alternative escape route. "The manner of mining is a problem, we want to push the companies to build secondary exits, linked to the neighbouring mine," he said.
The first miners emerged at around 23.30pm GMT, after being trapped 2,2km underground for over 15 hours. Between 150 and 200 women miners were among those trapped.
"I feel happy to be on the surface. it was hot, dusty and I am quite hungry now," said 27-year-old Zandile Sindiwe, as he walked out of the elevator into a cold, windy night.
By 5.20am GMT, 1 350 mineworkers had been brought to the surface and mine officials said they hoped to have the remaining workers above ground by early afternoon.
NUM spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka told the Mail & Guardian Online at 9.30am on Thursday morning that 1,700 miners had been rescued.
"As the union we are very upset and angry at what has happened. The mine needs to be brought to book, you cannot allow an incident like this to happen where 3 000 people are trapped. The minister needs to intervene. This cannot continue and they must be held responsible.”
Another NUM spokesperson said earlier that the miners were trapped in a cramped space where temperatures could reach 30° to 40° Celsius.
The miners were caught after an air pipe broke off and hurtled down the shaft, damaging steelwork and severing an electrical cable carrying power to the main lift, Briggs said.
Air and waterRescuers were in contact with the trapped miners and clean air and water were being pumped down to them, Briggs said. "It's a very serious incident, but it's under control," he added. They were using a smaller lift close to the main elevator.
South African gold mines are the deepest in the world and unions have often criticised companies for not doing enough to ensure workers' safety.
Gold mine operations have come under scrutiny over the past few months following a series of accidents as gold producers mine ever deeper to offset lower production and reap the benefits of a sharply higher bullion price.
Gold output in South Africa, the world's biggest gold producer, has tumbled by over 50% over the past decade, as high-grade mines run out of ore and firms grapple with more difficult and high-cost underground operations.
The government briefly closed an AngloGold Ashanti mine in July after two miners were killed in a rock fall.
Harmony bought the Elandsrand mine and nearby Deelkraal operations from rival AngloGold Ashanti in 2001. At the time production was declining and Harmony saw potential in digging a new mine underneath the old one.
Harmony, which employs around 44,000 people and produced 2,4-million ounces of gold in 2006, expects to complete the new Elandsrand mine by 2011 and to mine it for a further 18 years.

Rescue Begins in S. Africa Gold Mine

2007-10-04T06:18:00.001-07:00

Rescue Begins in S. Africa Gold Mine

October 3, 2007

CARLETONVILLE, South Africa (AP) - Some 3,000 gold miners were trapped deep underground Wednesday when a burst water pipe apparently damaged the elevator shaft, but the company expected to get them out safely over the next 24 hours, officials said. There were no reports of injuries at Harmony Gold Mining Compay's Elandsrand Mine outside Carletonville, located near Johannesburg.
Harmony's acting chief executive, Graham Briggs, said on MSNBC that managers were in contact with the trapped workers and had lowered food and water to them.
A union leader said the miners were hungry and thirsty and had been under ground for hours, some for nearly a day. He described them as fearful and said they were crowded together at an emergency assembly point.
Briggs said rescuers would evacuate the miners using a small cage to raise them up another shaft, but he stressed the process would be a slow one.
``It's a case of getting a large number of people up in cages,'' he told MSNBC, according to Dow Jones news service.
Briggs said the workers - the mine's entire morning shift - became trapped after damage to the elevator shaft made it unsafe to use.
``Nobody was injured, but there was extensive damage to the steel work and electrical feeder cords,'' Harmony Gold spokeswoman Amelia Soares told the South African Press Association.
Soares said some miners were making their way to shafts in an adjacent mine, owned by AngloAshanti.
Peter Bailey, national health and safety chairman for the miners union, said the miners were ``very afraid'' and were hungry and thirsty after being underground for such a long time.
``Some of these mineworkers started duty on Tuesday evening. It is now Wednesday night and they are still underground,'' he said at the scene.
A spokesman for the National Union of Mineworkers, Lesiba Seshoka, said managers were meeting with union members.
``It's a terrible situation,'' Seshoka told The Associated Press. ``The only exit is blocked, probably by a fall of ground.''
Union officials said a broken water pipe probably caused soil in the shaft to give way.
Seshoka said it wasn't clear how deep the miners were underground, but gold mine tunnels in South Africa are typically about 1 miles below the service.
The union worried that the men could run short of oxygen because of collapsed ground or be impeded by rock falls and mudslides caused the burst water pipe.
Seshoka charged that the mine's shafts were not properly maintained. ``Our guys there tell us that they have raised concerns about the whole issue of maintenance of shafts with the mine (managers) but they have not been attended to,'' he said.
Last year, 199 mineworkers died in accidents, mostly rock falls, the government Mine Health and Safety Council reported in September.

After century, Darr Mine blast still worst in state

2007-10-04T06:16:00.000-07:00

After century, Darr Mine blast still worst in state

Monessen Valley Independent - Monessen,PA,

ROSTRAVER TOWNSHIP - A Rostraver historian said a local mining disaster that claimed the lives of 239 men and teens a century ago is a reminder that we are never far from the gates of eternity. The Rev. Chip Norton was the keynote speaker at the Darr Mine 100th anniversary service Saturday at Olive Branch Baptist Church in Van Meter.
Norton, a former Olive Branch pastor, described for nearly 200 people what it must have been like Dec. 19, 1907, just hours before tragedy struck that not only cut short the lives of the miners but profoundly affected the lives of those left behind.
"The morning started just like any other morning, some men went to work, some stayed home to go to church with their families whie others bustled about the patch town of Van Meter.
"It was getting on toward noon and the noontime meal was on the stove and the tables were being set when the area began to shake, and their lives would be changed forever," Norton said.
The historian said the horrific event brought out the best in many people who helped provide for the women and children who were suddenly left without provisions and social services.
"But God knew and somehow if you could talk to these people who survived, the wives, the children, the neighbors, the friends, you would find stories of the many miracles of provisions, many miracles of deliverance, many miracles of survival, many miracles of faith and strength," Norton said.
"May we remember not just the event, but that these were real people with real cities from where they had migrated, real towns where they lived, real wives who they loved, real children who were the apples of their eyes. May we learn we are never far from the gates of eternity ourselves," said the speaker.
The 11 a.m. service included prayers, the American and Hungarian national anthems, remarks from mining and union officials and representatives from the six sponsoring organizations, and placement of a ceremonial wreath at the nearby cemetery where 71 of the victims are buried in a common grave.
The Rev. Imre Bertalan Jr., executive director of Bethlen Home in Ligonier, said the fallen miners were simple breadwinners made heroes merely through tragedy.
"Emotions are never one dimensional," Bertalan said. "We must always be reminded that human life is more valuable than profits."
The Darr disaster claimed more lives than any mining accident in Pennsylvania history. Nationwide, more than 3,200 miners died in mining-related accidents in December 1907, making it the most deadly month in mining history.
Kevin Stricklin, administrator for the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, said the industry has made great strides in safety since the 1907 disaster at Pittsburg Coal Company's 65-year-old mine.
Stricklin, a native of Wickhaven, said the Miners Act of 1968 gave more teeth to federal inspectors' authority to shut down mines. He said stiffer penalties, better communication to the miners underground and better techniques to ensure a greater likelihood of survival in the event of an explosion were also enacted last year.
"As with any rules and regulations we have, there is typically someone's blood on it that has caused us to change our regulations," said Stricklin. "I can tell you that when you go out to meet with the widow, one miner dying is one too many," he said.
Edward Yankovich, international vice president of the United Mine Workers of America, said 100,000 miners have died in mining accidents since the Darr Mine tragedy and 100,000 miners have succumbed to Black Lung disease.
"As we sit here 100 years after the explosion to commemorate and celebrate the industry to which those immigrants from Hungary and all over Europe lent so much to its riches, I think about what they would want me to relay today," he said.
"I believe they would want us to continue the fight for human life and safety. I believe they would want us to embrace them and help them see through the (corporate) greed that tries to use us against them."
Yankovich said the union will continue to honor the spirit of fallen miners and take appropriate action.
Many who attended the service were there to honor their ancestors.
"This was absolutely incredible, a very, very unique and dignified service and wonderfully put together," said Steve Zolock, of Belle Vernon, who attended with his wife Sarah.
Zolock's great-grandfather, John Arva, was a Darr Mine victim. His grandfather, Mike Zolock, took off work that day to celebrate the Feast of St. Nicholas.
Joann Verin, of Belle Vernon, attended the service with her son, Tyler, a Belle Vernon Area ninth-grader who is writing a story for the "Young Voices" feature in The Valley Independent.
"He just studied this in school last year," Joann Vernin said. "I learned a lot about the tragedy here today."
Rostraver Township Commissioner Ralph Iacoboni presented a proclamation.
"It means a lot to Rostraver to be here and be able to give this proclamation," Iacoboni said. "It is a sad day in that such a disaster happened, but hopefully a lot of reforms in the mining industry have resulted in improvements so that these types of disasters don't happen again."
The American Hungarian Federation spearheaded the memorial service as most of the fallen miners were Hungarian immigrants. It was joined by the Hungarian Reformed Federation of America, the Hungarian Reform Church of America, William Penn Association, the Calvin Synod of United Church of Christ and the Bethlen Communities of Ligonier.
The Rostraver Historical Society coordinated the event locally.
The following also took part: VFW Post 7023 Honor Guard, Perryopolis; Taps by Frazier School District students; Scott Hamilton on bagpipes; and remarks by miner Joseph Sbaffoni.
In 1994, The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission placed an historical marker along Route 981 at Olive Branch Cemetery.

Coal fire at Black Thunder lasts 12 hours

2007-10-02T18:30:00.000-07:00

Coal fire at Black Thunder lasts 12 hours

Gillette WY,USA
October 2, 2007

A coal fire at Black Thunder mine that started Monday afternoon kept firefighters from Gillette and Wright busy for more than 12 hours and into Tuesday morning.

Crews were sent to the mine, operated by Thunder Basin Coal Co., and owned by St. Louis-based Arch Coal, after a fire in the south coal bin, or “coal barn,” was reported at 2:44 p.m., according to a Fire Department news release.

The incident resulted in a minor injury to a Black Thunder worker, but details were unavailable, the release stated.
Fire Department personnel worked through the night, returning to their stations late this morning for rest. On Tuesday, fire crews were just beginning to leave the mine at 8 a.m., said acting Fire Chief Rich Hauber.
Calls to spokesmen based at Black Thunder and Arch’s St. Louis headquarters were not returned by deadline Tuesday.

MSHA Awards Half-Million Dollars in Mine Safety Grants

2007-10-02T18:28:00.000-07:00

MSHA Awards Half-Million Dollars in Mine Safety Grants

October 2, 2007

The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) announced seven recipients of a total of $500,000 in grant funds for education and training at underground coal mines. MSHA established the competitive grants program through a provision in the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006.

"These grants will go a long way toward providing mine emergency training for coal miners," said Richard E. Stickler, assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health.
"The program is a fitting tribute to the miners lost at both the Sago and Jim Walter #5 mines."

Twelve applications were submitted. The selected grantees are as follows:

Grantee Amount Awarded Type of Program

College of Eastern Utah $54,000
Mine Emergency Training

Colorado Department of Reclamation, Mining & Safety $53,000

Training Materials for Mine Emergencies
Pennsylvania State University $135,000
Mine Emergency Training
United Mine Workers of America Career Center $73,000
Mine Emergency Training
Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals & Energy $85,000
Mine Emergency Training Vincennes University (Indiana) $50,000
Mine Emergency Training West Virginia Miners Health Safety & Training $50,000
Training Materials for Mine Emergencies

Applicants for the Brookwood-Sago grants must be states or nonprofit entities. MSHA may award as many as 10 separate grants a minimum of $50,000 each with a 12-month period of performance. These grants will be made on an annual, competitive basis to provide education and training for employers and miners, with a special emphasis on smaller mines.
In 2001, 13 men died in two explosions at the Jim Walter Resources #5 mine in Brookwood, Ala. Another explosion at the Sago Mine in Buchannon, W.Va., claimed 12 lives in early 2006.
SOURCE U.S. Department of Labor

Kennedy: tougher mine-safety efforts needed

2007-10-02T18:27:00.000-07:00

Kennedy: tougher mine-safety efforts needed

The Courier-Journal

October 2, 2007

WASHINGTON — With 24 deaths so far this year in the nation’s coal mines, federal safety enforcement still needs improvement, a top Senate Democrat said today.
“Ineffective enforcement, outdated technology and inadequate safety standards are the heart of the problem,” Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said at a coal-mine safety hearing.
Enforcement and safety efforts by the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration have come under renewed focus in Congress since Utah’s Crandall Canyon mine disaster in August, when six miners were trapped and presumed lost and three rescue workers were later killed trying to save them.
Kennedy was among a bipartisan group of lawmakers who last year wrote and passed new mine-safety legislation in answer to the Kentucky Darby Mine No. 1 accident and accidents at West Virginia’s Sago and Alma mines. A total of 19 miners died in those accidents, five of them at Darby.
While that legislation is making a difference, Kennedy said, “Today we find ourselves asking new questions about whether this did enough to make mining safe.”
Congress is considering additional safety legislation this year.
Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., cautioned that not every mine accident requires legislation.“So we must wait until all the facts are in before we determine what course to take,” he said.
Kennedy acknowledged that the Utah accident is still under investigation and that it’s too early to expect answers as to what went wrong.
But, Kennedy said, “at Crandall Canyon … MSHA apparently missed the warning flags about serious safety problems.”
Kevin Stricklin, MSHA’s administrator for coal mine safety and health, said his agency was never notified about a “mountain bump” in March, a catastrophic failure of part of the mine that resulted in the suspension of mining in one section.
His agency approved new mining in another section 900 feet away in June, less than two months before the accident.
But Kennedy said other information available to MSHA would have shown that the Utah operation was dangerous.
“Why didn’t MSHA recognize the problem?” Kennedy asked.
Said Stricklin: “I think that’s something the investigation teams are going to have to come up with.”
MSHA currently has stopped all so-called retreat mining west of the Mississippi River to review operators’ plans. Retreat mining involves removing pillars of coal as miners complete operations.
Stricklin told the panel that “retreat mining can be done safely.” About 48 percent of the 223 active underground coal mines conduct retreat mining, he said. The practice is common in Kentucky.
Some family members of the Utah victims were in the audience for the hearing, conducted by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, of which Kennedy is chairman. The committee did not vote on legislation.
Dennis O’Dell, the administrator for health and safety of the United Mine Workers union, called the Utah accident a “man-made disaster” that could have been avoided.

Consol submits plans for mine re-entry

2007-10-02T12:59:00.001-07:00

Consol submits plans for mine re-entry

October 2, 2007

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Consol Energy Inc. (NYSE:CNX) said Tuesday it has submitted to regulators plans to re-enter its Buchanan mine near Mavisdale, Va.
Production at Buchanan was idled in July after roof collapses damaged ventilation controls inside the mine. Consol evacuated the mine, and no injuries were reported.
Consol has now submitted a re-entry plan to the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration and to the Commonwealth of Virginia for review and comment. The company does not expect to receive approval to re-enter Buchanan before mid-October.
Buchanan's air quality 'continues to show an overall improvement,' Consol said in a statement. Carbon monoxide readings had risen above ambient levels after the incident, but have returned to normal in all but one monitoring station.
Consol has restarted nitrogen injection into the areas that showed elevated carbon monoxide readings. Injections will continue for a week to ten days, when the mine atmosphere will be re-evaluated.
Consol shares fell 52 cents to $46.82 in morning trading.

Feds relied on grad student for review of controversial mining method

2007-10-02T12:58:00.001-07:00

Feds relied on grad student for review of controversial mining method

Salt Lake Tribune -
United States
October 2, 2007

WASHINGTON - Federal mine regulators relied on a graduate student to do the technical review for proposed retreat mining in the Crandall Canyon mine, the head of coal mine safety told a Senate committee today.
The mine's operators, UtahAmerican Energy Inc., had submitted a proposal in May to do retreat mining in Crandall Canyon, and provided a technical analysis from its engineering consultant, Agapito Associates Inc., which said it could be done safely.
The Mine Safety and Health Administration relied on the technical review of an engineering graduate student when it approved the mining on June 15, Kevin Stricklin, MSHA's administrator for coal mine safety, told senators.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., seemed surprised by the disclosure. Stricklin said that is not normally the case, but was in this instance.
A report by the National Institutes on Occupational Safety and Health called into question the computer modeling done by Agapito to back up the proposed mine plan. The NIOSH report said that its own computer modeling showed that it would be reasonable to expect problems mining in Crandall Canyon because of the pressure created by the depth of the mine.
Asked why MSHA didn't recognize the problems in Agapito's technical analysis, Stricklin said that is something the agency's investigation will have to look at.
Six miners - Kerry Allred, Don Erickson, Luis Hernandez, Juan Carlos Payan, Brandon Phillips, Manuel Sanchez - were killed Aug. 6 after the intense pressures bearing down on the underground mine caused a bump or bounce, where coal exploded from the pillars and a massive cave-in, entombing the men.
Ten days later, another bounce occurred, trapping miners under heaps of coal. Three died and six others were injured.
A similar bump in March had forced the company to halt mining in an area about 900 feet to the north of where the August disaster occurred. Stricklin said MSHA was not officially informed of the March bump.
Had the agency been notified, there would have been additional scrutiny of the proposed mining in the south barrier.
Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., questioned why the Bureau of Land Management knew of the problems in the mine, but the information was not shared with MSHA. Kennedy likened it to the failure of federal intelligence agencies to coordinate information prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Family members of the trapped miners were on hand for the hearing and will testify before a House committee tomorrow.
Also Tuesday, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said he was working with the Labor Department to ensure that the Utah Mine Safety Commission, appointed by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. to review what could be done to prevent future accidents, gets the information it needs from MSHA's investigation team. Thus far, MSHA has refused to provide information to the Utah commission.

Feds at first refused to approve retreat mining

2007-10-02T12:57:00.000-07:00

Feds at first refused to approve retreat mining

BLM reports show conditions were 'extremely hazardous

'By Robert Gehrke
The Salt Lake Tribune
October 2, 2007

Federal mine experts refused to approve retreat mining at Crandall Canyon until the mine operator changed its plan by including additional roof supports, a top Mine Safety and Health Administration official will tell Congress today.
Kevin Stricklin, head of coal mine safety, will walk senators through the steps the Mine Safety and Health Administration took before approving the plans to cut into the 500-foot thick coal barriers that were helping to support the roof, according to his prepared testimony, obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune.
Stricklin's comments come as the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee begins its inquiry into the August mine collapse that entombed six miners - Kerry Allred, Don Erickson, Luis Hernandez, Juan Carlos Payan, Brandon Phillips, Manuel Sanchez - and into the later bump that killed three rescuers and injured six others.
The House Education and Labor Committee is scheduled to hear Wednesday from five of the deceased miners' family members and Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.
Discussions of mining the thick coal walls first took place in the spring of 2006, Stricklin says, before Crandall Canyon was purchased by UtahAmerican Energy and Robert Murray. Murray bought the mine in August 2006, and requested approval in January to do retreat mining - a practice in which the pillars supporting the roof are cut away allowing the roof to fall in - in the coal barriers.
As part of its review, MSHA looked at technical analyses done by Agapito Associates Inc., a Colorado based engineering firm, requesting clarification on some issues in the report. The agency then sent its own experts to Crandall Canyon to observe conditions and recommended some changes, Stricklin said.
The company said last week it would not address issues relating to approval of its mine plan while MSHA is investigating the matter.
The retreat mining plan was approved in February, and work progressed until March, when a major bump - where pressures in the mine cause coal to burst from the roof or pillars - significantly damaged the mine and prompted operators to abandon efforts to recover the pillars in the north barrier.
Stricklin says the bump was not officially reported to MSHA; the company maintains it didn't have to report the event. The MSHA investigation will consider whether the event should have been reported, Stricklin said.
Despite the problems retreat mining in the north barrier, when mine operators asked MSHA to approve a similar plan in the south barrier, it was quickly OK'd on June 15.
MSHA experts recommended against cutting away eight pillars in the south barrier to protect ventilation tunnels. The pillars are in the area where the six miners were working on Aug. 6 when a massive bump caused a major collapse, trapping them underground.
Robert Ferriter, director of the Mine Safety and Health Program at the Colorado School of Mines, said that, given the problems that were experienced in the north barrier and the similarities in the type of mining and conditions, "one could reasonably anticipate the occurrence of additional coal mine bumps.
"The risk was quite clear," Ferriter said in his prepared testimony.
Ferriter quotes several reports by a Bureau of Land Management inspector, noting deteriorating conditions, bumps and roof falls in the area being mined.
BLM had already refused in 2004 to allow mining of the pillars between the barriers, determining the enormous pressures had caused them to deteriorate so badly that the plans to try pillar recovery were "wishful thinking."
But when it came to mining the barriers themselves, BLM allowed work to proceed but urged caution.
Ferriter said that, based on the BLM reports, "It is obvious that mining conditions in the barrier pillars were extremely hazardous, yet removal of coal pillars from the barrier pillars continued."

Mines weigh state, federal rules for emergency communications

2007-10-02T12:56:00.000-07:00

Mines weigh state, federal rules for emergency communications

October 1, 2007
WHEELING -- Everyone from owners to regulators wants improved communications in underground coal mines, but nearly two years after the Sago mine tragedy, there's little consensus on the best way to proceed. In particular, mine owners are worried about having to meet two standards for new equipment and procedures -- one set by the state, and one by the federal government.
"West Virginia took a lead role in pushing legislation toward enhanced communication systems but may ultimately be penalized,'' said Chris Hamilton, vice president of the West Virginia Coal Association.
West Virginia's plan for enhanced mine safety includes emergency shelters, daily inspection of air supplies and wireless communication and tracking devices capable of two-way communication.
As it's plan is based on current technology, the state expects mines to be in compliance by the end of 2008.
But a separate federal law is aimed at producing wireless technology enabling miners trapped after an explosion or other disaster to communicate with people on the surface.
That technology is currently being researched by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health. That plan is scheduled to take effect in June 2009.
Mine owners are worried that, having complied with new state regulations, they'll have to spend millions to meet federal standards. Hamilton said it's possible mines in the state would need two systems, one meeting state standards and one for federal requirements.
"We are hoping West Virginia mines can be grandfathered in under the new federal regulations or that they be declared to be test or pilot projects,'' he said.
NIOSH spokesman Jeff Kohler said the institute wants to develop technology that works with plans states already have in place, but the final decisions about what rules take precedent will likely be made by the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.
"The question is, will (MSHA) accept what states like West Virginia have enacted?'' he said.

