MSHA proposes changes to rescue team regulations
September 06, 2007 12:18 PM
CHARLESTON, W.Va.
The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration is proposing two new regulations it says will improve rescue operations at the nation's coal mines.Interest in emergency response to mine disasters was spurred by the January 2006 explosion at West Virginia's Sago mine that left 12 miners dead. That interest was renewed last month when six miners and three rescue workers died at the Crandall Canyon mine in Utah.
MSHA's proposed regulations would require rescuers to reach a mine within one hour.
The agency says this proposal would add another 28 mine rescue stations to the 92 now in place.
The proposal would cover more than 42,000 miners at the nation's 653 underground mines.
MSHA also is proposing to update the equipment that must be available to rescue crews for all mines, not just coal mines.
Public hearings on the proposed rules are set for late October in Utah, Kentucky, West Virginia and Alabama.
The rules follow the passage of last year's federal Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Massey plans to focus on metallurgical coal, exports
Massey plans to focus on metallurgical coal, exports
September 06, 2007 3:55 PM
CHARLESTON, W.Va.
Massey Energy is making a big bet on metallurgical coal.Chief Executive Don Blankenship told investors today that Massey is going to up production of so-called met coal. And the Richmond, Virginia-based company intends to cut back on high-production longwall mines.
By changing focus, Massey is gambling the price of met coal stays high. Met coal produced more than 72 dollars a ton in revenue for Massey in the second quarter, compared with a bit over 45 dollars a ton for coal sold to electric utilities.
Blankenship says several factors suggest met prices will remain high. World demand for steel is expected to increase, shipping bottlenecks are limiting exports from coal-rich Australia, and the weak U.S. dollar and high ocean freight rates favor US exports.
If met prices rise, Blankenship believes Massey is positioned to cash in because two-thirds of the met coal it expects to mine next year and in 2009 hasn't been priced.
September 06, 2007 3:55 PM
CHARLESTON, W.Va.
Massey Energy is making a big bet on metallurgical coal.Chief Executive Don Blankenship told investors today that Massey is going to up production of so-called met coal. And the Richmond, Virginia-based company intends to cut back on high-production longwall mines.
By changing focus, Massey is gambling the price of met coal stays high. Met coal produced more than 72 dollars a ton in revenue for Massey in the second quarter, compared with a bit over 45 dollars a ton for coal sold to electric utilities.
Blankenship says several factors suggest met prices will remain high. World demand for steel is expected to increase, shipping bottlenecks are limiting exports from coal-rich Australia, and the weak U.S. dollar and high ocean freight rates favor US exports.
If met prices rise, Blankenship believes Massey is positioned to cash in because two-thirds of the met coal it expects to mine next year and in 2009 hasn't been priced.
Coal Mine Fire Extinguishment
Coal Mine Fire Extinguishment
.
The technology for extinguishing coal mine fires using Nitrogen enhanced foam is relatively new. It's been within the last 25 years that this method was developed and patented by my business partner. We've proven the use of this method for coal mine fire extinguishment by putting out several coal mine fires. We have published several papers regarding this.
We got started by being invited by the U.S. Bureau of Mines, to put out a couple of underground mine fires. (now OSMRE, Office of Surface Mines Reclamation and Enforcement.) We successfully extinguished 4 test fires in 4 separate historical mines for the US Bureau of Mines, using our Compressed Air Foam System, (CAFS), starting about 1982.
The deepest fires are not beyond the range of single joint drilling rigs. Coal seams are normally between 200 and 5,000 feet deep. We can reach ANY of them with our CAFS injection process. Our Pinnacle Mine fire was just 3,000'ft below the surface.
The extinguishment of the mine fires of today are usually paid for by the mining company insurance. The historical mine fires will be paid for by the government agencies, via the Coal Mine Reclamation Act, that currently has over 1.3 Billion dollars and collects fees from every ton of coal produced, for this purpose.
