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
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
One killed in Pennsylvania coal mine accident
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
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
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
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
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Yellowknife court hears arguments about blame in bomb blast that killed nine
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.
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.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Rescue workers learn the drill
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.
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
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.
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.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Mine safety chief: Still too dangerous to look for bodies
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.
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
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 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
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.
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.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Church group opposes Bush mine rule change
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/
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
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
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
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.
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.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Bush administration ‘weak link,’ Byrd says
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
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
Monday, October 8, 2007
MineTheft.com is Helping to Eliminate Mining Related Thefts.
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 -
: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
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."
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
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.
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
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."
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."
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Stickler promises MSHA will catch up
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.”
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
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."
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 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
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
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.
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.
Friday, October 5, 2007
Utah mine investigation documents should not be public, agency says
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
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
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."
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
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.''
.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
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_______
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
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.
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.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
STATEMENT OF KEVIN G. STRICKLIN
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
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
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
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
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
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'
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.
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
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."
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
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.
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.
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