Gathering for Justice in the Coalfields of West VIrginia

2007-10-02T07:05:00.001-07:00

Gathering for Justice in the Coalfields of West VIrginia

Friends,I know that a good many of you are out of state, but maybe you couldrepost this for me.On October 2nd, at 2pm in the small town of Bim, WV, the communitywill be gathering to show their support for the coal miners at BrodyMining, LLC. We will be asking through shared experiences, prayers,and stories, that the operator, one Rev. Clayton Cline, live up to theposition that he claims, and treats the men under his employ withrespect and dignity and provides for them a safe mine so that each mayreturn home to his family at the end of every shift.

If you have any questions, please contact me, Joel L. Watts, at theUMWA Region II office in Charleston, WV at 304.343.0259.

AP and Other Media Sue for Mine Collapse Records

2007-10-02T07:00:00.001-07:00

AP and Other Media Sue for Mine Collapse Records
Editor & Publisher - USA
October 1, 2007

SALT LAKE CITY — A coalition of media organizations, including The Associated Press, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court on Monday seeking to halt a federal investigation into the Crandall Canyon mine disaster until a judge can decide whether the proceedings should be public.The U.S. Labor Department has refused to allow the public to attend interviews during the government's investigation of the Aug. 6 mine collapse in central Utah. Six miners are presumed dead after the cave-in the Crandall Canyon mine, although their bodies have not been recovered. Ten days later, three people, including a mine inspector, trying to tunnel toward the miners were killed in a second collapse.The Salt Lake Tribune had requested that investigative hearings by the Mine Safety and Health Administration be open to the public, but its request was denied. The AP and other media outlets joined in the request for a temporary restraining order to prohibit further investigative work until hearings and transcripts are made public."Reporters do not sit in crime labs or prosecutors' offices, so why would the attorneys for The Salt Lake Tribune think this case is any different as an ongoing investigation?" said David Jones, a Labor Department spokesman, last week.The mining accident came a year after several high-profile coal mine disasters spurred a flurry of new mine-safety laws. It has led some to question the performance of the Labor Department's Mine Safety and Health Administration.Meanwhile, some family members of the nine people killed at Crandall Canyon were traveling to Washington, D.C., for two days of congressional hearings starting Tuesday. Some planned to testify Wednesday."It will be a bittersweet moment," said Kristin Kimber, the ex-wife of Brandon Kimber, a miner who died in the rescue attempt."To ensure this won't ever happen again is the purpose of us going," she said.In the Tribune's initial request, it pointed to a court ruling following the 1984 Wilberg mine disaster, in which a federal judge said that investigation should be open to the public. An appeals court vacated the ruling but transcripts were released.Joining The Associated Press and The Salt Lake Tribune in the lawsuit are CNN.

Crandall Canyon miner profiles

2007-09-30T07:10:00.002-07:00

Crandall Canyon miner profilesSalt Lake Tribune - United StatesSeptember 30, 2007

SIX WHO WERE TRAPPED

KERRY ALLRED
A 58-year-old Cleveland, Utah, native who has worked in the mines for about 25 years. The father of three enjoyed playing the guitar, singing and tinkering with automobiles.

DON ERICKSON
A Helper resident who worked for 12 years as a wrecker driver and manager for Helper Auto Sales before seeking better benefits. He enjoyed hunting, Jeeps and campfire cooking.

LUIS HERNANDEZA
23-year-old immigrant from the town of Costa Rica in Sinaloa, Mexico. He has worked at Crandall Canyon since early this summer and has a 1-year-old daughter.

JUAN CARLOS PAYAN
A 22-year-old immigrant from the town of Pericos in Sinaloa, Mexico. He is described as a quiet, hard-working miner who simply earned his wage and returned home each night.

BRANDON PHILLIPS
A 24-year-old Orangeville native who had worked at the Crandall Canyon mine for just three weeks. His uncle was among 27 miners who died in the Wilberg mine fire in 1984.

MANUEL "MANNY" SANCHEZ
A veteran miner and father of four from Price. He earned the respect through his self-deprecating humor and ability to "keep things light" under duress.

RESCUERS WHO DIED AUG. 16

DALE RAY BLACK
A 48-year-old miner from Huntington, the man friends called "Bird" is remembered as an outdoorsman and section boss who spent 11 days in the rescue effort.

BRANDON KIMBER
A 29-year-old miner from Price who loved his job, Kimber leaves 4-year-old twin boys and a daughter, 5.

GARY JENSEN
An accident investigator for MSHA, "Gibb," 53, worked in mining for 34 years, including as safety manager at the Sufco Mine in Salina Canyon.

Little Improvement Two Years After Sago

2007-09-30T07:10:00.001-07:00

Little Improvement Two Years After Sago
Wheeling Intelligencer - Wheeling,WV,
September 30, 2007

WHEELING — When it comes to new coal mine safety regulations, the state of West Virginia and the federal government may not be on the same page.
It’s been nearly two years since the Sago mine tragedy, and there has been little improvement in underground mine communications. State government officials in Charleston are pushing to have a Legislature-mandated miner tracking program in place by late 2008 while the feds are aiming for June 15, 2009, to implement regulations that may or may not be more stringent than those in West Virginia.
At issue, according to West Virginia Coal Association Senior Vice President Chris Hamilton, is whether Mountain State coal operators will have to comply with the state regulations in addition to the yet-to-be-defined federal rules. If they are, it could cost mine operators millions of additional dollars.
“West Virginia took a lead role in pushing legislation toward enhanced communication systems but may ultimately be penalized,” Hamilton said.
Spurred by the Jan. 19, 2006, deadly Sago Mine disaster, Gov. Joe Manchin urged the state Legislature to enact new mine safety regulations and on Feb. 7, 2006, provisions of those regulations were announced.
They included establishment of emergency shelters within 1,000 feet of where miners are working, daily inspection of air supplies, installation of emergency air supplies equal to 30 minutes of walking time, wireless communication and tracking devices capable of two-way communication.
Enforcement by the West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health Safety and Training is to tentatively begin by the end of 2008.
At the same time, the federal government initiated the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response (MINER) Act of 2006, signed into law on June 15, 2006, by President Bush.
The new federal standards are mandated to be in force by June 2009 under the eye of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration.
In addition to beefed up emergency air supply regulations, the MINER Act calls for a plan of “post accident communication between underground and surface personnel via a wireless, two-way medium, and provide for an electronic tracking system permitting surface personnel to determine the location of any persons trapped underground.”
The original implementation schedule for the state regulations called for mine operators to submit compliance plans by July. That deadline was moved to Sept. 21 after plans sent in by 202 coal operators failed to satisfy the safety criteria.
Terry Farley, an administrator of the West Virginia Office of Miner’s Health, Safety and Training, said all coal operators met the September deadline.
“We will be meeting with mine operators to review and, hopefully, approve the plans,” Farley said. “Within 15 days of final approval, the operators will be required to submit a purchase order with a vendor who will install the communication and tracking systems.”
Farley said the proposals must include a target date for completion.
While the state regulations are based upon current technology, a new federal plan is on hold pending results of a study being conducted by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.
Armed with a $10 million emergency Congressional supplemental appropriation grant, NIOSH is conducting research to find the most technologically feasible way to provide two-way wireless communications from the surface with miners trapped underground after a collapse or explosion.
NIOSH spokesman Jeff Kohler said many of today’s communication systems are good for routine daily use but may not work during an explosion event.
Two systems, one called a leaky feeder system and one called a wireless mesh system, are among plans being considered.
Kohler said that with the leaky feeder system, a miner can talk through a hand-held wireless device but the signal is transmitted through a wire that runs throughout the mine. If the trunk wire is severed by an explosion or collapse, the system will fail.
With a wireless mesh system, according to Kohler, the hand-held unit communicates to a series of individual transmission points. If a disaster takes out one or more of the transmission points, the signal is directed to the remaining points.
In addition to being functional, MSHA requires that wireless devices must be “intrinsically safe,” which means the product cannot create enough energy to ignite methane gas.
Kohler said NIOSH is interested in developing technologies that can be added to a state-mandated system that may already be in place.
“The question is,” Kohler said, “will (MSHA) accept what states like West Virginia have enacted?”
Farley said the state plans being considered primarily are leaky feeder systems.
Hamilton said there is no guarantee MSHA will approved the state plan.
“The leaky feeder system depends upon a main trunk line and the wireless mesh system has a chance to heal itself, but the ultimate answer is Through the Earth (TTE) technology,” Hamilton said.
He said TTE technology “is a long way from being perfected for daily use.”
He also explained no single system may be suitable for all mines.
“Because of differences in geology, how deep the mines are and other factors, not all communication systems will work in all mines,” Hamilton said.
The projected cost of the systems will be from $500,000 to $2 million per mine.
Hamilton said it is possible West Virginia mine operators could be forced to have two systems, one which meets state standards and one for federal rules.
“We are hoping West Virginia mines can be grandfathered in under the new federal regulations or that they be declared to be test or pilot projects,” he said.
Hamilton said West Virginia mines are more safe today then they were prior to the Sago disaster.
“We have shored up safety shelters and air chambers and we have 30 additional mine rescue teams trained,” he said. “All miners have gone through extensive mine rescue and emergency procedures.”
According to Hamilton, miners’ safety is not the only benefit associated with wireless communications underground.
“It will improve operations significantly,” he said. “Overall efficiency will be increased with wireless controls on some mining equipment.
_

Crandall Canyon: Families determined to get 'straight answers'

2007-09-30T07:09:00.000-07:00

Crandall Canyon: Families determined to get 'straight answers'

At committees' hearings, families will testify to the miners' sacrifice

By Mike Gorrell and Thomas Burr The Salt Lake Tribune
September 30, 2007

Steve Allred is not exactly sure what he will say Wednesday when he appears before a congressional committee to talk about the deaths of his brother, Kerry, and eight other men last month in the Crandall Canyon mine disaster.
But his general point will be clear: He wants to know why the mine's walls imploded on his brother and five co-workers on Aug. 6, and then again on Aug. 16, killing three more rescuers who were trying to get them out.
And he is adamant about ensuring that their sacrifices are not forgotten.
"I don't know what the hell I'm going to testify on, but I guarantee you there's a whole lot I'd like to see come out of this," said Allred, of Cleveland in Emery County. "Otherwise, all those nine people will have died in vain."
Allred and several other family members of Crandall Canyon victims are expected to testify Wednesday before the House Education and Labor Committee - which also will hear from Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America union.
The House proceeding will come the day after the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will conduct an oversight hearing into the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), with particular emphasis on the agency's role in the Crandall Canyon disaster.
Of the two, the House committee session is likely to be much more poignant. Committee chairman Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., wanted to focus on the families afflicted by last month's tragic events.
"Their perspective is very important," a committee aide said, noting that staff members contacted the family members directly or through their Salt Lake City attorneys, Ed Havas and Colin King.
It was still unclear on Friday precisely which family members will testify and which will just observe.
Sheila Phillips of Orangeville, mother of Brandon Phillips, who had worked at Crandall Canyon only briefly before he was buried in the first catastrophic collapse of the mine's walls, said she intends to bring some of her son's memorabilia and to let representatives know a little more about him as a person.
"I'll tell them he was a good kid getting everything all together," she said. "He was trying his best to get a better job and move out and get on with his life. There was a new Tahoe [truck] he wanted so he got a good paying job."
The thought of appearing before Congress, however, was somewhat intimidating to Phillips, whose brother, Ray Snow, died in the 1984 Wilberg mine disaster.
"I'm going to learn to be a public speaker whether I want to or not," she said.
Cesar Sanchez, whose brother Manuel was one of the six fatally trapped miners, said Friday that job opportunities may preclude him from going to Washington, D.C.
But if he can go, he wants "some straight answers" to questions, feeling unsatisfied with what he heard from MSHA's disaster investigation team in a midweek briefing for family members.
"They were telling us they want to fill the portals on the mine," Sanchez said. "They went in a couple of times and they say they have all they can get. I don't think they got too much."
Allred, similarly, is dismayed by the lack of information available about what is happening.
"I'm upset with the way this [disaster] has been handled," he said. "I've accepted the fact Kerry is gone, but I haven't accepted that more isn't being done. It's very sad. It just seems like it's gone off the books. It's not there any more. I hope they let me ask some questions and make some statements."
The House committee aide said neither mine co-owner Robert Murray nor MSHA officials were invited to Wednesday's session, in part because the committee has not received all of the documents it requested from the agency, Murray Energy Corp. or its subsidiary that operated Crandall Canyon, UtahAmerican Energy Inc.
Miller issued a subpoena last week, demanding internal communications from MSHA and the Labor Department, which countered by calling the action "political grandstanding." The department has turned over more than 10,000 pages since Miller originally requested scores of documents in August.
Tuesday's Senate oversight hearing is titled "Current Mine Safety Disasters: Issues and Challenges" and includes two panels of witnesses.
The first features Kevin Stricklin, MSHA's administrator for coal mine safety; Jeffrey Kohler, associate director for Mine Safety and Health Research in Pittsburgh; and Joseph Osterman, managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board.
On the second panel are Dennis O'Dell, the UMWA's health and safety administrator and a member of the Utah Mine Safety Commission appointed by Huntsman after the disaster; Robert Ferriter, director of the mine safety and health program at Colorado School of Mines; and Bruce Watzman, the National Mining Association's vice president for safety and health.
Mining Association spokesman Luke Popovich said Watzman will tell senators what the mining industry has done in the year since Congress passed the MINER Act following three fatal coal-mining accidents early in 2006.
"We feel it's important to say that we are not sitting on our hands waiting for MSHA or Congress to do something," Popovich said. "We have our plate full right now implementing a very comprehensive law."
Watzman also will encourage Congress not to rush into more regulation because it may not improve miner safety, Popovich added.
This week's congressional hearings are the second and third since the Crandall Canyon disaster. A Senate Appropriations subcommittee conducted a hearing in early September.
Mine co-owner Robert Murray declined to appear at that hearing. Committee chairman Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said he may use subpoena power to compel Murray to appear at the next hearing.
Mine disaster hearings
Two congressional committees will address the Crandall Canyon mine disaster in hearings this week:
* SENATE:
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will meet at 8 a.m. Tuesday (MDT) in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.
* HOUSE:
The House Education and Labor Committee hearing will take place at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday (MDT) in the Rayburn House Office Building.

Boone mine permit wrangling continues

2007-09-29T08:52:00.001-07:00

Boone mine permit wrangling continues

By Ken Ward Jr.Staff writer
HUNTINGTON — Maria Gunnoe has lived most of her life at her family homeplace, at the mouth of Big Branch near Bob White in Boone County.
Gunnoe fished in the streams, played in the creeks and picnicked at family reunions on nearby Cazy Mountain.
The last few years, Gunnoe has lived with flooding and water pollution that she blames on Magnum Coal’s mountaintop removal operation up the hollow.
- advertisement -“It has devastated our property,” Gunnoe told a federal judge Wednesday.
Gunnoe and the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition want to block Magnum from continuing to mine. Company officials say they need a new valley fill, or the mine will close. Up to 219 workers could lose their jobs.
On Wednesday, the coalition, Coal River Mountain Watch and the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy asked U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers for a temporary restraining order to block the mining.
More than 100 people packed Chambers’ courtroom in Huntington. The group split, with miners on one side of the gallery and environmental activists on the other. More spectators lined the courtroom walls and spilled out into the hallway.
The legal wrangling over Magnum’s Callisto Surface Mine is the most recent skirmish over the enforcement and ramifications of the latest federal court ruling on mountaintop removal.
Environmental groups want to use Chambers’ decision to limit further damage from new mining operations. Coal operators are trying to find ways around the ruling, to continue mining until they can get an appeal decided by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va.
On March 23, Chambers concluded that the federal Army Corps of Engineers had not fully evaluated the potential environmental damage before approving four other strip-mining permits. Chambers noted an “alarming cumulative stream loss” to valley fills. The judge said the corps “does not explain how the cumulative destruction of headwater streams already affected by mining in these watersheds will not contribute to an adverse impact on aquatic resources.”
Three weeks later, though, Chambers allowed Massey Energy to continue to dump waste rock and dirt into streams at three of those mines, because the company had already started operations there. Earlier this month, Massey asked Chambers to also allow operations to resume at the fourth mine covered by the judge’s original ruling.
In a related case before U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin, environmental groups in May dropped a challenge to another Magnum permit after learning that the company had already buried part of the stream involved.
In the Callisto Mine situation, Magnum officials had originally said they would not move into any new valley fills until after an appeal of Chambers’ March ruling was decided.
Two weeks ago, Magnum lawyer Richard Verheji told environmental groups that they planned to move forward sooner on at least one valley fill.
The fill in question would bury 2,435 feet of a stream called Dry Branch, court records show.
Magnum official Mike Day testified Wednesday that the mine has run out of coal reserves and room to dump mining waste on other parts of its operations.
The company needs to start preparing the new valley fill area in two to three weeks, Day said, or nearly 40 workers would lose their jobs in about two months.
Day said the new valley fill would give the company space and reserves to operate for a year to 18 months.
Without the new valley fill, the company could also end up shutting down an associated underground mine and coal preparation plant, Day said. In all, 219 jobs are at risk, he said.
“These people and their families depend on these jobs to support their families and educate their children,” Day told Chambers.
Legally, judges in such cases must undertake a “balance-of-hardship” test. Chambers is supposed to weigh potential environmental damage from continued mining against harm to the company if mining is blocked.
Bob McLusky, a lawyer for Magnum, said Day testified that state inspectors concluded the mining operation did not cause the flooding in Gunnoe’s community. Given that, McLusky said, any claim of harm from future mining is “speculative.”
“The real harm is to the jobs of these folks here,” McLusky said, pointing to the miners in the courtroom.
Corps lawyers sided with the company in court papers. The government added that a ruling to block the Callisto Mine “would impede energy production by eliminating nearly 13 million tons of low-sulfur content coal that would otherwise help satisfy the nation’s growing energy needs.”
Joe Lovett, one of the environmental group lawyers, argued that potential economic harm would be only temporary. The company could always come back and mine the area later if it wins an appeal, Lovett said.
“The costs of delays in mining operations are ‘purely economic harms’ that cannot outweigh the irreparable harm from the filling of streams,” Lovett wrote in court papers. “When the valley is filled, it can’t be undone.”
Chambers did not immediately rule. The judge told the parties they could file more briefs next week, and he would rule the week after that.

Former union official sentenced

2007-09-29T07:26:00.000-07:00

Former union official sentenced

Thursday, September 27, 2007

BENTON - A former local Boilermakers union official was sentenced tothree years of probation and fines in federal court for embezzlingmoney from his union local.Jeff Klope, Harrisburg, must also pay $100 in fines and a $100special assessment as part of the plea agreement, which wasfinalized with a formal guilty plea Sept. 20 in Benton Federal Court.Between October 2002 and April 2005, Klope took $25,794 from theunion while he was secretary-treasurer of Local S-8, whichrepresents miners at Willow Lake Mine. Court documents indicate theembezzlement was committed through writing of unauthorized checks,forgery and falsification of records to conceal the crimes.Klope confessed to his actions after an investigation by theDepartment of Labor, Office of Labor Management Standards.Klope took funds in several ways. The union voted years ago to awardattendance prizes at each meeting. Whoever's number was drawn wouldwin a $295 prize. Klope was supposed to write checks for theattendance prizes and give them to the local president, whopresented them to the winners. Klope wrote himself 13 unauthorizedchecks between Oct. 19, 2002 and July 22, 2004 totaling $3,789 byentering the names of other members as attendance prize winners onthe check stubs to conceal the payment to himself, according tocourt documents.Klope stole $5,324 by writing checks to himself that were intendedfor reimbursing members who lost wages or overtime while conductingunion business. Klope issued 42 unauthorized checks to himselfbetween Dec. 10, 2002 and Feb. 24, 2005 by writing union members orofficers in the payee line on the check stub, while making the checkout to himself, according to court documents.Klope wrote himself seven unauthorized checks with false checkbookentries that say he used $2,821 to purchase bibles.Klope also wrote $1,564 in false checks with "IRS" in the payeeline; $2,155 in checks falsified to show reimbursed "DC meals," anapparent travel expense; and $8,647 in checks to himself thatinvolved falsified check stub records to make the payment looklegitimate.Klope repaid $5,800 to the union in April 2005 before resigning,according to court documents. He also met with union President Forton May 22, 2006 and apologized for taking the union's money. Hepromised to make restitution, according to court documents. Klopegave Fort a check for $1,026 to cover costs associated with gettingrecords from the bank, court documents indicate.

Utah Mine Country, After Disaster

2007-09-28T06:42:00.000-07:00

Utah Mine Country, After Disaster,
Tells Panel It Fears Overregulation

HUNTINGTON, Utah,
With quiet voices, theirwords sometimes husky with emotion, residents of Utahcoal country told a state panel on Tuesday that theyfeared the mines would be overwhelmed by new safetyrules after a fatal accident last month."We've got the right laws in place right now that Ithink can take care of safety," Brad Timothy, alongtime miner, said.Mr. Timothy and 30 others gathered at the HuntingtonElementary School gymnasium for the second hearing ofthe new Mine Safety Commission.Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. formed the panel to investigatethe state's role in mine safety after the fatalcollapse at the Crandall Canyon Mine near here killedsix miners and three rescue workers.Mr. Huntsman and commission members have suggestedthat Utah should be more active in regulating its 13coal mines. They are now overseen by just the FederalMine Safety and Health Administration.Miners at the hearing viewed the commission withsuspicion, and panel members spent considerable timereassuring residents that the state was not bent onclosing the mines."We are not going to make more rules," said MayorHilary Gordon of Huntington, a member of thecommission. "We want to keep the mining industrystrong."Nearly two months after the Crandall Canyon collapse,the main street of this tiny town is quiet, no longerflooded with news media, government vehicles andmakeshift memorials. The lone sign that somethingterrible once occurred is a poster at a gasolinestation saying, "We will never forget."Without hesitation, just about all of those inattendance said more mine regulation would ruin theirlivelihoods."I don't want to see their jobs go down the drain,"said Lee Cratsenburg, 59, who worked for 19 years inmines. "I think the safety regulations should beleft."Ms. Cratsenburg' s brother Dale Black was one of therescue workers killed at Crandall Canyon. She said ifexisting regulations had been met there, "I don'tthink the lives would have been lost."A panel member, Dennis O'Dell, a mine safety officialfor the United Mine Workers of America, disputed thenotion that the state did not have a role. He saidthat Utah should consider supplementing the federalinspections, that there was a national shortage offederal safety specialists and that the agency hadfallen behind on inspections."A large number of mines are not getting theinspections, " Mr. O'Dell said. "In some cases,M.S.H.A.'s falling behind are affecting the health andsafety of the miners. The state might be able to playsome role to help."Gary D. Kofford, an Emery County commissioner, warnedthat any actions the commission took would affect thelocal economy."Let us do our jobs," Mr. Kofford said. "Don't shutany more mines down. Don't interfere."Industry officials were also hesitant to endorse aseparate state regulatory system, saying the federalagency already conducted frequent and aggressiveinspections that kept mines safe."I don't think anyone on this commission understandshow many inspections M.S.H.A. does," said Ray Bridge,a safety manager for the Dugout Canyon Mine nearPrice. "In our opinion, they do a very thorough job."Mr. Bridge said his mine was subject to nearlyconstant inspections that looked into all aspects ofthe mine, including safety, noise levels andelectrical equipment. He said a total of 245 federalinspectors had inspected Dugout Canyon throughout thisyear.The prevailing sentiment was that nothing could haveprevented the Crandall Canyon disaster and that anystate intervention might worsen problems."This event was an anomaly and could not have beenpredicted," said Joe Fielder, a longtime minerinvolved in the Crandall Canyon rescue effort. "Thisdisaster was not the result of poor training orimproper mine procedures."On a break from the hearing, Mr. O'Dell wandered overto a corner of the gymnasium. A coal miner, heconceded that he was frustrated with the sense thatthe local mines were in jeopardy and calledaccusations that the mines were already overregulatedpreposterous."The most precious resource in the mines," he told thepanel, "is the miner, not the coal."