Our gas of choice for extinguishment is Nitrogen. Nitrogen is inert, cost effective, and readily available, for onsite generation. CO2 gas creates carbonic acid in contact with water which contributes to mine water pollution. This is why we prefer Nitrogen which produces no harmful byproducts. (We use our CAFS foam to control the combustion gasses which are primarily CO2 which helps us extinguish the fire.)
My business partner's father, Phil Cummins, invented the GAG Jet engine method, while employed by General Dynamics, Fort Worth, TX , division and applied to a coal mine test fire in Kentucky , where it was determined to produce too much Carbonic Acid as a pollutant and created too destructive of an environment for any mining machinery involved. The GAG Jet Engine creates more problems than it solves.
People have asked us about using oxygen starving explosives in relation to these types of fires. This was an exciting project for open air oil well fires. If this method is used in a coal mine, the first explosion kicks up an explosive mixture of coal dust, and creates a positive pressure that will pull in fresh oxygen, which can cause more explosions that can revert back into a fire, creating additional explosions, open new coal seams, starting additional new fires. This can destroy the entire mine.
Currently we are at a coal mine in Virginia. We've have successfully aided in the plan for re-entry. To date, we have pumped over 487 million gallons of 'Nitrogen enhanced finished foam'.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Situation Continues to Improve at Buchanan Mine
Re-entry Plan Expected to be Filed after Labor Day PITTSBURGH, Aug. 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Air monitoring at the Buchanan Mine near Mavisdale, Virginia, continues to show an overall improvement in the underground mine atmosphere.
There are now 93 established monitoring stations that are measuring gas levels in the mine. Overall levels of carbon monoxide continue to decline, indicating that there is no active combustion in the mine. In addition, cameras inserted in several bore holes showed no smoke or signs of combustion in the mine and temperature readings from boreholes indicate the mine temperatures are at ambient levels.
Nitrogen gas and nitrogen foam are being pumped into a number of bore holes following a plan that is progressively forcing any carbon monoxide accumulated in previously mined areas into the flow of the active ventilation, causing the carbon monoxide to be swept from the mine.
Based on the accumulated trend data for gas being monitored, the company expects to submit a re-entry plan to the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration and to the Commonwealth of Virginia following the Labor Day holiday. Once agency approval is secured, teams can re-enter the mine to inspect working areas and to repair the ventilation system. The company believes that minimal repair work will be needed. Under this scenario, the company anticipates the mine will be able to resume production in early October.
The mine continues to be ventilated. Coal that was available from inventory has now been shipped and customers have been advised that a force majeure event has occurred. There are no employees underground at the present time.
Production at the mine was idled on Monday, July 9, 2007 after several roof falls in previously mined areas, damaged some of the ventilation controls inside the mine, requiring a general evacuation of the mine by employees. No one was injured during the evacuation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The difficulties we've run into are that many people are just not aware of the number of historical coal mine fires that have been burning in the US since before 1977, or if they do know they have a lackadaisical attitude about these types of fires, and their CO2 emissions.
It hasn't been until now, that the world has started understanding the damages the CO2 can cause the environment. Integrating the CAFS technology is a painstakingly slow process.
Political Red Tape aside, we need help in moving forward to extinguish these types of fires. Unfortunately, Centralia, PA, is a sad reminder of what can happen if a mine fire is let to continually burn.
Centralia can be reclaimed.
Let's not loose another one of our towns/cities and let another Centralia, PA mine fire happen again
.
The technology for extinguishing coal mine fires using Nitrogen enhanced foam is relatively new. It's been within the last 25 years that this method was developed and patented by my business partner. We've proven the use of this method for coal mine fire extinguishment by putting out several coal mine fires. We have published several papers regarding this.
We got started by being invited by the U.S. Bureau of Mines, to put out a couple of underground mine fires. (now OSMRE, Office of Surface Mines Reclamation and Enforcement.) We successfully extinguished 4 test fires in 4 separate historical mines for the US Bureau of Mines, using our Compressed Air Foam System, (CAFS), starting about 1982.
The deepest fires are not beyond the range of single joint drilling rigs. Coal seams are normally between 200 and 5,000 feet deep. We can reach ANY of them with our CAFS injection process. Our Pinnacle Mine fire was just 3,000'ft below the surface.