Arch Coal miners appear in Dodge ad

2007-09-28T06:33:00.001-07:00

Arch Coal miners appear in Dodge ad

Wednesday September 26,2007

An Arch Coal Inc. subsidiary's mine and several of its employees are featured in the new Dodge Ram 2500 commercials that are now appearing on TV, according to an Arch Coal spokesperson.

Several of the workers at Canyon Fuel Co.'s Skyline mine, located near Scofield, Utah, filmed the 30- and 60-second ads called "Make the Most of Every Mile" in August. The spots depict Skyline employees using the Dodge Ram truck in various capacities in and around the mine portal and stockpile areas.

Dodge is Chrysler LLC's best-selling brand and the fifth largest nameplate in the U.S. automotive market with a U.S. market share of 6.5 percent.

St. Louis-based Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI - News) is one of the largest coal producers in the country, providing the fuel for about 6 percent of the electricity generated in the United States.

Huntsman wants feds to share Crandall Canyon Mine data

2007-09-28T06:31:00.001-07:00

Huntsman wants feds to share Crandall Canyon Mine data

By Lisa Riley Roche
Deseret Morning News
September 28, 2007

When Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. testifies before Congress next week, along with family members of the miners killed at the Crandall Canyon Mine, he'll ask again for the federal government to share information on its investigation into the disaster.
"I'm concerned," the governor said during his monthly press conference on KUED Channel 7 Thursday, the day after he was notified the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration would be withholding information from the state's new mine safety commission.
He said he'll bring up the issue with members of the House Education and Labor Committee when he testifies next Wednesday. The hearing on "the perspective of the families at Crandall Canyon" also will include testimony from miners' relatives.
Huntsman created the commission in the wake of the Aug. 6 mine collapse, near Huntington in Emery County, that left six miners dead and later claimed the lives of three rescuers. Six other rescuers were injured in the second accident, on Aug. 16.
The commission, charged with recommending what, if any, role the state should have in regulating mine safety, sought to review information collected in the ongoing federal investigation.
But in a letter sent to the governor and the commission chairman, Scott Matheson Jr., the U.S. Department of Labor expressed "grave concerns" about making that information available because a trade association representative serves on the commission.
That could jeopardize the federal government's investigation into the incident because the association represents Crandall Canyon Mine owner Robert Murray, according to the letter written by Jonathan Snare, the Labor Department's acting solicitor.
Huntsman said Thursday he saw no need to remove the association representative he named to the commission, Utah Mining Association President David Litvin.
"I don't think we're going to have to go that far. I don't think that's necessarily a material point here," the governor said. "Whenever you have a working group, it's important to achieve a balance."
Huntsman had already said he'd received assurances from Richard Stickler, the assistant secretary of labor in charge of MSHA, that the information collected by federal investigators would be made available to the commission.
"I think there ought to be a much closer working relationship between MSHA and our state mine safety commission," the governor said. "That isn't working for whatever reason and that's against certain assurances I've had early on that we would be working collaboratively."
The governor said he understands some information may need to be "compartmentalized for reasons that are based on a criminal investigation or something that would otherwise be highly sensitive."
But, he said, his commission still needs to receive "real time briefings" on the investigation.
Next Wednesday's hearing will be the first before a House committee. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee also has a hearing on the mine accident planned for Tuesday, when it will hear from Stickler and other witnesses.
A Senate Appropriations Subcommittee heard from Stickler about the mine collapse on Sept. 5, and the committee did not rule out issuing a subpoena to Murray, the mine owner and Murray Energy chief, if he failed to address Congress.

Va. court refuses to review Massey defamation case

2007-09-27T19:32:00.001-07:00

Va. court refuses to review Massey defamation case

RICHMOND, Va. —
The Virginia Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal in a defamation case brought by Massey Energy President Don Blankenship against the United Mine Workers and The Charleston Gazette. A Fairfax County circuit judge had dismissed the suit in June 2006, ruling that Massey and Blankenship failed to allege a valid claim. Massey Energy sued the UMW in the same lawsuit. Massey and Blankenship asked the Virginia Supreme Court to review the circuit judge’s dismissal, but the high court declined, saying it found no “reversible error” in the judge’s ruling. In his 2005 lawsuit, Blankenship alleged the union and West Virginia’s largest newspaper had conspired to defame him in 2004 with articles regarding the layoff of 250 miners from operations bought by Massey after the bankruptcy of Horizon Natural Resources Co. “This lawsuit should never have been brought in the first place. We are glad that the courts agreed with the newspaper and that the litigation is now over,” said Elizabeth E. Chilton, publisher of the Gazette. UMW President Cecil Roberts said, “Don Blankenship wielded untold thousands of dollars to pursue this frivolous lawsuit in his attempt to intimidate our union and to silence dissent. As we anticipated and the justice system confirmed, these tactics have no place in American society.” Massey Energy has a policy of not responding to questions from Charleston Gazette reporters. Blankenship said he didn’t have an immediate comment on the high court’s action. “I haven’t seen the decision yet, so I don’t know exactly what the status is. I’ll have to talk to the lawyers.”

Kanawha circuit court sides with Massey on Marsh Fork

2007-09-27T19:31:00.001-07:00

Kanawha circuit court sides with Massey on Marsh Fork

By Ken Ward Jr.Staff writer

A Kanawha Circuit judge has upheld a decision that allows Massey Energy’s Goals Coal Co. subsidiary to build a new coal silo at its operation near Marsh Fork Elementary School at Sundial in Raleigh County.Judge Duke Bloom agreed with the state Surface Mine Board that the Department of Environmental Protection was wrong to deny Goals Coal’s permit application for the new silo
.DEP Secretary Stephanie Timmermeyer had appealed the board’s decision, as had the citizen group Coal River Mountain Watch.The DEP and Massey began battling over the silo in July 2005, when agency officials revoked a permit for the second of two coal silos Massey proposed for the operation near Marsh Fork Elementary.
The DEP acted after the Gazette revealed the silo was proposed to be built outside the permit area shown on site maps submitted by company engineers.The case before Bloom focused on the DEP’s interpretation that construction of the silo would violate a prohibition on new surface mining operations within a 300-foot protected area around the school. In March, the mine board threw out the DEP decision, ruling the agency interpretation meant that “even the slightest modification” of a mining operation is prohibited if it is within 300 feet of a school.In a 21-page decision, Bloom noted that Goals Coal and previous owners had used the Sundial site as a coal processing and loadout facility since the late 1970s. Mining operations which existed when the federal strip mine law was passed in 1977 were exempt from the 300-foot buffer zone, the judge noted.Bloom ruled that the DEP’s decision that the new silo would constitute new mining operations not exempt from the buffer zone was a “recently derived litigation position” and therefore not entitled to deference from the court.“DEP has pointed to no instance in which it has ever construed the existing operations provision to limit future mining in the protected zones to certain specific activities,”
Bloom wrote.Bloom added that the DEP previously applied the existing operations exemption to allow both of the silos proposed by Massey.“DEP’s permit supervisor advised the DEP Director that limiting the existing operation provision to precisely the same activities that historically occurred in a permitted area was contrary to DEP’s long-standing policy,” Bloom wrote.Bloom also ruled against Coal River Mountain Watch. He upheld a mine board ruling that the actual permit boundaries are governed by both on-the-ground markers and outlines shown on company maps. Coal River Mountain Watch had argued that map boundaries were controlling.Massey President Don Blankenship said “...Given the concern that this case generated in the community, we will not construct the silo until we have met with the governor’s office and with officials from Marsh Fork Elementary School.“Our objective will be to get their input and to better explain the environmental benefits of the silo,” Blankenship stated.Jessica Greathouse, spokeswoman for the DEP, said she was not aware of the court decision. To contact staff writer Ken Ward Jr., use e-mail or call 348-1702.

King Coal Highway, school site coming along

2007-09-27T19:30:00.001-07:00

King Coal Highway, school site coming along

Williamson Daily News
Wednesday, September 26, 2007 3:32 PM CDT

RED JACKET - Six to eight miles of the Mingo County section of the King Coal Highway is now rough grade and on Tuesday area citizens, along with local, state and federal officials and representatives of the Virginia Department of Transportation were able to travel this portion of highway.
Because of the uniqueness of the private/public partnership of bringing the roadway into existence, this project is receiving national attention and media coverage. Once completed, the 11.2 mile stretch of highway will come at a cost savings of approximately $170 million to county taxpayers.
Local and state school board officials were also able to see up close the 75-acre section which is being donated for the proposed consolidated high school.
Mike Castle told the school board officials that the entire cost for site preparation for the 75 acres was being absorbed by Alpha Natural Resources.
“The school site is 85 percent completed as far as materials being moved,” Castle said.
Before the invitation-only tour began, guests were given a brief history on how construction of the roadway came into being. The tour was touted as the King Coal Highway success story.
Mike Whitt, executive director of the Mingo County Redevelopment Authority, explained that after the Mingo County Land Use Master Plan was developed in and around existing proposed four-lane highways, he realized that Premium Energy, which was owned by Don Nicewonder at the time, was mining in the Twisted Gun Gap area. This area was designated as a site for the King Coal Highway.
Whitt said he went to Nicewonder and asked if, while mining the area, he could leave a rough grade for the road which would save the county millions of dollars.
“Mr. Nicewonder told me that the equipment does not have a brain, it will do exactly what we tell it to do,” Whitt told the Daily News. “He said if I could get all the red tape taken care of, he would leave a road bed and development sites wherever I wanted but he didn't have the time to work through the red tape to do that.”
Whitt said he then met with all the state and federal highway offi
cials and after that, a meeting was set up with representatives of the regulatory state and federal agencies.
“Each group said they thought it made sense and after about a year of meetings to get everyone on the same page, we met in Charleston with DOH Secretary Fred VanKirk where everyone agreed to do their part to make this project happen.”
At the time, Whitt said Paul Maddox was employed with E.L. Robinson Engineering who helped draft the Land Use Master Plan. Maddox now serves as DOH secretary.
An overview of the project which started in October 2004 was given by Greg Blankenship.
He said three years into the venture Alpha Natural Resources, which is headquartered in Abingdon, Va., has moved approximately 34 million of the 60 million cubic yards of dirt to make way for the highway.
“This is no longer the proposed King Coal Highway - part of it is here today,” Blankenship said. “Once the road bed is completed, it will be donated to the state highway department.”
Maddox, in expressing his pride in being a part of the success story,. commended Whitt and Nicewonder, former owner of Nicewonder Construction Inc., for their vision of putting the highway plan together.
“Theirs was an innovative way of making the highway a reality and I'm anxiously waiting to see the progress being made,” Maddox told those in attendance.
Tom Smith of the federal highway Administration described Mingo County as one of his favorite places to visit.
“This partnership venture gets great press outside of West Virginia,” Smith said.
“It has the three Ps which I believe are needed: partnership, potential that it brings to southern West Virginia and perseverance of staying on details and continuing to work the details.”
The federal highway administration views the benefits and approach being used to cut cost, Smith continued.
“This includes the schedule and development of land for local use, the environmental benefit and ways of making highway construction work with mining coal,” Smith said.
“This project is recognized nationally, the permitting process is unique, the field construction has saved money.
“This is one of the greatest projects I have worked on in my career.”
Department of Environmental representative Randy Hoffman spoke of the regulatory changes which have evolved because of this project.
“Environmental regulators are evolving into being open-minded and creatively thinking,” Smith said.
“The Corps of Engineers has been able to put together road projects with the mining industry and coal companies have chosen to give back to their communities because this is the right thing to do.
“This road would not have been built except through this measure and I want to drive across it before I die.”
Although Don Nicewonder was credited with being a key player in the venture, he told the crowd that he may have had the vision but his sons, Kenny and Kevin, along with many others helped to carry it out.
The smooth transition to keep everything going after Nicewonder sold his company to Alpha Natural Resources was also praised.
During the driving tour, Mike Castle answered the many questions asked by those who traveled the highway.
Officials of the Virginia Department of Transportation said they hope to accomplish something similar to this in their state, involving the Coalfield Expressway.
The entire 11.2 mile section is expected to be ready to turn over to the state DOH by 2012.

King Coal Highway bridge building begins

2007-09-27T19:29:00.000-07:00

King Coal Highway bridge building begins

Bridge building begins
By CHARLES OWENS
Bluefield Daily Telegraph

BLUEFIELD — Dirt is finally moving on the new $16.3 million King Coal Highway bridge project in Bluefield.
The contractor is now performing excavation work at the site on Route 19 near Stoney Ridge, Phillip White, a construction engineer with the Division of Highways District 10 office in Bluefield, said.
White said a utility pole that was blocking the bridge construction has been relocated.
“Everything is gone,” White said. “All of the utilities have been relocated. The contractor is underway. He’s excavating for pier one. Pier one is on the northside. It is adjacent to Mercer County Route 25. He has started. That’s the first item of work for him.”
Ahern and Associates of South Charleston was awarded the $16.3 million contract in June and received a notice to proceed on July 10. Although state officials were originally targeting mid-August for the actual start of construction, the discovery of a utility pole along the construction path delayed the actual construction start.
Mike Mitchem, executive director of the King Coal Highway Authority, said the news is welcomed.
“That’s great news,” Mitchem said. “This is another positive development in our road progress. We are looking forward to the day we can be all the way out toward Route 123. We are really thankful for the funding that is coming through Sen. Byrd, Congressman Rahall and Sen. Rockefeller for our project.”
White said the construction is expected to continue through the winter.
“Generally, they can work on those (the piers) through the fall and into the winter unless it is drastically cold,” White said. “They have ways to heat the concrete. So work through the winter is always possible.”
When completed, the twin bridges will extend about 160 feet above Route 19 taking the King Coal Highway from the K.A. Ammar Interchange in Bluefield toward Stoney Ridge. The bridge construction won’t be completed until 2009.
White said traffic delays aren’t immediately expected along Route 19. However, he said the contractor is working with Norfolk Southern in preparation of a pier excavation work near the railroad.
When completed, the King Coal Highway will travel 95 miles through Mingo, Wayne, Wyoming, McDowell and Mercer counties with the Tolsia segment from Williamson to Huntington extending another 55 miles. It will interchange with the Coalfields Expressway in Welch near the Indian Ridge Industrial Park and the site of the new federal prison. The King Coal and Tolsia Highways represent the West Virginia corridors of Interstate 73/74.

Lawmaker wants longer jail time for self-rescuer thieves

2007-09-27T13:01:00.002-07:00

Lawmaker wants longer jail time for self-rescuer thieves

Beckley,WV,USA
September 26, 2007

Alarmed by the rash of self-rescuer thefts in West Virginia’s mines, and shuddering at what thieves could have in mind besides peddling them at cheap prices — perhaps even to terrorists — a southern lawmaker says it’s time to prescribe longer prison stretches for those caught and convicted.
When lawmakers return in January to open the 2008 session, Delegate Virginia Mahan, D-Summers, is ready to offer a bill seeking enhanced felony penalties for such persons.
“I got so mad at this one incident in Logan County,” Mahan said Wednesday in a telephone interview from her Green Sulphur Springs home.
Mahan spoke of an attempt this month to make off with eight emergency air packs used to keep coal miners alive when they’re trapped underground. A suspect sought by police is said to have started a multi-ton vehicle, taped the controls and sent it some 3,000 feet rolling down the tracks where it smashed into a second vehicle.
Ron Wooten, director of the state Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training, said it appeared to a matter of attempting to destroy property and hurt someone at the Aracoma Alma No. 1 Mine, owned by Massey Energy.
“Obviously, this has been going on, especially since we stepped up the process of getting breathing units into the mines. This is just crazy. It’s beyond comprehension.”
Right now, the act of stealing something worth at least $1,000 can net a thief a prison sentence of one to 10 years. Mahan’s proposal would double that.
Already, she has the strong backing of House Judiciary Chair Carrie Webster, D-Kanawha. Mahan has been a longtime member of the judiciary panel.
“She’s excited about it,” Mahan said. “She’s been thinking about this herself.”
Selling stolen self-rescuers on the black market is one goal thieves possibly have in mind, Mahan said, but there are others as well.
“I imagine all sorts of horrible bad uses they would be used for,” she said.
“Do they provide cover for certain types of criminals to be used in the commission of another crime? Something involved in gas or chemical agents? Or in an act of terrorism? The possibilities are limitless as far as the inventiveness as these crooks are going out to steal somebody else’s life-saving property.”
Mahan isn’t sure just how many such thefts have occurred to date, “but I’m hearing little stories from around the state.”
Since lawmakers have insisted the industry put safety above anything else, Mahan pointed out that leaders have said it has been difficult to acquire the number of self-rescuers updated law mandates. New safety requirements followed the 2006 explosion that killed a dozen miners at the Sago Mine in Upshur County, where the lack of oxygen devices was a factor.
“These criminals are not just stealing equipment,” Mahan said. “They are stealing the hope of miners and their families that, in the face of disaster, there can be survival.”

Alabama city reopening fallout shelters

2007-09-27T13:01:00.001-07:00

Alabama city reopening fallout shelters Plans include using the Three Caves Quarry

San Jose Mercury News - CA, USABy JAY REEVES Associated Press WriterSeptember 27, 2007
HUNTSVILLE, Ala.—In an age of al-Qaida, sleeper cells and the threat of nuclear terrorism, Huntsville is dusting off its Cold War manual to create the nation's most ambitious fallout-shelter plan, featuring an abandoned mine big enough for 20,000 people to take cover underground. Others would hunker down in college dorms, churches, libraries and research halls that planners hope will bring the community's shelter capacity to 300,000, or space for every man, woman and child in Huntsville and the surrounding county.
Emergency planners in Huntsville—an out-of-the-way city best known as the home of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center—say the idea makes sense because radioactive fallout could be scattered for hundreds of miles if terrorists detonated a nuclear bomb.
"If Huntsville is in the blast zone, there's not much we can do. But if it's just fallout ... shelters would absorb 90 percent of the radiation," said longtime emergency management planner Kirk Paradise, whose Cold War expertise with fallout shelters led local leaders to renew Huntsville's program.
Huntsville's project, developed using $70,000 from a Homeland Security grant, goes against the grain because the United States essentially scrapped its national plan for fallout shelters after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Congress cut off funding and the government published its last list of approved shelters at the end of 1992.
After Sept. 11, Homeland Security created a metropolitan protection program that includes nuclear-attack preparation and mass shelters. But no other city has taken the idea as far as Huntsville has, officials said.
Many cities advise residents to stay at home and seal up a room with plastic and duct tape during a biological, chemical or nuclear attack. Huntsville does too, in certain cases.
Local officials agree the "shelter-in-place" method would be best for a "dirty bomb" that scattered nuclear contamination through conventional explosives. But they say full-fledged shelters would be needed to protect from the fallout of a nuclear bomb.
Program leaders recently briefed members of Congress, including Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa., who called the shelter plan an example of the "all-hazards" approach needed for emergency preparedness.
"Al-Qaida, we know, is interested in a nuclear capability. It's our nation's fear that a nuclear weapon could get into terrorists' hands," Dent said.
As fallout shelters go, the Three Caves Quarry just outside downtown offers the kind of protection that would make Dr. Strangelove proud, with space for an arena-size crowd of some 20,000 people.
Last mined in the early '50s, the limestone quarry is dug 300 yards into the side of the mountain, with ceilings as high as 60 feet and 10 acres of floor space covered with jagged rocks. Jet-black in places with a year-round temperature of about 60 degrees, it has a colony of bats living in its highest reaches and baby stalactites hanging from the ceiling.
"It would be a little trying, but it's better than the alternative," said Andy Prewett, a manager with The Land Trust of Huntsville and North Alabama, a nonprofit preservation group that owns the mine and is making it available for free.
In all, the Huntsville-Madison County Emergency Management Agency has identified 105 places that can be used as fallout shelters for about 210,000 people. They are still looking for about 50 more shelters that would hold an additional 100,000 people.
While officials have yet to launch a campaign to inform people of the shelters, a local access TV channel showed a video about the program, which also is explained on a county Web site.
If a bomb went off tomorrow, Paradise said, officials would tell people where to find shelter through emergency alerts on TV and radio stations. "We're pretty much ready to go because we have a list of shelters," he said.
Most of the shelters would offer more comfort than the abandoned mine, such as buildings at the University of Alabama in Huntsville that would house 37,643. A single research hall could hold more than 8,100.
Homeland Security spokeswoman Alexandra Kirin said of Huntsville's wide-ranging plan: "We're not aware of any other cities that are doing that."
Plans call for staying inside for as long as two weeks after a bomb blast, though shelters might be needed for only a few hours in a less dire emergency.
Unlike the fallout shelters set up during the Cold War, the new ones will not be stocked with water, food or other supplies. For survivors of a nuclear attack, it would be strictly "BYOE"—bring your own everything. Just throw down a sleeping bag on the courthouse floor—or move some of the rocks on the mine floor—and make yourself at home.
"We do not guarantee them comfort, just protection," said Paradise, who is coordinating the shelter plans for the local emergency management agency.
Convenience store owner Tandi Prince said she cannot imagine living in the cavern after a bombing.
"That would probably not be very fun," she said.

Labor Dept. won’t give newspaper access to mine probe

2007-09-27T13:00:00.000-07:00

Labor Dept. won’t give newspaper access to mine probe

Glenwood Springs Post Independent -
Glenwood Springs,CO,USA
September 27, 2007

SALT LAKE CITY — The U.S. Labor Department denied a newspaper’s request to attend interviews during the government’s investigation of the Crandall Canyon mine disaster.
“Reporters do not sit in crime labs or prosecutors’ offices, so why would the attorneys for The Salt Lake Tribune think this case is any different as an ongoing investigation?” said David Jones, a Labor Department spokesman.
The Tribune pointed to a court ruling following the 1984 Wilberg mine disaster, in which a federal judge said that investigation should be open to the public. An appeals court vacated the ruling but transcripts were released.
Six miners are presumed dead after the Aug. 6 collapse at the Crandall Canyon mine in central Utah, although their bodies have not been recovered. Three people trying to tunnel toward them were killed 10 days later.
“This was a public disaster. It’s important to understand how it happened, why it happened, so it doesn’t happen again,” Tribune editor Nancy Conway said Wednesday.
Public access to the investigation could influence testimony and intimidate witnesses, said Jonathan Snare, a senior attorney at the Labor Department.
Snare also rejected a request by the Utah Mine Safety Commission to participate in the investigation by the Mine Safety and Health Administration.
In a letter to commission Chairman Scott Matheson Jr., he said access could “compromise the integrity of the investigation and potentially jeopardize MSHA’s ability to enforce the law.”

Peabody Mine Rescue Teams Earn Four Championships at National

2007-09-26T11:28:00.000-07:00

Peabody Mine Rescue Teams Earn Four Championships at National

Earthtimes.org - USASeptember 26, 2007
ST. LOUIS, Sept. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --

Peabody Energy teams earned four of the seven national championship trophies at the U.S. Department of Labor's National Mine Rescue, First Aid, Bench and Preshift Competition in Nashville, Tenn. The bi-annual competition tests the skills of mine rescue and first aid teams in simulated emergencies and enables employees to hone their safety preparedness skills. Nearly 60 teams from 12 states competed, and multiple Peabody teams participated.
"We are proud of our leadership in safety readiness, which is core to our commitment to achieving world-class safety results," said Eric Ford, Peabody's Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. "These honors speak volumes about the caliber of our people and our constant attention to best practices."
Peabody's Southern Appalachia Operations team won first place overall in the combination mine rescue/first aid competition and first place in the mine rescue category, outperforming far more experienced competitors.
The company's Federal No. 2 team from Northern Appalachia took first place in the first aid competition, and Electrician Chuck Harvey of the Twentymile Mine in Colorado won the national BG-4 Benchman competition.
Peabody's state and national award-winners include:
National Mine Rescue Awards
Combination Mine Rescue/First Aid
Southern Appalachia, 1st Place
Mine Rescue
Southern Appalachia, 1st Place
First Aid
Federal No. 2, 1st PlaceSouthern Appalachia, 3rd Place
Benchman BG-4
Chuck Harvey, Twentymile Mine, 1st PlaceMark Beauchamp, Twentymile Mine, 3rd Place
1st Place State Awards
West Virginia Combination Mine Rescue/First Aid
Southern Appalachia Operations Team
Illinois Mine Rescue
Willow Lake Mine Team
Kentucky Biomarine
Mark Lloyd, Bluegrass Team
West Virginia Mine Rescue
Southern Appalachia Operations Team
West Virginia Benchman BG-174A
Harry McGinnis, Federal No. 2 Team
West Virginia First Aid
Federal No. 2 Team
Peabody Energy is the world's largest private-sector coal company, with 2006 sales of 248 million tons of coal and $5.3 billion in revenues. Its coal products fuel approximately 10 percent of all U.S. electricity generation and more than 2 percent of worldwide electricity.
CONTACTDerrell Carter(314) 342-7667

Saturday service will recall Darr Mine disaster of 1907

2007-09-26T11:27:00.000-07:00

Saturday service will recall Darr Mine disaster of 1907
Monessen Valley Independent - Monessen,PA,USA
By Emma Jene Lelik
September 26, 2007
One-hundred years ago history was made in Rostraver Township.
It wasn't a happy event.
Two-hundred thirty-nine men and boys perished when the Darr Mine exploded. It was reported there was only one survivor.
This was the worst mine disaster in Pennsylvania.
Most of those killed in the explosion were Hungarian immigrant laborers and, due to that fact, six Hungarian organizations are sponsoring a commemoration of the event on Saturday.
All interested persons are invited to gather at Olive Branch Baptist Church and Cemetery, located along State Route 981 in Van Meter, for a program of remembrance at 11 a.m.
There will be a wreath laying ceremony at the grave site in Olive Branch Cemetery where 71 Darr miners, 49 of whom are unknown, are buried in a common grave.
Remarks by representatives of the sponsoring organizations will be made. They are: American Hungarian Federation, Bethlen Communities (Ligonier), Calvin Synod of the United Church of Christ, Hungarian Reformed Federation of America, Hungarian Reformed Church of America and William Penn Association.
The American and Hungarian national anthems will be sung and Hungarian-American children will read the names of the deceased miners.
Mary Lou Magiske, corresponding secretary of the Rostraver Township Historical Society, said Scott Hamilton has been engaged to play the bagpipes and George Bacsi will offer violin selections.
A luncheon reception at the Holiday Inn in Rostraver Township will follow the program. There is a fee for the luncheon and advance reservations are required. They may be made with Magiske at (724) 872-6102, or with the Rev. Imre Bertalan of Ligonier at (724) 238-2235.
There is no charge to attend the program.
Magiske has a personal interest in remembering mine victims. Her grandfather, Lajos Pecsi, was killed in the Peters Creek Mine in 1909. His survivors included two sons, ages 2 and 4, the latter becoming Magiske's father.
Joe Galayda, of Rostraver, remembers the early days when his father worked in the Somers Mine in Pricedale.
"The mine whistle would blow at 5:30 a.m. to alert miners to awaken and make preparations for the work day," he said. "It would also blow at 9 p.m. as a signal for bedtime and needed rest. But, oh how sad if the whistle blew at other times, meaning there was trouble in the mine."
Fifteen of the Darr victims are buried in St. Timothy Cemetery in Smithton. Five of those miners reportedly came from the same hometown in Hungary.
December 1907 is known as the deadliest month in U.S. mining history. The month began with an explosion inside the Naomi Mine in Fayette City, where 34 miners were killed. Five days later, 362 men perished in an explosion and roof collapses in Monongah, W.Va. On Dec. 16, 57 miners died, many of asphyxiation, in Yolanda, Ala. By the month's end, 3,200 miners had died in accidents.
The Darr Mine explosion occurred on Dec. 19 when, according to the Julian Calender, Greek Catholics and Orthodox observed a major feast day, St. Nicholas, and nearly 200 Darr miners who chose not to go to work that day due to the saint's day, were spared.

Mine rescuers face dark, death with confidence

2007-09-26T03:18:00.002-07:00

Mine rescuers face dark, death with confidence

Reuters - USABy Andrea Hopkins

September 26, 2007
SYLVESTER, West Virginia (Reuters) -

Mike Vaught sounds about as comfortable about coal mining as you'd hope a man tasked to rescue others from deep within the earth would be.
"I feel as confident underground as I do sitting in my living room," said Vaught, who, at age 31, already has nine years under his belt as a West Virginia coal miner.
Vaught, part of a 10-member rescue team at Massey Energy's Elk Run coal mine in the U.S. Appalachian Mountains, has also seen the danger of coal mining first hand: he was one of the first rescuers to reach Massey's Aracoma mine in 2006 after a fire broke out underground, trapping two miners.
Two days into the rescue, the men were found dead, having gotten lost trying to escape the fire and run out of oxygen.
"That was heartbreaking. You always have hope until the moment you find them," said Vaught.
The death in August of six Utah coal miners and three rescuers has once again brought the issue of mine rescue front and center in the United States, with regulators proposing new rules for rescue teams like the one Vaught volunteers for.
In September, the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration unveiled proposals it said will improve rescue operations at America's 653 underground coal mines by requiring mines to have more rescue teams with better training, quicker responses and better equipment.
At Elk Run, rescue captain Rob Asbury, 37, is wary of knee-jerk reactions to mine tragedies. Under the new rules, his team will be deemed too distant to cover some of the 31 mines it currently helps with because they have to be within one hour from the mine rather than two.
Instead, each mine, however new or tiny, will be required to have its own rescue teams, a move veterans believe will result in less-experienced teams with more turnover.
HANDS-ON TRAINING
Asbury said he couldn't bear to watch much of the round-the-clock television coverage of the Utah rescue effort -- but not because it hit too close to home.
"It kind of gets aggravating because you hear people giving opinions that they really don't know what they're talking about. I don't watch a lot of it," said Asbury, whose brother, father and both grandfathers have also been coal miners.
The new rules will increase training to 64 hours a year from 40 and require teams to participate in two local mine rescue contests each year.
The volunteers on Asbury's team are on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. When their pagers go off, they've left the dinner table, the shower, the movie -- and even the dentist's chair -- to get to the rescue center and gear up for action.
Team members are also all certified emergency medical technicians and each has a separate set of skills, whether monitoring gas levels, communicating with the surface, maintaining equipment or navigating. Their equipment ranges from $10,000 thermal imaging cameras to massive spindles of communication cable, backpack-style breathing apparatuses and medical kits complete with stretchers and respirators.
Asbury said he's never seen a shortage of rescue teams when miners are hurt or lost, with teams racing in from all over the state when a call goes out.
Charles Conn, 52, captain of another Massey rescue team, this one based in Kentucky, said teams usually only see each other at competitions, where it's every team for itself.
"But when it came time for the actual event (at Aracoma), it wasn't a competition, everyone was in for the same common goal, we were all in it together," said Conn, who joined a rescue team four years ago, after 32 years underground.
"That's where we bonded. That's where we became a team," said Jeremy McClung, 28, who joined the team just one year before the fire.
"We went in as a team and came out brothers," said Vaught.
Aside from tragedies like Aracoma, mine rescue teams have recently been gaining experience through a more annoying task -- rescuing thieves who venture into abandoned mine shafts in search of copper wire they can sell as scrap.
Asbury's team has done two such rescues so far this year. Each time, they found two thieves who had been lost for days but were rescued alive after families reported them missing.
The events, while valuable training exercises, anger the rescue team members.
"We are risking our lives to rescue unwise people. It upsets our families when we have to go away on those calls," said Vaught.
Still, McClung said there was no doubt the copper thieves appreciated their rescuers.
"They'd given up. When they saw us they said: 'We know we're going to jail but can you please get us out,'" McClung recalled. "They were pretty grateful."

Utah Mine Country, After Disaster, Tells Panel It Fears Overregulation

2007-09-26T03:18:00.001-07:00

Utah Mine Country, After Disaster, Tells Panel It Fears Overregulation September 26, 2007
HUNTINGTON, Utah, Sept. 25 —

With quiet voices, their words sometimes husky with emotion, residents of Utah coal country told a state panel on Tuesday that they feared the mines would be overwhelmed by new safety rules after a fatal accident last month.
“We’ve got the right laws in place right now that I think can take care of safety,” Brad Timothy, a longtime miner, said.
Mr. Timothy and 30 others gathered at the Huntington Elementary School gymnasium for the second hearing of the new Mine Safety Commission.
Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. formed the panel to investigate the state’s role in mine safety after the fatal collapse at the Crandall Canyon Mine near here killed six miners and three rescue workers.
Mr. Huntsman and commission members have suggested that Utah should be more active in regulating its 13 coal mines. They are now overseen by just the Federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.
Miners at the hearing viewed the commission with suspicion, and panel members spent considerable time reassuring residents that the state was not bent on closing the mines.
“We are not going to make more rules,” said Mayor Hilary Gordon of Huntington, a member of the commission. “We want to keep the mining industry strong.”
Nearly two months after the Crandall Canyon collapse, the main street of this tiny town is quiet, no longer flooded with news media, government vehicles and makeshift memorials. The lone sign that something terrible once occurred is a poster at a gasoline station saying, “We will never forget.”
Without hesitation, just about all of those in attendance said more mine regulation would ruin their livelihoods.
“I don’t want to see their jobs go down the drain,” said Lee Cratsenburg, 59, who worked for 19 years in mines. “I think the safety regulations should be left.”
Ms. Cratsenburg’s brother Dale Black was one of the rescue workers killed at Crandall Canyon. She said if existing regulations had been met there, “I don’t think the lives would have been lost.”
A panel member, Dennis O’Dell, a mine safety official for the United Mine Workers of America, disputed the notion that the state did not have a role. He said that Utah should consider supplementing the federal inspections, that there was a national shortage of federal safety specialists and that the agency had fallen behind on inspections.
“A large number of mines are not getting the inspections,” Mr. O’Dell said. “In some cases, M.S.H.A.’s falling behind are affecting the health and safety of the miners. The state might be able to play some role to help.”
Gary D. Kofford, an Emery County commissioner, warned that any actions the commission took would affect the local economy.
“Let us do our jobs,” Mr. Kofford said. “Don’t shut any more mines down. Don’t interfere.”
Industry officials were also hesitant to endorse a separate state regulatory system, saying the federal agency already conducted frequent and aggressive inspections that kept mines safe.
“I don’t think anyone on this commission understands how many inspections M.S.H.A. does,” said Ray Bridge, a safety manager for the Dugout Canyon Mine near Price. “In our opinion, they do a very thorough job.”
Mr. Bridge said his mine was subject to nearly constant inspections that looked into all aspects of the mine, including safety, noise levels and electrical equipment. He said a total of 245 federal inspectors had inspected Dugout Canyon throughout this year.
The prevailing sentiment was that nothing could have prevented the Crandall Canyon disaster and that any state intervention might worsen problems.
“This event was an anomaly and could not have been predicted,” said Joe Fielder, a longtime miner involved in the Crandall Canyon rescue effort. “This disaster was not the result of poor training or improper mine procedures.”
On a break from the hearing, Mr. O’Dell wandered over to a corner of the gymnasium. A coal miner, he conceded that he was frustrated with the sense that the local mines were in jeopardy and called accusations that the mines were already overregulated preposterous.
“The most precious resource in the mines,” he told the panel, “is the miner, not the coal.”

Black Beauty mine recognized as safest in nation

2007-09-26T03:17:00.001-07:00

Black Beauty mine recognized as safest in nation
Department of Labor honors Wabash Valley coal mine
By Arthur E. FoulkesThe Tribune-StarSepetmber 25, 2007
TERRE HAUTE — A coal mine in Vigo and Sullivan counties near Pimento has been named the safest large surface coal mine in the nation by the United States Department of Labor.
The Farmersburg Mine, operated by Black Beauty Coal Co. of Evansville, was one of 19 mining operations recognized with 2006 Sentinels of Safety Awards.
The awards, which were established in 1925, recognize mining operations with the least accidents.
According to a media statement issued by Peabody Energy, which owns Black Beauty, the 260 employees of the Farmersburg Mine worked all of 2006 without a reportable accident.
The employees also operated more than 1 million hours and 19 months without a lost-time incident.
A lost-time incident is any mining accident that requires a miner to miss work, said Luke Popovich, a spokesman for the National Mining Association, a lobby group for the mining industry that sponsors the Sentinels of Safety Award along with the Department of Labor.
“I’m proud of our employees for setting a standard of safety that is consistently recognized throughout the nation,” said Gregory H. Boyce, president and CEO of Peabody Energy, in a media statement issued last week. Peabody mines have won Sentinels of Safety Awards in three of the past four years, the statement read.
Recent mining accidents, including a mine collapse in Utah earlier this year in which nine people were killed and an accident in West Virginia last year in which 12 people died, have tarnished a “record of progress” in mine safety over the past several years, Popovich said. More than 80 percent of all mines, mineral and coal, in 2006 had no lost-time accidents, he said.
Improved mining safety has not gotten the attention it deserves, said Matthew Faraci, a public affairs official with the Department of Labor. Faraci notes that mining injuries are down by 60 percent since 1996.
The United Mine Workers of America, in a report issued earlier this year, blamed the West Virginia accident on a series of decisions made by the mining company and federal regulators within the Department of Labor.
According to government figures, mining fatalities have fallen steadily from 242 in 1978 to 72 in 2006.
The Farmersburg Mine is not the only large surface mine in Indiana owned by Black Beauty to do well in the 2006 Sentinels of Safety awards competition. The Somerville Central Mine in Gibson County was the second-safest large surface mine in 2006 and the Francisco Mine, also in Gibson County, was ranked fourth.
________________________

W.Va. Orders Mines to Reinforce Seals

2007-09-25T16:15:00.001-07:00

W.Va. Orders Mines to Reinforce Seals
Houston Chronicle
September 25, 2007

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Underground coal mines must strengthen or replace seals made of cement foam block like those that failed in the Sago Mine disaster under new state regulations given final approval Tuesday.
Mines that can't beef up seals or replace them safely must monitor sealed areas for explosive gases daily and make sure they remain non-explosive, under regulations approved by the state Board of Coal Mine Health and Safety.
Both requirements go beyond federal rules adopted last May by the Mine Safety and Health Administration. MSHA's emergency sealing rule does not address repairing or replacing existing foam seals, only new ones.
Like that MSHA rule, however, the state would require rebuilt or replacement seals to withstand explosions generating 50 pounds per square inch of pressure.
Mines will be required to submit renovation plans to state Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training Director Ron Wooten for approval. Wooten said he expects to give the industry 60 days to submit their plans. "As far as I'm concerned, let's get on with it," he said.
The final version differs only slightly from the proposal the state Board of Coal Mine Health and Safety sent out for comment last month. Only the United Mine Workers responded and the board agreed to the union's request to delete language that would have allowed an operator to avoid replacing or repairing seals based on a risk assessment of a mine.
Gary Trout, a UMW representative on the board, said the language could have allowed operators to avoid fixing or replacing seals. "They're going to have to remediate them in some kind of fashion," Trout said.
MSHA's rule requires mines to monitor the atmosphere behind 50 psi seals and make it non-explosive by pumping in inert gases. Mines could avoid monitoring by building seals to withstand 120 psi. Mines at risk of more powerful explosions would need even stronger seals.
While MSHA's rule is expected to have a big effect on the nation's 670 underground coal mines, the state's proposal is likely to be less noticeable. Mine operators already have replaced or strengthened some of the approximately 900 cement foam block seals that once existed in the state.
The state banned the use of cement foam blocks for seals last year in response to the fatal Sago explosion, which killed a dozen miners. Government investigators suspect lightning set off a methane explosion inside an abandoned, sealed area and destroyed the foam block seals.
___________________________________________________________

Miners, politicians struggle with coal mining safety

2007-09-25T10:38:00.000-07:00

Miners, politicians struggle with coal mining safety
Reuters - USABy Andrea Hopkins
September 25, 2007
SYLVESTER, W., Virginia (Reuters) - After three years of training with Massey Coal Co's award-winning mine rescue team, Jeremy McClung, 28, has advice for regulators struggling to make America's coal mines safer.
"Don't let politicians who don't know anything about the industry make decisions about our lives in the coal mines," said McClung, one of a 10-member rescue team at Massey's Elk Run mine in the mountains of West Virginia.
With the August deaths of six coal miners and three rescuers at a mine in Utah fresh in mind, the U.S. Congress is considering new regulations that would require more rescue teams, equipment, oversight and training at America's 653 underground coal mines.
But as regulators come up with new safety measures, mine operators complain sweeping changes passed by Congress last year haven't even been implemented yet -- and technology being proposed by politicians, including locating devices and wireless communication, is not yet invented.
"The problem is that decisions are being made, much of it in reaction to some very sad tragedies, by people who, while well-intentioned ... aren't as well informed about the potential impact of their actions as we'd like them to be," said Elizabeth Chamberlin, vice president of safety and training at Massey Energy Co in Charleston, West Virginia.
Massey has estimated that the new federal mine safety rules could cost it $24 million in the next two years. In March, Massey was fined $1.5 million, the highest for mine safety violations, after two miners died in a fire at one of its West Virginia mines.
Still, it's hard to blame Congress for the sense of urgency. There were 24 coal mining fatalities in 2007, after 47 deaths in 2006. From 1997 to 2006, an average of 33 U.S. coal miners died each year in accidents, according to the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).
Experts worry the death toll may only rise as coal companies undertake more dangerous projects in search of a dwindling supply of coal in a country that relies on the black rock for more than half of its electricity needs.
"The easy-picking coal is gone, we've been mining for more than 100 years. Now we're into more difficult circumstances, and we damn well better be willing to find ways to find miners underground and get them out more quickly," said Davitt McAteer, who was mine safety director for President Bill Clinton in the 1990s.
NOT BROKEN
But those in the mining industry argue knee-jerk reactions to disasters can also create problems.
Rescue team member McClung was annoyed by a proposal to make each miner carry 16 hours of breathable air -- even though one-hour belt-mounted units weigh eight pounds each. Mines instead have to cache oxygen at regular intervals underground.
Still, while mining companies complain they cannot equip mines with wireless communication and locaters until technology that can work through solid rock has been invented, critics say the technology will be developed once the motivation is there.
"If we had shut down all the mines we'd come up with a solution pretty quickly," McAteer said.
Joe Carter, international vice-president of the United Mine Workers of America District 17, agreed.
"Greed for profit is the highest stumbling block to advancing mine safety and health," said Carter. "Health and safety has been left to idle as companies focused on low coal prices and pressure on profits."
But union leaders, mine operators and experts alike also say the government system of regulation and research is fatally flawed -- though they disagree about what exactly is broken.
McAteer, now vice president at Wheeling Jesuit University in West Virginia, said MSHA regulators changed direction when Republican President George W. Bush took over in 2001, becoming more of an advisory body than inspection force.
MSHA chief Richard Stickler, a former coal executive, is under fire for his agency's decision to approve the mining plan for Murray Energy's Crandall Canyon in Utah, the mine where six miners and three rescuers died in August.
Carter also said a decline in union representation from about 95 percent of workers in 1976 to less than 50 percent today has made mines more dangerous, because workers are afraid to speak out about unsafe conditions.
Retired miner Chuck Nelson, 57, agrees. Nelson spent 28 years in both union and nonunion mines in West Virginia and has seen it all: fires, collapsing roofs, one man crushed by equipment and another killed when a rock bolt fell on him.
"When you're a worker you don't say nothing about safety," said Nelson. "You can't dwell on it, you have to go on

interview with UMWA about Crandall Canyon online

2007-09-25T04:55:00.001-07:00

interview with UMWA about Crandall Canyon online

Last week on the Heartland Labor Forum on 90.1 FM KKFI, streaming live at www.kkfi.org, I interviewed Phil Smith of the UMWA about Crandall Canyon mine in Utah.
That show is now posted online at www.heartlandlaborforum.org The Crandall Canyon segment is the first one after the 'news from our side.

Also in the archives from last April you can find streaming audio of an interview I did with Smith about the UMWA's report on Sago at www.heartlandlaborforum.org.

I am pasting below this weeks email from the Heartland Labor Forum.

Tom Klammer
Heartland Labor Forum volunteer and
host of "Tell Somebody" on 90.1 FM KKFI Kansas City Community Radio
Friday mornings 9-10am Central Time -
streaming live at www.kkfi.org
**********************************
**********************************

This is Pledge Drive week at KKFI. Please call in your pledge to support Heartland Labor Forum, Workers Independent News and community radio in Kansas City. Call 816-931-3122 during Thursdays show or anytime during the week or pledge on-line at www.kkfi.org. We have union-made premiums – KKFI T-shirts, caps, totes and of course Heartland Labor Forum “Radio that talks back to the boss” bumper stickers.