The extinguishment of the mine fires of today are usually paid for by the mining company insurance. The historical mine fires will be paid for by the government agencies, via the Coal Mine Reclamation Act, that currently has over 1.3 Billion dollars and collects fees from every ton of coal produced, for this purpose.
Our gas of choice for extinguishment is Nitrogen. Nitrogen is inert, cost effective, and readily available, for onsite generation. CO2 gas creates carbonic acid in contact with water which contributes to mine water pollution. This is why we prefer Nitrogen which produces no harmful byproducts. (We use our CAFS foam to control the combustion gasses which are primarily CO2 which helps us extinguish the fire.)
My business partner's father, Phil Cummins, invented the GAG Jet engine method, while employed by General Dynamics, Fort Worth, TX , division and applied to a coal mine test fire in Kentucky , where it was determined to produce too much Carbonic Acid as a pollutant and created too destructive of an environment for any mining machinery involved. The GAG Jet Engine creates more problems than it solves.
People have asked us about using oxygen starving explosives in relation to these types of fires. This was an exciting project for open air oil well fires. If this method is used in a coal mine, the first explosion kicks up an explosive mixture of coal dust, and creates a positive pressure that will pull in fresh oxygen, which can cause more explosions that can revert back into a fire, creating additional explosions, open new coal seams, starting additional new fires. This can destroy the entire mine.
Currently we are at a coal mine in Virginia. We've have successfully aided in the plan for re-entry. To date, we have pumped over 487 million gallons of 'Nitrogen enhanced finished foam'.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Situation Continues to Improve at Buchanan Mine
Re-entry Plan Expected to be Filed after Labor Day PITTSBURGH, Aug. 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Air monitoring at the Buchanan Mine near Mavisdale, Virginia, continues to show an overall improvement in the underground mine atmosphere.
There are now 93 established monitoring stations that are measuring gas levels in the mine. Overall levels of carbon monoxide continue to decline, indicating that there is no active combustion in the mine. In addition, cameras inserted in several bore holes showed no smoke or signs of combustion in the mine and temperature readings from boreholes indicate the mine temperatures are at ambient levels.
Nitrogen gas and nitrogen foam are being pumped into a number of bore holes following a plan that is progressively forcing any carbon monoxide accumulated in previously mined areas into the flow of the active ventilation, causing the carbon monoxide to be swept from the mine.
Based on the accumulated trend data for gas being monitored, the company expects to submit a re-entry plan to the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration and to the Commonwealth of Virginia following the Labor Day holiday. Once agency approval is secured, teams can re-enter the mine to inspect working areas and to repair the ventilation system. The company believes that minimal repair work will be needed. Under this scenario, the company anticipates the mine will be able to resume production in early October.
The mine continues to be ventilated. Coal that was available from inventory has now been shipped and customers have been advised that a force majeure event has occurred. There are no employees underground at the present time.
Production at the mine was idled on Monday, July 9, 2007 after several roof falls in previously mined areas, damaged some of the ventilation controls inside the mine, requiring a general evacuation of the mine by employees. No one was injured during the evacuation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The difficulties we've run into are that many people are just not aware of the number of historical coal mine fires that have been burning in the US since before 1977, or if they do know they have a lackadaisical attitude about these types of fires, and their CO2 emissions.
It hasn't been until now, that the world has started understanding the damages the CO2 can cause the environment. Integrating the CAFS technology is a painstakingly slow process.
Political Red Tape aside, we need help in moving forward to extinguish these types of fires. Unfortunately, Centralia, PA, is a sad reminder of what can happen if a mine fire is let to continually burn.
Centralia can be reclaimed.
Let's not loose another one of our towns/cities and let another Centralia, PA mine fire happen again
MSHA chief grilled about deaths
MSHA chief grilled about deaths
September 06, 2007 9:17 AM
WASHINGTON
U.S. legislators are getting impatient with federal mining regulators.Congress passed legislation giving the Mine Safety and Health Administration additional resources and powers, as well as tougher penalties, to enforce safety after accidents in Kentucky and West Virginia last year killed 19 miners.