September 20th show is now on the Heartland Labor Forum webpage @ www.heartlandlaborforum.org

Disappearing Government:
q Retreat Mining = No Regulation? Tom Klammer talks to Phil Smith from the United Mineworkers
q Neither Rain nor Sleet. . .but What About Privatization? Hester Duisik talks to Dave Gwin from the National Assn. of Letter Carriers Branch 30 about privatized mail routes in KC
q The News from Our Side
q Boss Hog: Lynn Anderson gives the snort to Merck and Company
q Common Good: Helen Bontrager can’t find much in the way we conduct elections and has a few suggestions

Tune in next Thursday at 6pm or Friday at 5am to make your pledge and hear the show: Their Soil Whose Oil? Iraq Oil Law & The GM Strike

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Check out and download our calendar and schedule of upcoming shows on our web site www.heartlandlaborforum.org
Also tune in to WIN - Workers Independent News weekdays on KKFI at 4:57am, 7:57am and 4:57pm

Judy Ancel, Director
The Institute for Labor Studies
UMKC 211 Haag Hall
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Kansas City, MO 64110
816-235-1470
fax: 816-235-2834
web: www.umkc.edu/labor-ed
a joint program of The University of Missouri-Kansas City and Longview Community College

House panel issues subpoena for Crandall mine documents

2007-09-25T04:51:00.001-07:00

House panel issues subpoena for Crandall mine documents

By Suzanne Struglinski

Deseret Morning News
Published: September 25, 2007

Meanwhile the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee has a hearing planned for Oct. 2. Chairman Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., also has requested numerous documents from the department. Kennedy, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and other senators wrote Labor Department Inspector General Gordon Heddell last week asking for an expedited review.
During a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee meeting on Sept. 5, Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said he had not ruled out issuing a subpoena to Murray. As of last week, there had been no movement on that subpoena.
Witness lists for next week's mine hearings have yet to be finalized.
The Labor Department had requested that Miller put off his investigation until MSHA has finished its own look at the accident, but Miller said it was the committee's "responsibility and obligation" to do its own investigation.
"The families of the miners who died and active miners all over the country deserve an objective and independent review of the tragedy that will help us to prevent future tragedies," Miller said.
But Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif., the top Republican on the committee, encouraged Miller to consider MSHA's request, saying that "it serves no one's interest — particularly those of the miners and their families — if our committee engages in any activity charged under the law with this undertaking."
McKeon asked Miller to outline the plans for the investigation, including what it specifically plans to do to "ensure that its activities do not compromise or prejudice MSHA's civil and criminal investigation."

Crandall Canyon probe

2007-09-25T04:50:00.000-07:00

Crandall Canyon probe

House panel subpoenas Labor Department docs on Utah mine disaster

By Thomas Burr
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 09/24/2007 05:27:07 PM MDT

WASHINGTON - A House committee on Monday issued the first subpoena in the aftermath of the recent Utah mine disaster, compelling the Labor Department to turn over internal documents the committee has yet to receive voluntarily. House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, D-Calif., said in a statement that the subpoena came as a "last resort." The department has provided some documents to the committee but not any internal communications, committee staffers said. The Labor Department countered that it has given Miller's committee nearly 10,000 pages of documents it requested and everything it turned over to the department's independent inspector general. Assistant Secretary of Labor for Public Affairs, David James, issued a one-sentence response to the subpoena, saying that, "This political grandstanding is very disappointing in light of the department's extensive good-faith efforts to respond to the chairman's voluminous document request." Monday's subpoena demands copies of any documents from the Labor Department to the owners of the Crandall Canyon mine before and after the tragedy that killed nine men and injured six more in August. It also compels the department to provide internal documents regarding the Utah mine, any messages about it from other executive branch offices and communications related to the August request by the committee for those documents. Miller also demanded any documents reflecting communications between mine co-owner Bob Murray and department officials. The committee plans a hearing next week on the Utah mine tragedy, though the due date for subpoenaed documents isn't until a week later. Committee spokesman Tom Kiley said the panel would prefer to work together with the department to secure the requested documents, "but by failing to cooperate with us, the Labor Department has left us no choice but to subpoena the information." Kiley added that the committee intends to "conduct a comprehensive, independent investigation of the tragedy so that we can help learn what steps we can take to prevent future tragedies." The Labor Department said it provided a litany of documents, including all emergency response plans for every U.S. mine, the emergency response plan for the Crandall Canyon mine and all maps of the mine since 2004. The department also provided the roof control plan and the order taking control of the Crandall Canyon operation after the disaster. The subpoena comes a week after the Labor Department's inspector general asked for the House committee to back off its probe into the cave ins at the mine until the Mine Safety and Health Administration completed its inquiry. Acting Solicitor General Jonathon Snare told the committee in a letter that agency's ability to enforce the law and hold violators accountable could be hampered by parallel investigations. But Miller declined to hold off on his inquiry noting that his panel has jurisdiction to investigate the disaster; he did, however, say on Monday that his subpoena does not seek documents by the department's internal accident investigation team. Three congressional committees are investigating the mine disaster in rural Utah and two hearings are scheduled next week looking at mine safety nationwide. The Senate Health, Education and Pensions Committee earlier this month requested a load of documents from the Labor Department. The House labor committee asked for similar documents and also sent a request to the mine's co-owner, Murray Energy, asking for internal company documents on the mine's operations. Six miners were trapped after a cave in Aug. 6 in the Crandall Canyon mine, and three rescue workers were killed and six more injured trying to reach those miners. Rescue efforts were suspended soon after and the original six are now entombed in the mine with no immediate plan to recover their bodies.

State finds no contributing violations in August mine death

2007-09-24T10:47:00.001-07:00

State finds no contributing violations in August mine death

September 24, 2007 12:55 PM
CHARLESTON, W.Va.

The state has issued three citations to a mine where a section foreman was killed last month.But the Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training says none of the violations contributed to the Aug. 4 accident at the Rockhouse Creek Number 8 Mine near Gilbert in Mingo County. Miner Steve Browning Jr. died two days later at St. Mary's Medical Center in Huntington.
Investigators determined Browning was struck in the head by a shaft that came loose from a continuous mining machine he was helping to fix.
In an accident report released Monday, the state said it cited Rockhouse for not maintaining proper air flow, setting a breaker too high on a transformer and not following its roof control plan.
A company spokesman did not immediately return a call Monday.
Five West Virginia miners have died on the job in 2007. The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration puts the national death toll at 25.

Arch Coal Subsidiary Sued Over Damaged House

2007-09-24T06:29:00.000-07:00

Arch Coal Subsidiary Sued Over Damaged House
http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/200709221

September 23, 2007

Arch Coal subsidiary sued over damaged house
Lawsuit cites explosions at Logan mine

By Paul J. NydenStaff writer

A subsidiary of Arch Coal Inc. has damaged the house of a Logan County family and surrounding properties, according to a lawsuit filed Friday.The lawsuit, filed by lawyer Truman Chafin, alleges that mining activities at one of the Logan County mines owned by Coal-Mac Inc. has damaged the house of Rusty and Sandy Maynard and their family.Coal-Mac began strip-mining operations near the Maynard family’s newly built house on Cow Creek in August 2006, according to the lawsuit.From winter 2006 through summer 2007, the lawsuit alleges, Coal-Mac daily “engaged in blasting in its mining operations by setting off charges of dynamite or other highly-dangerous explosives ... in disregard of state laws, rules and regulations.”Those explosions, the lawsuit alleges, caused the Maynard house “to vibrate violently” and caused “serious damage to their home including numerous cracks in the foundation and in the walls.”Today, the family home has become uninhabitable, according to the lawsuit.A telephone call to Kim Link, an Arch Coal spokeswoman in St. Louis, was not returned on Friday or Saturday.Explosions from Coal-Mac mining operations also sprayed “fly rock, dust and other particles” on the house and property of Rusty and Sandy Maynard, who “are now afraid to live in their home and fear for their physical safety,” the lawsuit states.In recent months, representatives from Arch Coal apologized to the Maynards and promised “to take corrective and remedial actions,” but those actions were never taken, according to the lawsuit.In their lawsuit, the Maynards ask for an unspecified amount of compensatory and punitive damages.The lawsuit also asks the court to issue “an order of cessation,” prohibiting Coal-Mac from “setting off charges of dynamite and other highly-charged explosives” near the Maynard house in the future.Attached to the lawsuit are copies of six violations issued against Coal-Mac by West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection inspectors.An Aug. 21 citation stated that mine explosions were set off illegally within 1,000 feet of “protected structures” without filing a “specific blast plan,” as required by state law.An Aug. 29 citation stated that the blasting “is creating an imminent danger to the health or safety of the public” and/or might “cause significant, imminent harm to the environment.” That citation ordered Coal-Mac to halt all drilling and blasting operations in the vicinity of the Maynard house.To contact staff writer Paul J. Nyden, use e-mail or call 348-5164.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"Bringing Down the Mountains: the Impact of Mountaintop Removal on Southern West Virginia Communities," now available for preorder through the WVU Press, at amazon.com, or other fine on-line retailers.

WNY&PRR lands coal business

2007-09-24T06:28:00.000-07:00

WNY&PRR lands coal business
FALCONER, NY — The Western New York & PennsylvaniaRailroad (WNYP) has been designated to handle a newcoal movement between Emporium, Pennsylvania andJamestown, New York.
The Jamestown Board of Public Utilities, whichoperates an electric generating station at Jamestown,has awarded a competitively- bid contract toAllegheny Enterprises of Sterling Run, Pennsylvania tosupply 32,000 tons of coal over a one-year periodstarting in November. The coal will be transported bythe Western New York & Pennsylvania Railroad (WNYP) atthe rate of 6 to 10 cars per week.
"This new rail business demonstrates the advantages ofWNYP's recent lease of the Buffalo Line," said WilliamD Burt, president. "The Southern Tiergets lower costs for generating electricity. TheNorthern Tier gets new outlets for its products."
The line, which extends from Machias, New York throughOlean and Emporium to Driftwood, Pennsylvania, wasleased to WNYP by the Norfolk Southern Railway onAugust 3.
"Combining the Buffalo Line with WNYP's existingEast-West main line allowed us to make Olean Yard intoa hub," Burt explained. "The result is efficientrail transportation that makes our region's industrialemployers more competitive, preserving jobs and taxbase. This new coal traffic will behandled by our Driftwood trains to Olean, then betransferred to our Olean-Meadville trains for movementto Jamestown, where our Falconer-basedcrew will spot the cars."
Allegheny Enterprises had previously bid on theJamestown BPU business but found that trucking costsposed a formidable obstacle, according to WNYPMarketing & Sales Vice President Daniel E. Eagan. "Weare excited to partnerwith Allegheny Enterprises to open new markets forthem while offering theJamestown BPU a new source of competitively pricedlow-sulfur, high-BTU coal."
Eagan noted that WNYP and Allegheny Enterprises areexploring other potential markets, including some thatreach beyond WNYP to include destinations onconnecting Norfolk Southern lines. Allegheny has bothlow and high sulfur coal. The latter is often used bypower plants equipped with scrubbers.
Burt noted that the first contact with AlleghenyEnterprises was made by a new WNYP employee, tracksupervisor Howard Uber of Emporium. "I appreciateHoward's taking the initiative," said Burt, "and hewill be seeing some evidence of that shortly."

Early Women Miners

2007-09-24T06:17:00.000-07:00

Early Women Miners

Women have played a significant part in mining since the early days of our Nation’s history.Many of the newly-hired women worked in underground mines in the Appalachian coalfields. Between 1974 and 1980, almost 2,400 women were hired as underground coal workers in the East; only 242 were hired in the Midwest; and 272 in the West. The reason for these differences in hiring patterns was because underground coal mines required a larger workforce than other types of mining.In November 1978, the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) unanimously passed a resolution to help support widening the options for women in mining.
Women became active and hard workers for the UMWA, and several women were elected as delegates to the UMWA’s 1978 convention, where union policies and contract demands were formulated. This was the last “boom” year of the decade, with nearly 18,000 miners hired nationwide. For the years 1978-1980, females comprised 6.5 percent of all new underground workers.Mining is a dangerous occupation, and miners daily face a variety of environmental and industrial hazards.

In 1979, 144 miners perished in accidents. One of these was Marilyn McCusker; a roof bolter helper, and the first woman coal miner to die on the job.On October 2, Marilyn McCusker, 35, perished in a roof fall in a coal mine in Pennsylvania. It had taken her two years and having to file a sex discrimination suit in Federal court in order to get her job. She had about two years’ mining experience, roughly three months of which she worked as a roof-bolter helper.McCusker was retreating from an intersection in the mine after she had noticed the roof starting to dribble. The roof fell, pinning her under the edge of a 20x25x2-1/2-foot-thick slab of rock. Accident investigators later found that the accident was due to the operator’s failure to adequately support a known bad roof area with temporary roof supports until additional permanent roof supports could be installed.The number of women coal miners had increased from zero in 1973 to 33,730 in 1983 when women comprised 8.6 percent of the mining work force.In most underground mines, women are hired as general inside laborers (or “trainees”), as are inexperienced men.

These are some of the most physically demanding jobs in a mine, such as shoveling coal that has spilled from conveyors, or transporting heavy timbers to lay track for the mine’s rail haulage system. Experienced women may operate shuttle cars, which carry coal from the working face to the belt, or operate mining machines or roof bolters. A similar job progression occurs in surface mines where new miners usually begin employment by working in simpler tasks and moving into more difficult assignments as they gain experience.In the mid 1980's when the underground coal mining industry started to decline, many women lost their mining jobs because of the rule, “last hired, first fired.”Although overall employment in the underground coal mining industry has declined in the past two decades, women have taken their place in the nation’s mines. They do all types of jobs, from general laborer to mining engineer in underground and surface coal and metal nonmetal mines.Most women miners surveyed love their jobs, regardless of the risks involved, and have no desire to seek employment elsewhere.

Willow Creek mine explosions

2007-09-23T11:07:00.000-07:00

Willow Creek mine explosions

Some wounds run too deep to heal
By Mike Gorrell The Salt Lake Tribune
September 23, 2007

When the explosion happened in the Willow Creek mine, the only light Bill Burton had came from the face of this broken watch. On surviving a series of explosions at the Willow Creek mine north of Price 7 years later Even survivors of mine disasters do not escape unscathed.
If physical injuries do not haunt them, their memories do.
Such is the case with William Burton, David Berdan and Tyson Hales, three miners who were battered but lived through a series of explosions on a midsummer night seven years ago in the Willow Creek mine north of Price.
"I try not to, but I think about it quite often," said Hales of the blasts that killed two colleagues - Cory Nielsen and Shane Stansfield - and injured eight.
Like the Crandall Canyon mine, Willow Creek was deep underground. The massive weight of the mountain overhead made the mine susceptible to "bumps," mining lingo for a sudden release of pressure in the form of violent roof falls or wall failures.
Crandall Canyon attracted considerable attention when a catastrophic bump buried six miners Aug. 6 and a second implosion 10 days later claimed three more lives and wounded six would-be rescuers.
Willow Creek received limited coverage because only two miners died. But Willow Creek actually was known to be more dangerous than Crandall Canyon, for it was plagued by two additional hazards: methane and liquid hydrocarbons.
Highly explosive methane is common in mines. But liquid hydrocarbons, stinky substances with the consistency of diesel fuel, are not found outside of the Book Cliffs coal field in Carbon County.
Because liquid hydrocarbons are rare, they are not addressed directly in federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) regulations. So when the Utah Mine Safety Commission met Sept. 10, MSHA field office supervisor William Taylor said that if the state were seriously interested in making Utah coal mines safer, it would help devise ways to monitor and control liquid hydrocarbons.
"While it was a terrible situation in Crandall Canyon, any miner will tell you they have experienced bounces and bumps," Taylor said. "But when you look at hydrocarbons, it doesn't just have explosive gases but is an unknown entity when combined with coal dust and diesel emissions. We need experts in the field to develop health and safety standards."
Liquid hydrocarbons figured prominently in the explosions - three in eight minutes - that decimated a crew working in the Willow Creek mine July 31, 2000.
The 10-man crew was removing the coal seam with an 815-foot-wide longwall mining machine. Its cutting shear went back and forth slicing off the front edge of the coal seam while crew members performed tasks beneath hundreds of parallel shields - each shaped somewhat like an inverted 'L' - that held up the roof over their heads. As coal was removed, the hydraulically powered shields slid forward, allowing the rock overhead to collapse into the void left behind. That caved area is called "the gob."
While a methane scare shut down the longwall for about 40 minutes between 9 and 10 p.m., mining was proceeding at a good clip by 11:48 p.m., when a roof fall in the gob set off a methane explosion.
The impact knocked down several people, including Burton, the shift boss, and miners Hales and Berdan. None was hurt seriously. But they were propelled into fast action. The explosion had set ablaze some liquid hydrocarbons in the gob behind the shields.
While a couple of miners sprayed the fire with a hose, others hustled to gather fire extinguishers and bags of fire-squelching rock dust. Before they could do any good with these suppressants, however, flames migrated atop the liquid hydrocarbons to another methane pocket.
Kaboom! This 11:55 p.m. explosion hurled Nielsen into the steel shields, killing him. The 225-pound Burton was flung into another piece of machinery and knocked out. Others were burned, pelted with coal shrapnel or sent flying. Several lost their headlamps, leaving them in darkness.
A minute later, as they staggered toward evacuating the section, the third explosion hit. Stansfield, who was climbing into a low-slung "mantrip" vehicle to exit the mine, was thrown head first into a stack of wooden roof supports, each the size of a railroad tie. He died.
Berdan does not recall this explosion. But from what he has been told and his injuries, he suspects he was thrown backward into the mantrip, nearly ripping off an ear and opening a gash in his head. Hales probably bashed his head against the vehicle too.
When Burton came to, he crawled to the protective cover of an upended "shop car," a 6-ton vehicle that had been blown 100 feet back in a tunnel. He was assisted there by Roger McKinnon who, despite badly burned hands, got behind the wheel of the mantrip and drove Berdan and Kyle Medley to safety.
"The mantrip was just covered with black [soot]," Berdan said. "It blew all the back windows out, the taillights, everything. Roger scraped a little [clearing] in the windshield just to try and see so we could get out."
Rescue teams later brought out Burton, Hales and the bodies of Stansfield and Nielsen. By 4 a.m., everyone was out. The mine was sealed at 10 a.m. and has not reopened.
But in the seven years since, the long-term effect of that explosive night became evident.
Burton's 28-year career in the mines was over. Much of his social life, too. Hunting and fishing, things he'd done all his life, are almost impossible to do now. The explosions broke seven vertebrae, his left shoulder and collarbone; fractured a leg just below the knee and tore away the skin above and below the break line. His right arm was seared "and it burned my mustache off," he said.
"In all my years, I had never been hurt," added Burton, who was permanently disabled at age 49. "I still have a buzzing in my head. . . . I don't know how in the hell I made it through."
Berdan was a mess, too. He had a busted-up knee, cartilage torn loose from his ribs and a big burn on his back. When his wife, Lezlie, saw him at the Price hospital, she said, "I about passed out. His ear's hanging there and he's got these cuts you could see the bone in his head through. His hair was a melted mess [from hot coal shards]. My knees buckled, but I could not let him see how scared I was."
Hales was left with a damaged shoulder, neck injuries and brain trauma.
"I basically had to renew my brain - learn my ABCs and handwriting - because all that stuff was damaged," he said. "A vocational therapist helped me with my memory, taught me how to picture how to remember things and [associate] people's names with rhymes."
Recuperating mentally was tough for all three.
Hales, then 21, is troubled by dreamlike visions of Stansfield just before his death.
"I seen a counselor forever, asking 'why did I live and this other person didn't and we were in the same place? . . . Why this person with a family and two kids? Why couldn't I sacrifice my life for his? I was single,' " he said. "Now I'm basically scared of getting close to someone. . . . It's hard to get to know somebody knowing that something like that can happen to them."
Tears come to Burton's eyes as he talks of Nielsen and Stansfield. "That still bothers the hell out of me, losing those two kids. Their parents are so damned tore up." Him, too. "It will never go away. In my head, it never goes away."
Now 40, Berdan has adjusted pretty well. But loud noises make him jumpy and blowing sand triggers flashbacks of being peppered with coal shards. Like Hales, he has "survivor's guilt."
To cope with an upsurge of those feelings as he watched the Crandall Canyon tragedy play out, Berdan said "if there's something I could do to help them families, I'd try to get them a good lawyer like we had."
He was referring to a team of attorneys led by Fred Silvester of Salt Lake City. Through their efforts, the families of the two dead men and the eight injured miners secured an undisclosed settlement from the German company that owned Willow Creek.
Despite the horrific experience, most of the Willow Creek crew are still miners. Burton's not, but insists "if I hadn't been hurt this bad, I'd go back underground. It's all I've ever done since high school."
Hales worked in a mine warehouse outside of Farmington, N.M., but has returned underground to a relatively safe job building seals to close off mined-out sections. "I needed insurance, so I decided to make a sacrifice for my family," which now includes three young children.
Berdan was employed at the Tower mine in Carbon County before owner Robert Murray shut it down after the disaster at Crandall Canyon, also owned by Murray.
"I could be driving a truck and working up to 70 hours a week compared to working 40 hours a week and being home," he said. "I make more money in the mines. Money is the bottom line to mining. That's why it gets a lot of people."

MSHA behind on Southern W.Va. mine inspections

2007-09-23T06:20:00.000-07:00

MSHA behind on Southern W.Va. mine inspections

Agency ‘initiative’ deliberately stopped some complete reviews
Charleston Gazette - WV, USA
By Ken Ward Jr
.September 23, 2007

Federal regulators are behind schedule this year to complete required quarterly inspections at more than 60 percent of Southern West Virginia’s underground coal mines, government records show.
U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration managers deliberately stopped some of the required inspections in the face of budget and staffing shortages, MSHA officials revealed this week.
MSHA replaced the complete mine reviews with “enhanced spot inspections” that did not cover entire operations, as required by law.
Last week, Richard Stickler, assistant labor secretary for MSHA, halted the program.
“While this practice may have been well-intentioned, it is unacceptable,” Stickler said in an internal memo.
“Spot inspections will continue to serve an important role in MSHA’s enforcement efforts,” Stickler wrote in the Sept. 18 memo. “However, they must be used to supplement, not replace, regular inspections.”
Stickler acted after two Gazette reports about MSHA missing required quarterly inspections at mines in Mingo and Logan counties where workers were killed earlier this month. Stickler also stepped in after harsh criticism from Sen. Robert C. Byrd and Rep. Nick J. Rahall, both D-W.Va.
But questions remain about the agency’s actions: Who came up with and approved the plan to replace complete mine safety reviews with spot inspections? What kinds of safety problems might the program have led inspectors to miss? And why didn’t Labor Secretary Elaine Chao seek more funding and staff to respond to earlier evidence that MSHA’s Southern West Virginia district was dangerously understaffed?
“This most recent failure by the Department of Labor is either gross negligence, or a willful disregard for the requirements of the Mine Act,” Byrd said last week.
“Either way, it contradicts the Department’s repeated assertions that it has requested sufficient funding and personnel to ensure the safety of our nation’s coal miners,” Byrd said. “I want to know when MSHA learned that these inspections were not occurring, and why it took so long to remedy the problem.”
In an e-mail response to questions, MSHA spokesman Matthew Faraci called the inspection switch an “initiative to use enhanced spot inspections in lieu of select regular inspections.”
The program was instituted only in the agency’s District 4, based in Mount Hope, “to ensure MSHA’s presence at every mine, every quarter.”
Faraci said MSHA believes it is behind schedule on 30 percent of mandated inspections in District 4, which covers West Virginia’s southern coalfields.
But a review of agency data shows the problem is more serious. Inspectors are behind schedule in completing regular quarterly inspections for at least 74 of the district’s 122 underground coal mines currently listed as active, MSHA records show.
“That’s an amazing number,” said Davitt McAteer, who ran MSHA during the Clinton administration. “It is just astounding that they would let this happen.”
In written responses, MSHA said the inspection policy was started on Oct. 1, 2006, and approved by Kevin Stricklin, who had just recently taken over as the agency’s administrator for coal mine health and safety.
However, MSHA records indicate the switch to spot inspections from regular reviews started at some mines much earlier in 2006.
And Jesse Cole, who was district manager from July 2004 through August 2006, said it was previously common practice to count spot inspections toward regular reviews. “That is nothing new,” Cole said.
David Dye, who was acting MSHA chief from November 2004 until Stickler took over in mid-October 2006, said he never approved such a policy.
Ray McKinney, who was MSHA administrator for coal prior to Stricklin, did not return a phone call last week.
Since 1969, federal regulators have been required to inspect all underground mines in their entirety at least four times per year. For years, MSHA has interpreted that to mean complete regular inspections of all underground mines at least once per quarter.
Coal industry officials have long objected to that requirement, and have continued a lobbying effort to get it changed.
President George W. Bush’s first MSHA chief, Dave Lauriski, embraced this approach. Lauriski proposed to write a regulation for “focused inspections” at mines with safety lapses. Lauriski hired a consultant, who prepared a report supporting the idea.
MSHA quietly dropped the rulemaking proposal in December 2003. The agency said it planned to “address this issue through nonregulatory means.”
In recent years, MSHA officials have frequently touted their success rate — generally in the high 90-percent range — in completing required quarterly inspections. But last year, the agency fell further behind. Required inspections not completed on time increased from 43 during the 2005 federal budget year to 245 in 2006, MSHA data show. The overall completion rate was 95 percent, down from 99 percent in 2005.
In Southern West Virginia, the issue is not a new one.
Twenty-five years ago, a General Accounting Office report sought by Rahall found that required inspections in Southern West Virginia were not being performed because of “an inadequate number of mine inspectors.”
That June 1982 GAO report blamed the problem on a federal hiring freeze put in place under the Carter administration in 1978.
MSHA’s Southern West Virginia district ranks second among MSHA offices in coal production, behind only District 9, which covers most states west of the Mississippi.
Between 1996 and 2006, the Southern West Virginia district led the nation in coal-mining deaths, with 76. The next highest was District 6 in Eastern Kentucky, with 48 deaths, MSHA records show.
Since the Bush administration took office, MSHA’s staffing cuts have hit Southern West Virginia harder than any other agency office.
Total district staffing dropped by 13 percent between 2002 and 2006, twice the level of the agency-wide staffing reduction, MSHA data show.
From the early days of the Bush administration, Chao strongly supported the MSHA staffing cuts.
In a March 2001 Senate hearing, Chao testified that MSHA’s coal program could absorb the cuts of 47 positions “without compromising worker safety.”
Then, in April 2003, Chao told a Senate panel that budget and staffing issues played no role in MSHA’s failure to properly inspect a mine ventilation shaft construction project near Moundsville where three workers were killed.
In June, an MSHA internal review found “significant deficiencies” in agency inspections at Massey Energy’s Aracoma Alma No. 1 Mine, where two workers died in a January 2006 fire.
Investigators found District 4 had permanently reassigned technical specialists to assist in trying to complete required regular inspections. And in September 2005, District 4 managers had met with MSHA national staff “informing them of a need for additional inspection resources,” the internal review stated.
“It is apparent to the review team that over a period of time, and under pressure to complete mandated inspections, enforcement personnel deviated from established procedures, and management failed to take action to correct the identifiable breaches of inspection procedures,” the report found. “Eventually, some inspectors, supervisors and managers may have acted on the assumption that the procedures no longer applied in practice, but were merely goals they did not believe they could achieve.”
Today, there are 83 inspectors and specialists working in the enforcement division at MSHA’s District 4 office. That’s two fewer than were listed at the office in 2006.
The office also has 44 trainees — who cannot yet complete inspections or write citations on their own — hired to replace inspection spots eliminated previously during the Bush administration.
“The challenge that MSHA has faced is that we have a significant number of inspectors who are still trainees in the district, and that has made it challenging to conduct regular, quarterly inspections,” MSHA’s Faraci said in a prepared statement. “While we expect trainees nationwide to start graduating ... as early as the end of this month, you can see the challenges we have faced.
“It takes 16 to 18 months to train someone fully and completely,” Faraci said. “Additionally, we saw 16 retirements and 20 losses to attrition last year statewide, so MSHA is always working to remain fully staffed.”
MSHA critics are not buying those answers.
“MSHA cannot write off its euphemistically termed ‘initiative’ to allow spot inspections in lieu of full inspections as an optionless solution to a problem beyond its control,” Rahall said Friday.
“The agency did not merely wake up one day and slap its head, dumbfounded that it lacked enough staff,” he said. “This whole scenario resulted from years of intentional downsizing and calculated politicization in the agency’s leadership.
“How it fixes this astonishingly stupid inspection policy in Southern West Virginia will be a supreme test of whether the agency is really correcting course or just floundering.”

Mine owner Murray threatens to sue over statements

2007-09-22T13:54:00.001-07:00

Mine owner Murray threatens to sue over statements

By Robert Gehrke

The Salt Lake Tribune

September 22, 2007

Crandall Canyon mine co-owner Robert Murray is threatening to sue a professor and an editor over what he claims were defamatory statements regarding his behavior in the wake of the mine collapse.
Murray took offense at an opinion piece written by Penn State University engineering professor R. Larry Grayson that appeared in The Salt Lake Tribune. It criticized Murray's “bombastic” performance in the news briefings immediately following the Aug. 6 disaster at the Crandall Canyon mine that killed six miners.
The other piece at issue was written by Steve Fiscor, editor-in-chief of the trade publication Coal Age. The editorial said the coal industry “takes the ostrich approach when Bob Murray takes the microphone, hoping that he will go away soon and that no one will notice.”
Letters to the two authors this week described the opinion pieces as “virulent and untruthful” attacks.
“We demand that you immediately retract the editorial and publish an apology acceptable to Mr. Murray,” Michael O. McKown, general counsel for Murray Energy Corp., wrote. “Failure to do so in a timely fashion will lead to immediate legal action.”
The Tribune has not been contacted regarding the Grayson piece.
In his press briefings after the mine collapse, Murray derided global warming as a sham, criticized politicians, condemned a reporter, and claimed an earthquake caused the event - a claim later rebutted by seismologists.
He also claimed there was no retreat mining - where coal pillars supporting the roof are mined, leaving the roof to fall in - being done at Crandall Canyon, although mine maps show and federal officials have said there was.
Jane Connor, founder of Utah News Clips, said as soon as the press conference was over, her company was bombarded with calls from companies that wanted to order a copy of the briefing to show the wrong way to deal with the media.
"We started calling it, 'How Not To Do A Press Conference 101,' ” she said. "In terms of media training he had none. . . . We've been doing this for 21 years and we've never had a response like this before."
Grayson said that, as far as his criticism, "the facts speak for themselves."
"There is ample evidence that there is absolutely no merit in the case," he said.
But, in one instance, Murray's threat of litigation seems to have worked.
Peter Johnson, publisher and owner of Coal Age, said Friday that the claim of defamation is “a little bit of a stretch,” but the company's attorneys suggested the publication extend an apology in an upcoming editorial.
“We offered in that editorial to say, 'If anybody inferred that we were attacking Mr. Murray or attacking the company, we apologize for that,' ” Johnson said.
“We stand by everything that was written, but the attorney said that legally there's a gray area. We're attempting to nip it in the bud. But we're not publishing a retraction,” Johnson said. “We'll meet them halfway.”
Pat Shea, a Salt Lake attorney who has spent 25 years practicing media law, said the pieces Murray is targeting enjoy multiple layers of protection, since they are opinion pieces and, to prevail in the case, Murray would have to show what they were saying “is viciously untrue.”
“Indeed they reflect the robust nature of the First Amendment where everybody is entitled to their opinion and to express it, whether it's by print or by speech,” said Shea, who complained of wealthy interests using the legal system to intimidate critics.
Murray has shown a willingness to go to court over perceived smears on his character.
In 2001, Murray filed at $1 billion lawsuit against The Akron Beacon Journal, claiming he was defamed in a profile that suggested he had a habit of stretching the truth and quoting him as saying he was ill and had purchased his cemetery plot.
The state court in Ohio initially dismissed the case, but an appeals court reinstated it and the parties eventually settled the suit. The terms of the settlement are confidential.
Also in 2001, Murray twice sued United Mine Workers of America official Carlo Tarley, for statements he allegedly made, including that Murray “doesn't like old people” and “has trouble telling the truth.”
Both suits were dismissed after judges determined the speech enjoyed special protection because it was part of a labor dispute.
“Both decisions show that Murray has a quick trigger when he doesn't like what's being said, and that he doesn't understand what speech is protected,” said UMWA attorney Judy Rivlin.

Technical Panel Backs Continued Use of Coal Mine Belt Air

2007-09-22T13:53:00.000-07:00

Technical Panel Backs Continued Use of Coal Mine Belt Air Occupational
Health Safety -
Dallas,TX,USA
September 21, 2007

At its fifth and final meeting on Sept. 17-19 in Washington, D.C., the technical study panel established by the MINER Act to study the issue of belt air ventilation unanimously recommended its use as long as MSHA district managers are required to take special care to evaluate whether it can be used in a manner that is safe for all miners involved.
This recommendation echoes the practice that MSHA had employed before revising 30 CFR to allow belt air in all underground coal mines provided certain precautions were present. The practice previously required mine owners to go through a Petition for Modification (PFM) process to receive approval on a case-by-case basis. When granted permission to do so, several safety precautions were usually stipulated, such as a fire monitoring systems.
Belt air refers to the practice of using air from the belt entry to ventilate the work areas. PFMs were most often asked for when it was believed that drilling additional ventilation tunnels in a certain mine presented structural hazards.
Industry and workers have long been divided on this issue. Previous technical panels have studied the issue for decades, sometimes in favor and sometimes against its use.
Many believe that air passing over the conveyor belt might entrain respirable dust, increasing miner exposure to dust at the face. Another major concern has been fire in the belt entry. Such fires can occur by the very nature of conveyor belt systems and because no additional ventilation tunnel is created to be used to exit, if a belt fire occurred, miners would often become engulfed in smoke and toxic gases in seconds and find it impossible to evacuate.
Many argue that the use of several safety precautions, such as a fire monitoring systems, negate this hazard or at the very least presents an equivalent amount of safety as additions ventilation tunnels.
In related news, the National Mining Association filed comments this week with MSHA regarding the agency's Emergency Temporary Standard covering the sealing of abandoned areas in underground coal mines. The comments included: suggested revisions to the regulatory language with an accompanying explanation for the revisions; responses to the questions and requests for information contained in the preamble to the ETS; three technical evaluations of NIOSH's final report on "Explosion Pressure Design Criteria for New Seals in U.S. Coal Mines"; and a document titled "Excerpts Taken from This Report on the 'Mitchell-Barrett' Solid-Concrete-Block Seal," which contains the results for tests conducted by NIOSH on the Mitchell-Barrett solid concrete block seal.
___________________________________________________________

Man dies in accident at Wyoming mine

2007-09-20T15:30:00.000-07:00

Man dies in accident at Wyoming mine
Billings Gazette - MT, USA
Associated PressSeptember 20, 2007

GREEN RIVER _ An accident involving a mine transport vehicle at a trona mine near Green River has left one worker dead.
The accident occurred shortly before noon Wednesday.
FMC spokesman Jim Fitzwater said two mine operators were en route to their designated work area when their mine transport overturned.
Fitzwater said a crew that was getting off work discovered the accident. He said 41-year-old Carder Largent Junior, of Mountain View, later died of injuries. Largent had been an employee of the company since 1990. The other worker was treated and released at Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County.
Fitzwater said the mine was temporarily shut down pending an investigation. It was scheduled to reopen at 4 p.m. Thursday.

Public hearing on mine safety set for Huntington

2007-09-20T15:29:00.000-07:00

Public hearing on mine safety set for Huntington
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 09/20/2007
12:56:44 AM MDT

Hearing on mine safety scheduled
A public hearing to determine what the people in and around Emery County think the state can do to improve mine safety will begin at 1 p.m. Tuesday in Huntington. The Utah Mine Safety Commission will accept comment throughout the afternoon at Huntington Elementary School, 70 E. 100 North. Comments may be provided orally or in writing at the session, which will follow a 10 a.m. meeting of the commission. Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. created the commission after a catastrophic failure of tunnel walls Aug. 6 in the Crandall Canyon mine northwest of Huntington killed six miners. Three more died and six were injured Aug. 16 in the effort to rescue the entombed miners. The commission's purpose is to review state government's role in mine safety, accident prevention and accident response and to recommend any changes that should be made to enhance safety in the state's coal mines.
Written comments also may be e-mailed to: minesafetycommission@... or sent by letter to John Baza, Executive Secretary, Utah Mine Safety Commission, 1594 W. North Temple, Suite 1210, PO Box 145801, Salt Lake City, 84114.

Miners: We’re still getting the shaft

2007-09-20T06:35:00.001-07:00

Miners: We’re still getting the shaft

Gallup Independent - Gallup,NM,USASeptember 19, 2007 By Kathy HelmsStaff writer
MILAN — When Congress enacted the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act in 1990 and amended it in 2000, it failed to include workers employed after 1971 who were exposed to radiation from activities related to uranium mining.
Further expansion of RECA in November 2002 also disregarded Post-71 miners. But as of Aug. 1, the legislation is back on the table, and this time, if a group of radiation victims in Grants and Milan have anything to do with it, the federal government will no longer be able to exclude them with the stroke of a pen.
Linda Evers of Milan, a Post-71 uranium miller who formerly worked for Kerr-McGee, has been designated as spokeswoman for the Post-71 Uranium Exposure Committee when the group travels to Washington in November with members of the Navajo Nation to lobby for changes in RECA.
“I worked in the crusher department and at 32 was diagnosed with a degenerative bone disease that can only be connected to overexposure to radiation,” Evers said. She was living in Kansas at the time.
“My orthopedic surgeon said there are only three things that cause this kind of destruction on bones. He said, ‘age,’ which was not a factor, I was 32; ‘family history’ — I have a 96-year-old grandmother that barely has arthritis, let alone anything degenerative; or ‘overexposure to radiation.’
“I used to work in the crusher, right out of high school at 18, and worked in the field until I was 24, and then went on and did something else because they shut everything down here. I worked for Kerr-McGee. We had showers, but we didn’t have hot water. After you stand in a freezing crusher all night, the last thing you want is a frozen shower — if there was any water at all,” Evers said.
“Our safety meetings consisted of CPR, burns, cuts, general first-aid. We never had any on radiation exposure.”
Evers started out on the labor gang, spending her first 90 days working all over the mill.
“I worked in yellowcake, I worked in the acid plant, I worked in a lot of places on the labor gang, but then when my 90 days there were up, they put me in the crusher.
“My partner that was working in the crusher with me, I guess he was eight or nine years older than me and was just out of the service. Now, he has just a plethora of health problems. The medical bills are chewing him up and spitting him out because we don’t have any compensation, and general insurance and Medicare do not cover this stuff,” she said.
In 2004, professors at Utah State University published a report in the Journal of Health & Social Policy entitled “Unfinished Business: Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) for Post-1971 U.S. Uranium Underground Miners.”
The report examined the regulatory history and scientific evidence used for the passage of RECA and presented evidence supporting the inclusion of Post-71 miners.
In October 2005 at a presentation on the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act in Grants, former Kerr-McGee mine workers Antonio Sena and Margarito Martinez presented a copy of the report to representatives from the U.S. Department of Labor and Department of Justice.
“These are real finds by the people that were handling the RECA program back in Washington. They were supposed to release this to the public, and apparently it was not done. It was blocked by the federal government,” Sena said.
The report questioned why company exposure records were significantly lower than federal records. It also stated that the RECA legislation date of eligibility was based entirely on the federal government’s uranium procurement program, rather than on scientific evidence of the relationship between exposures and health outcomes.
Gary E. Madsen, PhD, and Susan E. Dawson, PhD, authors of the report, argued that the federal government should include Post-71 miners in RECA since it did not develop ore stringent standards as suggested by its own health and safety agencies.
“To exclude the post-1971 workers based on the procurement date is untenable,” they said.
Sena said the Mine Enforcement and Safety Administration, Mine Safety and Health Administration, and various other groups did a lot of research in the mines and mills. “They turned the report in to the federal government but it was never printed,” he said.
Evers said she has been fighting to get compensation for a Post-71 miner who was diagnosed with sinus cancer. “He has had most of his face removed. They won’t compensate him because the government, in its infinite wisdom, has determined that the sinuses are not part of the respiratory system. But every medical doctor in the country says, ‘Are you nuts?’
“It’s stupid! And the more we learn, the more stupid it gets. How can you not acknowledge that sinus cancer is a respiratory problem? My heart just goes out to him.”
Even if the victim and his family received the $100,000 RECA compensation allocated for uranium workers, right now, Evers said, “they still wouldn’t see any of it because they owe it all to the medical bills. They’re old folks. They pay their bills before they treat themselves right.”
The companies could have solved the problem, Evers said, “by issuing radon-qualified respirators to all of us. I know that they’re kind of expensive and you have to change the filters every day. But that still seems like it would have been cheaper, to me, than paying $125,000 to $200,000 per person

Rockslide traps operator for 13 hours

2007-09-20T06:33:00.000-07:00

Rockslide traps operator for 13 hours
Cab of excavator protects B.C. man while rescuers labour to dig him out

September 20, 2007 An excavator operator at a B.C. limestone quarry was trapped for 13 hours as rescuers scrambled to uncover him after a landslide buried the man alive under tonnes of rock.
Roy Aspeslet, an employee with Lor-Wes Contractors, was digging at the Graymont lime quarry, about 30 kilometres north of the Interior town of Lillooet, when the accident occurred, trapping him in the cab of his excavator.
He told The Canadian Press he was pulling away from the side of the mountain when the rock face slipped.
He escaped with just minor injuries because his machine's cab held against the weight of the rock, and air got to him through the rubble.
The accident occurred just after 10 a.m. on Tuesday morning, and Mr. Aspeslet was finally freed around midnight as rescuers from the B.C. Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum worked alongside Graymont and Lor-Wes employees and a trained rescue team from a nearby copper mine.
Tribal police from the Ts'kw'aylaxw First Nation, on whose Pavilion reserve the quarry is located, also assisted in the rescue. The mine is located in Marble Canyon on Highway 99 between Lillooet and Cache Creek.
It took six hours to locate Mr. Aspeslet, with rescuers hearing him pounding the roof of his cab, and another seven hours to dig him out. He was released from Lillooet District Hospital this morning and is recovering at his home in the town.
Mr. Aspeslet described a loud bang, followed by the rock wall collapsing.
"I got lucky I guess," he said. "It kind of went over the top of the machine and knocked it down low, and I was really lucky and fortunate that the [rescuers] were coming. You think about all the good things you've done and the bad things you've done and that's about it, I guess."
Bill Dodge, Graymont's CEO, arrived at the quarry from his Richmond head office several hours after the accident and remained until Mr. Aspeslet was found. Mr. Dodge said Mr. Aspeslet climbed out of the cab on his own.
"We had a neat team of professionals there who had it all under control, and they took their time to make sure the area was safe. They dug the guy out and he was very happy to see them with a big smile on his face and he was healthy," Mr. Dodge said.
About 20 people took part in the rescue and everyone was relieved when Mr. Aspeslet emerged from the rubble, he added.
"There was a pretty happy crew here last night, I can tell you," he said.
The seven-man rescue squad from the Highland Valley Copper Mine, Canada's largest open-pit copper mine, joined the search in the early afternoon, said Trevor Phelps, the mine's superintendent of safety. The team, he added, had taken part in a rescue team competition in Fernie earlier this month and were well-practised.
"When the call comes, you go. Our team drove 40 minutes to the quarry and worked alongside the others. Everybody from Graymont did a tremendous job," Mr. Phelps said. "With everyone pulling together, they made sure they had lots of spotters and proper lighting and they were watching each others' backs. They got the job done."
Mr. Dodge said that this section of the quarry is currently closed.