In hearings yesterday in Washington, angry senators wondered why mining regulators hadn't used the tools it has been given to prevent more deaths underground. Six miners were trapped in Utah's Crandall Canyon mine on August Sixth, and three rescue workers later were killed trying to reach them.
U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia said that when disaster struck at the Sago Mine last year, it was described by some as an anomaly. He told regulators that the Utah disaster and other mine tragedies make it clear that such occurrences are not anomalies.
MSHA head Richard Stickler said his agency's commitment to enforcing the mine safety and health laws has never been stronger.
September 06, 2007 9:17 AM
WASHINGTON
U.S. legislators are getting impatient with federal mining regulators.Congress passed legislation giving the Mine Safety and Health Administration additional resources and powers, as well as tougher penalties, to enforce safety after accidents in Kentucky and West Virginia last year killed 19 miners.
In hearings yesterday in Washington, angry senators wondered why mining regulators hadn't used the tools it has been given to prevent more deaths underground. Six miners were trapped in Utah's Crandall Canyon mine on August Sixth, and three rescue workers later were killed trying to reach them.
U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia said that when disaster struck at the Sago Mine last year, it was described by some as an anomaly. He told regulators that the Utah disaster and other mine tragedies make it clear that such occurrences are not anomalies.
MSHA head Richard Stickler said his agency's commitment to enforcing the mine safety and health laws has never been stronger.
Senate panel presses federal safety chief on mine collapse
Senate panel presses federal safety chief on mine collapse
September 6, 2007 WASHINGTON -
Senators demanded answers from the federal mine safety chief yesterday, accusing his agency of ignoring signs of unsafe conditions at a Utah mine that collapsed last month, entombing six miners.
At the first congressional hearing on mine safety since the Aug. 6 collapse, members of a Senate Appropriations subcommittee cited multiple safety violations at the Crandall Canyon mine, a lack of substantial fines for those violations, and roof collapses or "bumps" at the mine beginning in March.
"With these nine deaths," said Sen. Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, referring to the six trapped miners and three rescuers killed 10 days later, "there was criminal negligence here with all these threats being known."
But Richard E. Stickler, head of Mine Safety and Health Administration, told the panel that he was unaware of the March bumps until after the August mine disaster. He said he was unable to answer many of the questions posed by the senators until his agency's investigation is completed.
Three mine experts blasted Stickler for his agency's approval in June of a plan to allow retreat mining - in which miners extract mineral remaining in pillars of coal and speed out before the roof collapses - in the area where the six men were trapped.
"This disaster was not an act of God, but an act of man," said Cecil E. Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America. "It was preventable."
Roberts and J. Davitt McAteer, a former mine safety chief, said Stickler elevated the possibility of a roof collapse by permitting retreat mining in a mine that had a history of bumps. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health defines a mine bump as a sudden outburst of coal and rock caused when stresses in a pillar of coal, left for support of a work area, cause the pillar to rupture.
"So you take the most dangerous type of mining and then you put it in an area that's prone to these bumps and outbursts. ... Now you've caused an ultra-dangerous situation," McAteer said.
Rescue efforts at the mine were suspended indefinitely Friday, apparently forever entombing Kerry Allred, Don Erickson, Luis Hernandez, Carlos Payan, Brandon Phillips and Manuel Sanchez. It is not known whether the six men survived the first thunderous mountain shudder that caused the mine's support system to collapse.
Three rescue workers died during a second collapse Aug. 16, bringing a halt to tunnel-clearing efforts to reach the trapped men.
Despite the deaths during the rescue efforts, the three mine experts - Roberts, McAteer and Bruce Watzman, the National Mine Association's vice president for safety and health - agreed that the conditions, while dangerous, did not prohibit attempts to find the trapped men.
"When you're trying to rescue miners, you weigh it the best you can," Roberts said. "I don't think they could have done this any safer than they did."
Senators made disgruntled comments at yesterday's hearing, saying legislation had been put in place last year to give additional authority to the mine safety agency.
In June 2006, in the aftermath of three mine disasters - including the collapse of the Sago mine in West Virginia, in which 13 miners died - Congress passed the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response, or MINER, Act.
"What the hell does it take to shake up that agency?" said Sen. Robert C. Byrd, a West Virginia Democrat. "Mr. Stickler, it is way past time to take the gloves off, to take charge of the agency. ... Crack some heads and empower your inspectors who are daily taking the miners' lives in their hands."
McAteer said in a mine like Crandall Canyon, pressure can build up and inevitably cause a mountain bump. That pressure can be monitored with equipment that has been around for more than a decade but that was not used in the Utah mine.
"That's the most profound inaccuracy of our system. ... The pressure can build up, you can see it, you can hear it. Other countries have systems in place," he said, recommending that the device be used in all mines similar to Crandall Canyon.
Specter told the audience of about a dozen miners and 50 onlookers that mine co-owner Robert Murray declined an invitation to attend the hearing.
Panel members said they had too many unanswered questions to allow Murray not to testify and would subpoena him if necessary. Additional hearings are expected next month.
Murray did not immediately return calls for comment yesterday.
September 6, 2007 WASHINGTON -
Senators demanded answers from the federal mine safety chief yesterday, accusing his agency of ignoring signs of unsafe conditions at a Utah mine that collapsed last month, entombing six miners.
At the first congressional hearing on mine safety since the Aug. 6 collapse, members of a Senate Appropriations subcommittee cited multiple safety violations at the Crandall Canyon mine, a lack of substantial fines for those violations, and roof collapses or "bumps" at the mine beginning in March.
"With these nine deaths," said Sen. Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, referring to the six trapped miners and three rescuers killed 10 days later, "there was criminal negligence here with all these threats being known."
But Richard E. Stickler, head of Mine Safety and Health Administration, told the panel that he was unaware of the March bumps until after the August mine disaster. He said he was unable to answer many of the questions posed by the senators until his agency's investigation is completed.
Three mine experts blasted Stickler for his agency's approval in June of a plan to allow retreat mining - in which miners extract mineral remaining in pillars of coal and speed out before the roof collapses - in the area where the six men were trapped.
"This disaster was not an act of God, but an act of man," said Cecil E. Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America. "It was preventable."
Roberts and J. Davitt McAteer, a former mine safety chief, said Stickler elevated the possibility of a roof collapse by permitting retreat mining in a mine that had a history of bumps. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health defines a mine bump as a sudden outburst of coal and rock caused when stresses in a pillar of coal, left for support of a work area, cause the pillar to rupture.
"So you take the most dangerous type of mining and then you put it in an area that's prone to these bumps and outbursts. ... Now you've caused an ultra-dangerous situation," McAteer said.
Rescue efforts at the mine were suspended indefinitely Friday, apparently forever entombing Kerry Allred, Don Erickson, Luis Hernandez, Carlos Payan, Brandon Phillips and Manuel Sanchez. It is not known whether the six men survived the first thunderous mountain shudder that caused the mine's support system to collapse.
Three rescue workers died during a second collapse Aug. 16, bringing a halt to tunnel-clearing efforts to reach the trapped men.
Despite the deaths during the rescue efforts, the three mine experts - Roberts, McAteer and Bruce Watzman, the National Mine Association's vice president for safety and health - agreed that the conditions, while dangerous, did not prohibit attempts to find the trapped men.
"When you're trying to rescue miners, you weigh it the best you can," Roberts said. "I don't think they could have done this any safer than they did."
Senators made disgruntled comments at yesterday's hearing, saying legislation had been put in place last year to give additional authority to the mine safety agency.
In June 2006, in the aftermath of three mine disasters - including the collapse of the Sago mine in West Virginia, in which 13 miners died - Congress passed the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response, or MINER, Act.
"What the hell does it take to shake up that agency?" said Sen. Robert C. Byrd, a West Virginia Democrat. "Mr. Stickler, it is way past time to take the gloves off, to take charge of the agency. ... Crack some heads and empower your inspectors who are daily taking the miners' lives in their hands."