19 mining operations honored as 'Sentinels of Safety'

2007-09-20T06:32:00.002-07:00

19 mining operations honored as 'Sentinels of Safety'
Reliable Plant Magazine
- Tulsa,OK,USA
September 20, 2007

Nineteen mining operations have been recognized for outstanding 2006 safety records in the annual Sentinels of Safety awards program jointly sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and the National Mining Association. For the third year in a row, J.M. Huber Corp.’s Sandersville Mill of Sandersville, Ga., and Mississippi Lime Co.’s Peerless Mine of Sainte Genevieve, Mo., have won the safety award in their respective categories.
Mining companies in various operational categories were recognized for achieving the greatest number of employee work hours in 2006 without a fatal injury or an injury that resulted in lost workdays. To qualify, a company was required to compile at least 4,000 employee work hours during the year. This year’s 19 winners worked a combined total of almost 2.7 million hours in 2006 without a lost-time injury.
“Showcasing examples of good safety programs is very important,” said Richard E. Stickler, assistant secretary of labor for MSHA. “Such recognition encourages safe operations to continue their best practices and shows the rest of the mining industry that it is indeed possible to run safe mining operations every day of the year.”
Stickler addressed representatives from the winning companies during an awards ceremony on September 19 in Washington.
The Sentinels of Safety award is the oldest established award for occupational safety. The first one was announced by President Herbert Hoover – a former mining engineer – when he was Secretary of Commerce in 1925. The annual safety competition has continued to this day.
Competition winners and mining operations recognized for their safety records in 2006 are listed on the Web at www.msha.gov/SentinelsofSafety/Awards/2007Sentinel/2007sentinelsofsafety.asp.
2006 Sentinels of Safety Award Winners
First place winners and their numbers of consecutive employee hours recorded in each of the sponsored mining categories are as follows:

Large Underground Coal GroupBurke Branch Tipple, Premier Elkhorn Coal Company, Myra, Ky., 151,970 hours
Small Underground Coal GroupAbundance Coal, Inc., Abundance Coal, Inc., Kite, Ky., 56,665 hours
Large Surface Coal GroupFarmersburg Mine, Black Beauty Coal Company, Evansville & Pimento, Ind., 539,695 hours
Small Coal Processing Facility GroupColumbiana Pits, Buckeye Industrial Mining Company, Lisbon, Ohio, 27,445 hours
Large Underground Metal GroupNo winner
Small Underground Metal GroupK-2 Mine Site, Kinross Gold Corp Kettle River Operations, Republic, Wash., 29254 hours
Large Underground Nonmetal GroupPeerless Mine, Mississippi Lime Company, Ste. Genevieve, Mo., 279,812 hours
Small Underground Nonmetal GroupLyons Salt Company, Lyons Salt Company, Lyons, Kan., 42,070 hours
Large Open Pit GroupBoron Operations, US Borax, Inc., Boron, Calif., 449,804 hours
Small Open Pit GroupTumbledown Mine, Milwhite Inc., Van Horn, Texas, 15,295 hours
Large Quarry GroupTower Rock St Co St. Genevieve, Tower Rock Stone Company, Columbia, Ill., and Ste. Genevieve, Mo., 229,549 hours
Small Quarry GroupGreen Rock Company Inc #1, Green Rock Company, Inc., Alto, Texas, 14,861 hours
Large Dredge GroupBriggs Plant, Fordyce, LTD, Victoria, Texas, 272,424 hours
Small Dredge GroupAugusta Sand Mine, Rinker Materials of Florida Incorporated, Augusta and Grovetown, Ga., 11,543 hours
Large Bank or Pit GroupSloan Quarry #1001, Frehner Construction Company, Inc., North Las Vegas, Nev., 218,341 hours
Small Bank or Pit GroupNorthumberland Sand Plant, Central Builders Supply Company, Sunbury, Pa., 10,029 hours
Large Metal Nonmetal Mill GroupSandersville Mill, JM Huber Corp, Sandersville, Ga., 306,219 hours
Small Metal Nonmetal Mill GroupForks of the River Quarry, Rinker Materials South Central, Inc., Knoxville, Tenn., 26,635 hours
Other mining operations with exceptional safety records during 2006 included the following:
Large Underground Coal GroupTusky, Rosebud Mining Company, Uhrichsville, Ohio, 96,454 hoursMine #1, Enterprise Mining Company, Whitesburg, Ky., 93,365 hoursRaven Mine #1, ICG Knott County LLC, Kite, Ky., 72796 hoursTrace Fork, Enterprise Mining Company LLC, Whitesburg, Ky., 71,818 hours
Small Underground Coal GroupMine #1, D&C Mining Corp, Harlan County, Ky., 47,382 hoursBand Mill Mine, Cumberland River Coal Company, Appalachia, Va., 44,705 hoursParson #1, Cumberland River Coal Company, Letcher County, Ky., 44,072 hoursSlone Branch, Ember Contracting Inc, Pippa Passes, Ky., 36,004 hoursTallmans Run Mine No. 1, Roblee Coal Company, Buckhannon, W.Va., 35,444 hours
Large Surface Coal GroupSomerville Central Mine, Black Beauty Coal Company, Gibson County, Ind., 468,078 hoursFalkirk Mine, Falkirk Mining Company, Underwood, N.D., 458,328 hoursFrancisco Mine, Black Beauty Coal Company, Gibson County, Ind., 374,241 hoursRed Hills Mine, Mississippi Lignite Mining Company, Ackerman, Miss., 349,598 hours
Large Coal Processing Facility GroupBevins Branch Preparation Plant, McCoy Elkhorn Coal Corp., Pike County, Ky., 142,657 hoursBrooks Run Processing Plant No. 1, Brooks Run Mining Company LLC, Webster County, W.Va., 122,043 hoursShade Creek Plant, PBC Coals Inc., Somerset County, Pa., 121,538 hoursProsperity Mine, Five Star Mining Inc., Pike County, Ind., 113,271 hours
Small Coal Processing Facility GroupRiola Mine Complex-Vermilion Grove Porta, Black Beauty Coal Company, Vermilion County, Ill., 25,882 hoursJWR #3, Covol Engineered Fuels LC, Adger, Ala., 25,673 hoursEPB Strip, E P Bender Coal Company, Carrolltown, Pa., 25,566 hoursSmith Branch Plant, DTE Smith Branch LLC, Pineville, W.Va., 24,859 hours
Small Underground Metal GroupGold Wedge Project, Manhattan Mining Company, Nye County, Nev., 15,980 hoursDiscovery Day Mine, Merendon Mining (California) Inc., Siskiyou County, Calif., 14,177 hoursBunker Hill Mine, Placer Mining Corporation, Shosone County, Idaho, 12,180 hoursResolution Mine, Resolution Copper Mining LLC, Pinal County, Ariz., 8,037 hours
Large Underground Nonmetal GroupDetroit Salt Mine, The Detroit Salt Co. LLC, Wayne County, Mich., 103,984 hoursCoolspring Mine, Coolspring Stone Supply Inc., Fayette County, Pa. , 80440 hoursWhitney Plant (UG), Hanson Aggregates PMA INC, Westmoreland County, Pa., 64,916 hoursLemont Underground, Vulcan Materials Company, Will County, Ill., 61,363 hours
Small Underground Non-metal GroupMine #1, D & C Mining Corp., Harlan County, Ky., 47,382 hoursBand Mill Mine, Cumberland River Coal Company, Wise County, Va., 44,705 hoursParson #1, Cumberland River Coal Co Inc, Letcher County, Ky., 44,072 hoursSlone Branch, Ember Contracting Inc, Knott County, Ky., 36,004 hours Tallmans Run Mine No. 1, Roblee Coal Company, Barbour County, W.Va., 35,444 hours
Large Open Pit GroupRuby Hill Mine, Homestake Mining Company of CA, Eureka County, Nev., 159,231 hoursPhelps Dodge Miami Inc, Phelps Dodge Miami Inc, Gila County, Ariz., 135,519 hoursVernal Pit & Mill, Simplot Phosphates, LLC, Vernal, Utah, 126,057 hoursDu Pont Florida Mine & Plant, E I DuPont De NeMours & Co Inc, Clay County, Fla., 124,687 hours
Small Open Pit GroupNo Agua Mine & Mill, Harborlite Corporation, Taos County, N.M., 15,229 hoursL R Chapman Inc, L R. Chapman Inc., Hancock County, Ky., 14,785 hoursLewis Mine, NYCO Minerals Inc, Essex County, N.Y., 14,741 hoursKingman Turquoise Mining Co, Kingman Turquoise Mining, Mojave County, Ariz., 14,559 hours
Large Quarry GroupThree Rivers Quarry, Martin Marietta Materials Inc, Livingston County, Ky., 180,492 hoursMiami Quarry, Florida Rock Industries Inc, Dade County, Fla., 125,046 hoursEast Quarry, APAC-Oklahoma Inc., Tulsa County, Okla., 112,517 hoursHelotes Quarry, Vulcan Construction Mats. LP, Bexar County, Texas, 109,413 hours
Small Quarry GroupRinker Materials Malpie Quarry, Rinker Materials Western Inc, Union County, N.M., 14,801 hoursOxford Quarry Plant #8, John S Lane & Son Inc, Worcester County, Mass., 14,779 hoursToccoa Quarry, Hanson Aggregates Southeast, Inc., Toccoa, Ga., 14,658 hoursHermitage Quarry, Vulcan Construction Materials LP, Davidson County, Tenn., 14,640 hoursHarris Quarry, Northern Aggregates Inc, Mendocino County, Calif., 14,636 hours
Large Dredge GroupTwelve Oaks Pit, Huey Stockstill Inc, Picayune, Miss., 92,338 hoursAvant Mine, Georgia Industrial Minerals, Inc, Washington County, Ga., 71,273 hoursPlant 1, Southern Aggregates LLC, St. Helena County, La., 63,583 hoursSorter’s Road Sand and Gravel, Sunrise Materials, Porter, Texas, 61,641 hours
Small Dredge GroupHarrin Mine, Harrin Sand & Gravel, Inc., Buncombe County, N.C., 11,240 hoursSahara Sand of Franklin, Sahara Sand Inc., Gloucester County, N.J., 11,004 hoursLogan #1, Cimarron Sand Company LLC, Logan County, Okla., 10,950 hoursGrace D, Capital Sand Company Inc., Cole County, Mo., 10,923 hours
Large Bank or Pit GroupSchoolhouse Quartz Plant, Unimin Corporation, Avery County, N.C., 218,341 hoursSun Valley Plant, Calmat Co., Los Angeles, Calif., 136,761 hoursBeck Quarry, Valley Caliche Products, Inc., Hidalgo County, Texas, 125,330 hoursShower’s Plant, Fordyce Company, Montgomery County, Texas, 114,567 hours
Small Bank or Pit GroupSlate Hill Sand & Gravel, E. Tetz & sons, Inc, Orange County, N.Y., 10,012 hoursPortable Crusher Unit, Burdick Paving, Duchesne County, Utah, 9,987 hoursSmithfield Peat, Smithfield Peat Co., Inc., Smithfield, RI.I., 9,986 hoursRieth-Riley Materials, Reith-Riley Construction Company, Morgan County, Ind., 9,982 hours
Large Metal Non-metal Mill GroupToddville Plant, BASF Catalysts LLC, Wilkinson County, Ga., 255,371 hoursThe Monarch Cement Company, The Monarch Cement Company, Allen County, Kan., 222,819 hoursHunter Quarry, Colorado Materials LTD, Comal County, Texas, 188,512 hoursBalcones Plant, CEMEX Inc., Montgomery County, Texas, 188,512 hours
Small Metal Non-metal Mill GroupDupo Plant #9, Columbia Quarry Company, St. Clair County, Ill., 26,588 hoursResco Products Inc Cedar Heights, Resco Products Inc, Jackson County, Ohio, 26,502 hoursRabun Quarry, Vulcan Construction Materials LP, Rabun County, Ga., 26,380 hoursBoone Quarries – East, con-Agg of MO LLC, Boone County, Mo., 26,359 hours

New Mine Rescue Unit In Action

2007-09-20T06:32:00.001-07:00

New Mine Rescue Unit In Action
Taskforce One already helped recover a miner's body in Logan earlier this week.
September 18, 2007

LOGAN -- Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College is moving beyond teaching mining to rescuing miners with Taskforce One, according to the school's president. Taskforce One is a multi-vehicle unit equipped with the latest advancements in mine rescue technology.
"This equipment will give Taskforce One the ability to put the fire out before it reaches the stage where they have to call in professionals," said Alden Ozment of USF Equipment.
When the smoke is too thick, the rescue crews can reach for a thermal imaging camera. It and 13 computerized work stations are kept aboard the mobile communications unit.
"Equipment that your normal mine rescue teams might lack, might not have available to them," said Carl Baisden, the director of the school's Academy of Mine Training and Energy Technologies,"We're going to train them when they respond, we'll be there to supplement them."
Taskforce One is a legislative-funded project. It is to go anywhere in the state where a mining emergency is occurring.

Rahall wants answers on mine inspections

2007-09-20T06:31:00.001-07:00

Rahall wants answers on mine inspections

Charleston Gazette - WV, USA
By Ken Ward Jr
.September 20, 2007

Rep. Nick Rahall is tired of reading about Southern West Virginia coal miners dying in mines that federal regulators have not properly inspected.
The Democrat, whose district includes the state’s southern coalfields, fired off a letter on Tuesday to Richard Stickler, assistant labor secretary for the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration.
“I want to know, and certainly I hope that MSHA would like to know, exactly why the agency is failing to conduct the inspections required by law,” Rahall told Stickler in the letter.
Rahall cited a Tuesday Gazette report about a Logan County mine where a worker fell to his death while building a new ventilation shaft.
MSHA inspectors had not conducted required complete reviews of Arch Coal Inc.’s Mountaineer II Mine in each of the last two quarters, according to agency records.
Two weeks ago, the Gazette reported that MSHA inspectors had not yet performed any required quarterly inspections this year at CONSOL Energy’s Bronzite Mine in Mingo County before a Sept. 3 roof fall death.
“MSHA has yet to explain to the coal-mining community why this lapse was allowed to occur,” Rahall said. “And, once again, we are learning about similar failures by MSHA to conduct proper inspections.
“If the media can conduct a fairly simple review of MSHA’s Web site and learn that the agency is not completing quarterly inspections, certainly MSHA can do the same and act on that information to correct these lapses,” Rahall said.
The Gazette also has determined that a third West Virginia mining death occurred at an operation where MSHA was behind on its required inspections.
On Aug. 4, 25-year-old Stevie Joe Browning was killed in an equipment accident at Rockhouse Creek Development’s No. 8 Mine in Mingo County.
MSHA officials conducted complete inspections for the first and second quarters of the year between March 7 and March 28 and between April 3 and May 11. At the time of the death, MSHA had not yet started a required inspection for the third quarter — and still has not begun that inspection, according to agency records.
And at a fourth coal mine where a worker was killed this year, MSHA inspectors also are behind on their required quarterly inspections.
MSHA inspectors began a complete review of CONSOL Energy’s Mine 84 in Washington County, Pa., on Feb. 6. They were still conducting that inspection when a fatal accident occurred on April 5.
The complete inspection was finished on May 2, records show.
On May 24, MSHA began its second quarterly complete inspection of Mine 84, but still have not finished that inspection or started a complete review for the third quarter of 2007, records show.
In all, MSHA officials were behind schedule in performing required quarterly inspections at four of the eight underground mines nationwide where coal miners have died on the job this year.
Under federal law, MSHA must inspect all underground coal mines in their entirety at least four times per year. For years, MSHA policy and practice has been that those inspections must be done one per quarter.
On Wednesday, MSHA spokesman Matthew Faraci said the agency’s Southern West Virginia district had implemented a policy to “use enhanced spot inspections in lieu of select regular inspections ... to ensure MSHA’s presence at every mine, every quarter.”
Faraci could not say when that program started, who approved it, or whether it had been discontinued.
Stickler made a vague reference to “enhanced spot inspections” during a Sept. 5 congressional hearing when Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., grilled him about the agency’s failure to conduct a complete inspection yet this year of the Bronzite Mine.
“I was told this morning that the spot inspections that MSHA conducted, one each quarter, were what MSHA refers to as enhanced spot inspections,” Stickler said, according to a transcript. “They were not referred to as full regular inspections, because they did not cover every area of the mine, but they went beyond the normal spot inspections.”
Generally, MSHA policies state that spot inspections are not to be counted toward meeting the legally required quarterly reviews.
But Jesse Cole, who was MSHA’s Southern West Virginia district manager from July 2004 through August 2006, said that doing so was common practice. “That is nothing new,” Cole said.

Utah Miners Tribute

2007-09-19T09:38:00.001-07:00

Utah Coal Mine Collapse Tribute Tears in Heaven

2007-09-19T09:37:00.001-07:00

Grand jury indicts coal company

2007-09-19T07:48:00.000-07:00

Grand jury indicts coal company
SAYS FRASURE CREEK'S ROAD WATERING ENDANGERS DRIVERS
By Cassondra Kirby
CKIRBY@HERALD-LEADER.COM

LOST CREEK --An Eastern Kentucky coal company has been indicted on a wanton endangerment charge, accused of creating dangerous driving conditions with its water truck on a busy Perry County road.
Since Jan. 1, employees of the Frasure Creek Coal LLC mountaintop mining site in Lost Creek have excessively watered down Ky. 1146, creating muddy, slippery road conditions, the indictment alleges.
The indictment also says that employees operated the watering truck in the middle of the road, forcing motorists "to pass in a dangerous manner," a Perry County grand jury said.
The indictment against Frasure Creek, a subsidiary of Trinity Coal of West Virginia, was filed Friday. A court date has not been set.
Officials with Frasure Creek declined to comment on the charge yesterday. Jeff Hoops, a Trinity Coal official, did not return phone messages.
During lunch yesterday at Campbell's BP gas station at Ky. 1146 and Ky. 80, several Lost Creek residents said they hope the grand jury indictment will lead to change.
"I don't have a problem with them working and hauling, just the mud and the water," said Mike Thompson, who lives above the mine site and travels Ky. 1146 daily. Thompson said his son was involved in a crash on the road and there have been about half a dozen other wrecks in the past year.
Thompson and other residents say they want the coal company to blacktop its haul road -- the road coal trucks travel down before turning onto Ky. 1146 -- and then install a tire pressure washer at the end of the haul road so trucks' tires are clean when they pull out onto the road.
The haul road is dirt and gravel, which the company is required by law to wet in order to keep the dust down. When the road is wet, the coal trucks pick up the mud on their tires along with the typical muck found on the mining site and track it out onto Ky. 1146, residents say.
Both roads are watered hourly. The watering has continued, despite the grand jury indictment.
Because the road slopes downward, the water and muck stays on the road or rolls down Ky. 1146 to Campbell's BP at the bottom of the hill, residents say.
Eddie Campbell of Lost Creek, the owner of the BP, says inches of muck cake his parking lot daily.
"The customers are not going to walk through all of this," Campbell said. "It has hurt my business. I just don't see why they can't blacktop the haul road. Other places do."
Campbell says he tried unsuccessfully to talk to Frasure Creek officials about the problems. He says he has also complained to the state Department of Transportation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the federal Office of Surface Mining and others.
"Nobody found anything to be in violation until we went to the grand jury," Campbell said.
Glenda Martin of Lost Creek says she has lost control of her vehicle before in the slippery conditions, and the indictment may be the last shot to fix the problem.
"We don't want money from the coal company," Martin said. "We don't want them to stop mining. We just want our road fixed."
Reach Cassondra Kirby in the Hazard bureau at (606) 487-8785.

Coal company charged with making road unsafe

2007-09-19T07:45:00.000-07:00

Coal company charged with making road unsafe

September 19, 2007 9:16 AM
LEXINGTON, Ky.
An eastern Kentucky coal company is facing a charge of wanton endangerment over accusations that its workers are creating dangerous driving conditions on a local road.The indictment alleges employees of Frasure Creek Coal's mountaintop mining site in Lost Creek are putting too much water on Kentucky 11-46 in Perry County, Kentucky -- making it muddy and creating hazards for drivers.
A grand jury issued the indictment against Frasure Creek last week. Officials for Frasure Creek, a subsidiary of Trinity Coal of West Virginia, declined to comment.
Mike Thompson drives the road daily. He says his son was involved in an accident on the road and that several other accidents have occurred over the past year because of the unsafe, muddy conditions. Residents want the company to blacktop its haul road and then put a tire pressure watcher at the end of the haul road so the trucks' tires are clean when they drive onto it.
Information from: Lexington Herald-Leader, http://www.kentucky.com

Judge asked to block Boone mine permit

2007-09-18T16:07:00.000-07:00

Judge asked to block Boone mine permit

By Ken Ward Jr .Staff writer

A federal judge was urged Monday to block a coal company proposal that would bury more than a mile of Boone County streams.The Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition asked for a temporary restraining order to stop a new valley fill at Jupiter Holdings’ Callisto Surface Mine near Bob White.U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers in Huntington did not immediately rule or schedule a hearing on the request.Jupiter Holdings is part of Magnum Coal, and its Callisto operation would cover nearly 1,200 acres, according to state Department of Environmental Protection records.One of the environmental coalition’s leading activists, Maria Gunnoe, lives in Bob White. Her home is “located just downstream” from a valley fill that is already under construction at the Callisto mine, according to a court filing.“The fill is at the mouth of Big Branch, a tributary of Pond Fork of the Little Coal River,” the court filing stated.“Since that fill was started, she has been reluctant to use her land for farming because of stream pollution,” the court papers said. “She has also been extremely upset by the change in stream flow. The valley fill has made the stream flow unpredictable and she has, for the first time in 40 years, been severely flooded.“She is also very concerned that as the mining progresses, Pond Fork will flood and become more polluted and her use of her property and downstream stretches of Pond Fork will be impacted,” the court filing stated.Environmental group lawyers Joe Lovett and Jim Hecker cited Chambers’ March ruling that the federal Army Corps of Engineers officials had not fully evaluated potential environmental damage before approving four other strip mining permits.Chambers had noted an “alarming cumulative stream loss” to valley fills, and said that the corps “does not explain how the cumulative destruction of headwater streams already affected by mining in these watersheds will not contribute to an adverse impact on aquatic resources.”The judge later allowed Massey Energy to continue to dump waste rock and dirt into streams at three of those mines, because the company had already started operations there.After Chambers’ ruling, environmental group lawyers added the Corps’ permit for the Callisto mine to its existing lawsuit.Monday’s court filing said that lawyers previously told the judge the mine would not begin further valley fills until after an appeal of Chambers’ ruling was resolved by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.But last week company lawyer Richard Verheij told environmental groups that they planned to move forward sooner on at least one valley fill.Verheij told environmental group lawyers the company would confine its work to one valley fill in Dry Branch, and that doing so would “keep folks employed for the next 18 months,” according to a court filing. The fill in question would bury 2,435 feet of Dry Branch, court records show.In all, the Callisto Mine proposes four valley fills that would bury 5,750 feet of streams in tributaries of Roach Branch, Dry Branch and Lem White Branch, court records show.

Feds missed inspections at Logan mine

2007-09-18T08:22:00.001-07:00

Feds missed inspections at Logan mine
Charleston Gazette - WV, USA
By Ken Ward Jr.
September 18, 2007

Federal regulators missed required inspections during the past two quarters at a Logan County mine where a worker was killed Sunday, government records show.
U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration inspectors had not conducted a complete review of the Mountaineer II Mine since March, agency records show.
Under federal law, MSHA is required to conduct a complete inspection of every underground coal mine once per quarter.
Federal officials had conducted numerous “spot inspections” at the Arch Coal Inc. operation. Such reviews generally aren’t as thorough as the required quarterly inspections, experts say.
The Mountaineer II Mine accident is the second time this month that a West Virginia miner was killed in an operation where MSHA missed required inspections.
Around 7 a.m. Sunday, construction worker Robert D. Fraley was killed when he fell about 350 feet down an airshaft being built at the Mountaineer II Mine, state and federal mine safety officials said.
Fraley, 53, of Dorothy, worked for Coalfield Services Inc., a Wytheville, Va., contractor that was helping with the shaft construction, according to a John Snider, a spokesman for Arch Coal.
The Mountaineer II Mine is part of Arch Coal’s new Mountain Laurel Complex near Sharples. St. Louis-based Arch Coal operates the facility through its nonunion arm, Mingo Logan Coal Co.
Arch has been gearing up production at Mountaineer, as it prepared for the start-up of an advanced longwall mining machine.
Through the first six months of 2007, the mine produced 500,000 tons of coal with 216 workers, according to MSHA data.
Sunday’s accident was the second fatal shaft-construction accident nationwide in the last six weeks.
Nationwide, shaft construction work has consistently reported accident rates worse — sometimes more than twice as high — as other coal-mining work, according to MSHA.
In Sunday’s accident at Mountaineer II, Fraley was assisting in preparing a cement floor with a grinder to install an automatic closing door between two ventilation fans, the MSHA report said. A co-worker saw Fraley standing next to a railing that separated their work area from the airshaft, the report said. About five minutes later, Fraley was gone. The co-worker reported him missing, and his body was found at the bottom of the shaft at about 8:20 a.m.
“The railing separating the work area from the air shaft was four feet high and extended across the fan house from wall to wall,” the MSHA report said. “The railing was located eight feet from the mine opening. No work was scheduled on the airshaft side of the protective railing.”
So far in 2007, MSHA officials have conducted eight special inspections focused on shaft construction at Mountaineer II.
Those reviews involved a median of 10 hours per inspection, compared to the 77-hour median time MSHA inspectors spent on complete mine inspections at the operation, records show.
MSHA’s last complete, quarterly inspection started in mid-January and took more than 90 hours of work through March 28, agency records show.
Since then, MSHA inspectors have also visited the mine 14 times on special spot inspections aimed at operations that liberate large amounts of explosive methane. Those inspections involved a median of eight hours per inspection, agency records show.
Federal inspectors conducted one more lengthy spot inspection of the mine that involved 107 hours of work between June 4 and June 27, MSHA records show.
But since that complete inspection that ended March 28, federal officials have not started a regular, quarterly review at the mine.
MSHA officials at agency headquarters in Arlington, Va., could not immediately explain the inspection oversight at Mountaineer II.
Two weeks ago, Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., blasted MSHA after reading a Gazette report about the agency’s failure to conduct a complete inspection yet this year of CONSOL Energy’s Bronzite Mine in Mingo County, where a worker died in a Sept. 3 roof fall.
“I’m absolutely flabbergasted — flabbergasted,” Byrd told MSHA chief Richard Stickler. “I’m at a loss.
“How can we have any faith that things at MSHA are improving if you’re not even fulfilling these basic inspection responsibilities?”
Stickler said that his staff had told him that MSHA conducted “enhanced spot inspections” each quarter at the CONSOL mine.
“They were not referred to as full regular inspections, because they did not cover every area of the mine, but they went beyond the normal spot inspections,” Stickler told Byrd.
Byrd asked Davitt McAteer, who ran MSHA during the Clinton administration, to comment on Stickler’s response.
“Spot inspections were to be conducted or are to be conducted in an effort to pinpoint and to determine if there are particular types of problems,” McAteer said. “But the statute mandates from the 1969 act that you worked so hard to pass that the mines be inspected four times a year in their entirety.”

Live Human Test of 96 Hour Emergency Breathable Air Refuge Successfully Completed!

2007-09-18T02:04:00.000-07:00

Live Human Test of 96 Hour Emergency Breathable Air Refuge Successfully Completed!

September 17, 2007

Chapmanville WV - After more than 100,000 hits to the Mine Lifeline website last week, it is apparent that the interest in providing breathable air to trapped miners extends well beyond the mining community.
“Providing live streaming video to the general public allowed viewers, who might not understand this test, to see it first hand,” said James Nagle, IT/Operations Manager of Mine Lifeline, LLC. “I initially struggled to provide a still photograph from the mine site due to the limitations of the Internet connection. We ran more than two miles of wire and added sophisticated networking equipment in order to provide a connection fast enough to stream the live video. It was well worth the effort,” he added.
“We have performed many calculations over the past year to predict the success of our design, but there is nothing like an actual test to see how everything performs. Our results were actually better than expected. The live test provided us with hands on experience in maintaining a breathable environment. We also confirmed that the average miner is capable of using our system for survival. They [the miners] were pleased to see how easy it was to operate. The dynamics of maintaining breathable air in an emergency situation may be more complex than first thought. We were somewhat surprised by the differences detected in air quality caused by activities as simple as eating lunch. However, it is clear that the ExtendAir® lithium hydroxide curtains used for CO2 removal are more than capable of controlling the environment. The data we collected is invaluable,” said Jeremy Abraham, Chief Member of Mine Lifeline, LLC.
Mine Lifeline, LLC is looking forward to providing the results of this test to the mining industry as well as MSHA and NIOSH. “We felt it was absolutely necessary to perform this test. We understand why MSHA, NIOSH, and even the State of West Virginia could not participate or sanction the testing. We also knew that these organizations were not preventing us from conducting a live test. As one of the smallest companies in this business, we think it speaks volumes about our commitment to provide simple, workable, and tested 96 hour breathable air systems to the mining industry. We focused our efforts on performing the live test instead of finding excuses why we couldn't. We have always known our system could easily adapt to West Virginia's shelter definitions. They [West Virginia] should expect our application to be forthcoming. We believe our test will provide a wealth of information to both MSHA and NIOSH in finalizing their refuge standards,” said Jeremy Abraham.
Mine Lifeline, LLC is a leading manufacturer of Mine Safety Equipment based in Chapmanville, WV

Miner found dead in Logan mine

2007-09-17T04:43:00.000-07:00

Miner found dead in Logan mine

By Dawn Miller Staff writer

A coal miner was found dead at the bottom of a 350-foot mine shaft in Logan County Sunday morning, according to a West Virginia State Police trooper.
Robert D. Fraley, 53, had been missing for an uncertain stretch of time Sunday when workers found his body, according to State Police Trooper J.E. Williams.
“He was on the job and one of his co-workers realized he wasn’t in the area,” Williams said.
Although Williams said, “we have no reason to believe anything’s criminal” in the matter, he added, “circumstances may change” as investigators look into the incident. Williams was not available later Sunday for further clarification.

The Mingo Logan Coal Co. owns the Mountain Laurel Complex, the underground mine where Fraley was found dead, Williams said. The mine sits off W.Va. 17 in Sharples.

Mingo Logan is a subsidiary of St. Louis-based Arch Coal. Data on the West Virginia Mine Safety and Health Administration’s Web site notes that Arch has been the controller since July 1997.

Workers at the state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management were notified of the death at 8:31 a.m., said Robert Jelacic, emergency services supervisor for the agency.

Williams said Fraley’s mining job required him to visit different West Virginia mines. Still, he was not exactly sure what duties Fraley performed. He may have been contracted to work at the Mingo Logan mine, Williams said.

The mine, also known as Mountaineer No. 2, reported 10 prior accidents for 2007 to federal regulators, according to MSHA’s Web site.
Of those minor accidents, seven involved injured workers.

This is the fifth mine fatality in West Virginia in 2007 and the second this month. On Sept. 3, Brent Reynolds, 35, of Virgie, Ky., was killed by a collapsing roof in the Consol of Kentucky Bronzite Mine near Naugatuck in Mingo County.

The death brings the nationwide number of mine fatalities this year to 25, according to data from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration.

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http://sundaygazettemail.com/section/News/2007091613

1 Killed in West Virginia Coal Mine

2007-09-16T17:25:00.001-07:00

1 Killed in West Virginia Coal Mine

Associated Press
September 16, 2007
SHARPLES, W.Va. (AP) — A worker was killed Sunday in an underground coal mine in southern West Virginia, a state mine safety official said.
Ron Wooten, director of the state Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training said one person died at the Mountain Laurel Complex in Logan County, about 50 miles southwest of Charleston.
Wooten said his office is investigating, but that no other details — including the identity of the victim or how the person died — were immediately available.
The Mountain Laurel Complex is owned by a subsidiary of St. Louis-based Arch Coal. The complex employs about 250 people. Calls company representatives were not immediately returned Sunday.
It's the second mine fatality in West Virginia this month, and the fifth this year.
The death brings the nationwide number of mine fatalities this year to 25, according to data from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Stop the Assault on Appalachia!!

2007-09-16T06:57:00.001-07:00

Stop the Assault on Appalachia!!

I've been looking for a better (easier, less red tape) way to get to the public commenting on the recently proposed reduction of the stream buffer zone in surface mining.... and Earthjustice to the rescue!
If you commented on the government's official site before, I would still encourage you to do it throught Earthjustice once more.... that way we KNOW it has been documented and recorded and not "lost."Via EarthJustice: The Bush administration has already relaxed Clean Water Act safeguards that protected Appalachian mountain streams from mountaintop removal mining and "King Coal." Now, the administration is trying to weaken the "buffer zone rule," a Reagan-era protection that prohibits coal mining activities from disturbing areas within 100 feet of streams.If this new rule goes forward, coal companies will be allowed to dump massive amounts of waste directly into streams, destroying them completely. Already, nearly 2,000 miles of mountain streams in Appalachia have been permanently buried by mountaintop removal waste. Destroying thousands of miles of mountain streams is more than irresponsible; it is immoral. Now is your chance to say "No" to this latest attempt to weaken or eliminate the buffer zone rule that has protected streams from coal mining activities for decades! Tell the administration to stop trying to diminish the buffer zone rule and start enforcing it!
Send the Bush Administration a letter or go to this web site.

http://action.earthjustice.org/campaign/Buffer_Zone_Alert_Sept_2007

Coal must overcome ‘unsafe’ perception

2007-09-16T06:55:00.000-07:00

Coal must overcome ‘unsafe’ perception

Charleston Gazette - WV, USA
September 16, 2007

BLUEFIELD — The coal industry always seems to be under attack. To hear industry people tell it, this is true now more than ever.
Coal’s impact on the environment is a big problem. As has been widely reported, some people have gone so far as to label coal a filthy fuel. Industry leaders are still coping with the fact that Congress passed an energy bill earlier this summer that promotes alternative fuels but ignores coal.
Safety may be an even bigger problem. Following last year’s Sago Mine disaster and Aracoma mine fire, the industry was subject to new state and federal safety laws.
Chris Hamilton, senior vice president of the West Virginia Coal Association, told Bluefield Coal Show attendees, “Unfortunately, the tragic events last year overshadowed decades of improvements and have not accurately portrayed how technologically advanced or how safe mining has become.”
Many industry leaders believe that the recent death of six miners and three rescue workers at the Crandall Canyon mine in Utah will result in another round of regulation.
Following Crandall Canyon, Brett Harvey, president and chief executive officer of Consol Energy Inc., told the Utah Mining Association, “How we deal with the issue of mine safety going forward may very well determine the future of our industry. Not just mining underground, but the future of coal in our nation’s energy mix.”
Harvey, a Utah native, asked, “If we are perceived as ‘a dirty business’ when it comes to safety, why would our friends in Congress or the agencies work with us on other important issues? This perception even jeopardizes our role as a key provider of energy to the U.S. economy.”
Gov. Joe Manchin, speaking at the opening of the Bluefield Coal Show, said there are some who want to write coal out of the nation’s energy equation.
Bill Tate, executive vice president of Bucyrus International Inc., told a coal show audience that recent accidents “have made it very difficult at a time when we have so much of a negative force trying to hurt this industry.”
The mining equipment business has an inherent likelihood to succeed, Tate said. “There are only safety issues like Sago and Aracoma and Crandall Canyon that can stop us,” he said. “Concentrate on safety because it’s the only thing that can stop this ball rolling.
“We have to fight these battles,” he said. “Can we solve these issues? I know we can. We must work through these challenges. It will take a multiple-course approach.”
Harvey has challenged the industry to abandon its incremental approach to mine safety improvement and “drive accident rates to zero at every mine in the nation.”
Tate believes mine owners, manufacturers, coal state politicians, coal trade groups and grass-roots organizations need to tell coal’s positive points. “Anywhere you can contribute, this is the time to help,” he said.
Manchin said there’s an old saying, “If you don’t tell your own story, someone else will tell a story on you.” He said, “I don’t believe we’ve told our own story. I really believe we need somebody speaking nationally on energy and what can be done.”
Manchin advised the coal people to “make sure you have a single message that speaks to the value of what coal can do for our nation.”

Injured rescuers keeping a low profile

2007-09-15T09:37:00.001-07:00

Injured rescuers keeping a low profile
But friends, family hail them as heroes

By Judy Fahys
The Salt Lake Tribune
September 14, 2007

PRICE - You might call them "The Silent Six."
The injured rescue workers who were rushed to the hospital last month after a second, fatal "bump" on Aug. 16 at the Crandall Canyon mine have doggedly avoided public recognition.
And while Utah's coal community has kept their identities a closely guarded secret, some names have begun to surface.
The good news is that at least two of them, Casey Metcalf of Price and Randy Bouldin of Huntington, say they're "OK" and "all right." That's pretty much all they'll say.
Meanwhile, Frank Markosek, a mine-safety inspector working alongside the rescue crews to unearth six miners who had been trapped 10 days earlier, is healing at home from injuries to his brain, bones and eye, said his daughter, Tammy Ardohain.
Like the families of other injured rescuers, Markosek's came forward reluctantly. They've been determined to keep the focus on the six miners who died in the massive cave-in Aug. 6 and the three rescuers who lost their lives in the second implosion, or "bump," 10 days later.
Markosek declined an interview. But his daughter, brimming with pride for her father, told his story.
"He doesn't see himself as a hero," Ardohain said. "He sees himself as doing a job that needed to be done to help others."
Markosek, 57, had spent more than 25 years in central Utah coal mines before signing on as an inspector with the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) eight years ago. A kind and private family man, he also was known for his performances on the accordion and organ as one of the Argons, a local oldies rock group.
Because one of the family cars was idled in early August, Ardohain had been driving her dad to work the week of the accident. She remembers feeling uneasy about the fact that his duties would take him into the mine tunnel where co-owner UtahAmerican Energy Co. and MSHA workers were working feverishly to clear the rubble from the Aug. 6 collapse in hopes of reaching the missing six miners.
"I don't know how to explain it," she recalled. "I kept asking him if he had to go I would ask him every day if he was going."
He replied the same way he had when, as a child, she asked the same question. "He said, 'This is my job. I have to go and do my job. I have to go.' "
She heard about the 6:39 p.m. cave-in within an hour and called her mother. Both worked the phones, calling co-workers and anyone else who might know something until her husband told her Markosek had been sent to the emergency room at Castleview Hospital in Price.
It wasn't until 9 p.m. that they saw Markosek, whose injuries were all the more shocking because he seemed to his family "almost invincible." Hospital staff led Ardohain, her mother and sister, Teri, to see Markosek, who, they were told, could remember his name and Social Security number.
Coal and dried blood smudged his face. His left eye socket had been crushed. He was swathed in bedding up to his neck, which was wrapped in a neck collar.
"He doesn't remember any of it," said Ardohain, who remembers his faraway look when she and her mother asked if he knew they were there. "He remembers the helicopter ride, but that was it."
Tammy and her mother drove to Utah Valley Medical Center in Provo, the nearest trauma center, where Markosek had been flown to. They stayed with him in the intensive care unit nearly until dawn.
Somewhere else in the hospital was Gary Jensen, an MSHA roof safety specialist who died of his injuries that night.
And it wasn't until the surgeries began at 11 a.m. the next morning that they learned the full extent of Markosek's injuries.
The implosion had crushed his left eye socket and smashed his forehead, tearing his brain. His neck, ribs, tailbone and leg were broken. The surgeries took seven hours.
Markosek's sister, her husband and his mother came from Phoenix during the surgery, as did his boss, Ted Farmer. Other visitors over the next nine days included U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Elaine Chao and Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.
Markosek went home three weeks ago with an excellent prognosis. He should recover fully in about eight months, Ardohain said. "He's strong, very strong, and motivated."
He's talking about tackling a new woodworking project. He can walk with a walker and his vision has fully returned. He plays with his only grandchild, Ardohain's 2 1/2-year-old daughter, Reese.
"He looks good," said Diana Johnson, a family friend.
While Markosek, Bouldin and Metcalf are mending from their injuries, many in the community still wonder about the three rescuers who have not come forward. While hundreds of thousands of dollars have poured into bank funds for families of those who died in Crandall Canyon, no one in the community seems to be aware of a similar fund for the injured rescuers.
Ardohain and Bouldin said they are not interested in money, although some of the injured workers find themselves in a bind now because of the layoffs that followed the mine disaster.
It is, they agreed, important that the injured rescuers are recognized for what they did.

Miners picket DEP in Uniontown

2007-09-15T07:13:00.000-07:00

Miners picket DEP in Uniontown
Connellsville Daily Courier - Connellsville,PA,USA
by Michael Cope
September 15, 2007

A group of 30 coal miners picketed Friday outside a state Department of Environmental Protection branch office in South Union to highlight alleged unsafe conditions at Cumberland Mine.
Members of United Mine Workers of America Local 2300 claim Foundation Coal Holdings Inc. of Linthicum Heights, Md., has operated the Greene County mine since August without proper ventilation.
The workers protested for three hours in front of the Bureau of Mine Safety location at the Fayette County Health Center along New Salem Road.
"We want the state to enforce the safety laws in place since 1961," said Tony Brnusak, president of Local 2300. "We want to make people aware, and the state aware: Safety is first."
Cumberland Mine was established in 1977 about 12 miles south of Waynesburg. The complex employs 611 workers and shipped 7 million tons of coal in 2005.
Brnusak said the fans went down three weeks ago, and, according to safety regulations, the company is required to egress the mine within 15 minutes.
Only after the mine is evacuated should a walk-through examination happen, Brnusak said. But management argues certified personnel were permitted in the facility as the outage was remediated.
"Cumberland Coal Resources management complied with regulations as interpreted by the Pennsylvania Department of Deep Mine Safety," Foundation Coal Holdings spokesman Peter Vietti said. "Management allowed certified examiners to remain in the mine when the ventilation fan restarted after a brief outage."
State police dispatched three units with four troopers to maintain order at the protest, though the picketers remained peaceful.
"They have been complete gentlemen," Trooper Adam Steinhauser said. "They just have a message they want to get out."
The protesters dispersed at 10 a.m. with an agreement from the DEP to review the matter, Brnusak said. DEP personnel did not immediately respond to a request for an interview yesterday

Man killed by coal truck near Crum

2007-09-14T16:12:00.001-07:00

Man killed by coal truck near Crum
Man killed in crash on U.S. 52 near Crum CRUM, W.Va. -- U.S. 52 was closed Wednesday morning after an early morning crash that killed a person north of Crum. The Wayne County Sheriff's Department is investigating.The accident happened about 3:30 a.m. near the intersection of Webb Road and U.S. 52. It involved a coal truck and pick-up truck.One person died from injuries sustained in the crash. No other injuries were reported, according to Wayne County 911.The crash scene is about seven miles north of Crum. The roadway was re-opened about 8 a.m.

State Supreme Court upholds verdict against coal company

2007-09-14T16:09:00.001-07:00

State Supreme Court upholds verdict against coal company
By Tom SearlsStaff writer
The state Supreme Court upheld a Mingo Circuit Court ruling Wednesday ordering a coal company to provide potable water to people whose water supply has been contaminated.

Residents of four Mingo County communities said Rawl Sales & Processing Co., a subsidiary of Massey Energy Co., had destroyed their water quality. The Mingo County court had ordered the company to provide emergency temporary drinking water to people whose water supply has been contaminated.

Instead, Rawl appealed the order to the state Supreme Court, where justices unanimously rejected their arguments and declined to hear the case Wednesday. The original 2006 circuit court order said the firm should provide bottled water each week to 194 people in the Lick Creek, Rawl, Merrimac and Sprigg areas. After the company refused, residents received water from the Mingo County Office of Emergency Services.

The order is related to litigation accusing Rawl of contaminating wells with coal slurry. Circuit Judge Michael Thornsbury noted it would be up to a jury to decide if the firm is responsible for polluting the water system, but issued the order because a preponderance of “evidence tends to implicate the defendant.”

Rawl’s appeal maintained that most of the plaintiffs hadn’t proved they live near contaminated water.

But while the Supreme Court upheld the circuit court ruling, it comes a little late. Using federal Abandoned Mine Lands money, water lines from the city of Williamson have already been extended to the residents.

The circuit court held the order in abeyance only until potable water was available to the residents.

About 450 plaintiffs have sued Massey and Rawl over the alleged contamination since September 2004, according to a Massey quarterly report to the U.S.

Securities and Exchange Commission. Massey said in the filing that its insurance should cover the damages.

Attorneys for both sides could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Company conducts live test of mine shelter

2007-09-14T15:57:00.001-07:00

Company conducts live test of mine shelter

September 14, 2007 11:38 AM
UNDATED

A small West Virginia company that sells emergency life support equipment for underground coal mines is conducting a live Internet demonstration of its gear.Chapmanville-based Mine Lifeline co-founder Rick Abraham says he wants to show that the company can provide 96 hours of breathable air to trapped miners. That's the amount required by the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.
Abraham says he also wants to demonstrate the value of sealing an area instead of a self-contained shelter. Mine Lifeline is relying on airtight barricades, oxygen bottles and chemical curtains that remove carbon dioxide.
Abraham says 11 volunteers are participating in the four-day test that started Tuesday in an undisclosed Logan County mine. Live video and pictures of the test are being shown on Mine Lifeline's web site: www.minelifeline.com.
The gear hasn't been approved by state regulators.
West Virginia mines can choose from a dozen portable designs approved by the state Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training.
Information from: The Dominion Post, http://www.dominionpost.com

Spike in black lung cases reported

2007-09-14T11:30:00.000-07:00

Spike in black lung cases reported
UMWA chief responds to alarming news, calls for investigation
Beckley Register-Herald (subscription) - Beckley,WV,USAMannix PorterfieldSeptember 13, 2007

Three decades after miners were assured the dreaded scourge of black lung disease was on its way out, the disorder is surfacing in “alarming numbers,” and the United Mine Workers of America wants to know why.UMWA President Cecil Roberts, responding to a report this week in Wheeling showing incidents of black lung have doubled within the past years, called for an investigation.“Either the respirable dust standard is not being enforced by the Mine Safety and Health Administration, or the standard is still too high,” he said in a statement Thursday.“It’s likely to be the result of a combination of both factors.”Under the 1969 Mine Safety and Health Act, respirable dust exposure was limited to 2 milligrams per cubic foot of air.Recent data revealed the prevalence of miners with symptoms of black lung bottomed out in 1999, but since has climbed among miners with more than 20 years of experience in underground mines.Miners with 25 or more years’ experience have witnessed a jump of from just under 5 percent to almost 10 percent, while the less experienced miners have gone up to 2 percent.Delegate Mike Caputo, D-Marion, a representative of the UMWA, agreed a formal inquiry is in order to learn the reasons for the upsurge in pneumoconiosis.“I have heard of a spike in black lung claims, and this is certainly worth looking into,” Caputo said while attending a union meeting in Charleston.“What we need to do at the state level, I’m not sure yet. But if more miners are contracting this disease, we have an obligation to look into it.”Black lung data was unveiled Tuesday in Wheeling at the annual session of the National Coalition of Black Lung and Respiratory Disease Clinics.Its medical director, Dr. Robert Cohen, suggested something was clearly wrong with the methods used to control respirable dust in the nation’s mines.“This data is extremely alarming,” he said.“Given the time lag time between exposure and discovery of disease, these findings are likely to be just the tip of the iceberg. We should not be seeing this prevalence rate or this type of advanced disease in the 21st century.”If MSHA has been enforcing the law, Roberts said, then the latest numbers prove the standard needs to be lowered, a goal of a pending supplemental proposal to the MINER Act, passed after the Sago Mine tragedy in West Virginia.“Miners need action now,” he added.