McAteer said in a mine like Crandall Canyon, pressure can build up and inevitably cause a mountain bump. That pressure can be monitored with equipment that has been around for more than a decade but that was not used in the Utah mine.
"That's the most profound inaccuracy of our system. ... The pressure can build up, you can see it, you can hear it. Other countries have systems in place," he said, recommending that the device be used in all mines similar to Crandall Canyon.
Specter told the audience of about a dozen miners and 50 onlookers that mine co-owner Robert Murray declined an invitation to attend the hearing.
Panel members said they had too many unanswered questions to allow Murray not to testify and would subpoena him if necessary. Additional hearings are expected next month.
Murray did not immediately return calls for comment yesterday.
Mine disaster hearing short on straight answers
Mine disaster hearing short on straight answers
Salt Lake Tribune - United StatesSeptember 6, 2007
WASHINGTON - The head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration declined Wednesday to stand behind the mining plan - previously approved by his agency - at the Utah mine where nine workers were killed in cave-ins.
Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., chastised MSHA director Richard Stickler for "tepid" enforcement of mine-safety regulations and asked him point blank whether he would still endorse the Crandall Canyon mining plan approved by MSHA in June. Some believe the plan was dangerously flawed and led to the collapse.
"I will have to see the result of the accident investigative team," Stickler said, avoiding a yes or no answer. "I will wait until I get that information before I make that decision."
Stickler was on the hot seat Wednesday before a Senate subcommittee, one of three congressional panels probing the tragedy that trapped six miners and killed three rescue workers trying to reach them.
Under pressure from the committee, Stickler acknowledged he did not know about a March "bump" - a term for a pressure-born explosion of coal walls - that occurred in the Crandall Canyon mine about 900 feet from where the six miners were later caught in a cave-in.
The mine operators did not notify MSHA about the bump when it occurred, Stickler said, and he first heard of the incident from a news reporter. He said investigators would determine if the bump should have been reported.
Rob Moore, vice president of Murray Energy Corp., the co-owner of the mine, said Wednesday that management took appropriate action after the March bump and MSHA knew about the event.
Robert Murray, CEO of the company, declined to testify and senators signaled they would compel him to appear if he does not testify voluntarily.
"First, he said he was too busy but now he says he's too sick," Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said. "I'm personally convinced that we need and will issue a subpoena here."
Specter, who had opposed Stickler's nomination to the MSHA post, quizzed the director on why his agency didn't consider the bumps before and after the Aug. 6 collapse as a potential warning.
"You know there's going to be another one," Specter said. "Isn't there just blatant failure by MSHA to recognize the fundamental problem caused by these bumps?"
Stickler said that seismic activity can't predict future bumps and that rescue efforts had made the mountain more unstable leading to the other cave-ins. In a tense exchange, Specter pressed Stickler on why many violations at the Crandall Canyon mine carried no fine. Stickler said fines hadn't been assessed yet and told Specter he didn't understand what he was reading.
Specter charged back that he reads English just fine and if Stickler continued to evade the question, "we're going to have to look even more sharply on everything you've told us."
Byrd, the chairman of the full Appropriations Committee, lectured Stickler on MSHA's enforcement.
"What the hell is the problem at MSHA?" Byrd asked rhetorically, as several audience members erupted in applause.
"It is past time - way past time to take the gloves off," Byrd told Stickler, advising him to "crack some heads" at the agency to make improvements.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, stood up for the embattled witness.
"It's always easier after the fact to come in and find fault," Hatch added. He later told reporters that MSHA did the best it could with the knowledge it had and it is "pretty tough" to have the foresight to see a bump would occur.
Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, asked Stickler why rescue operations weren't halted earlier as Bennett had been told was the case. "It was with great feeling in the pit of my stomach to hear that rescue operations had begun again and three rescue workers were killed," Bennett said. Stickler said the experts thought it was safe for rescuers to re-enter the mine.
Two other witnesses said MSHA never should have approved plans to use a process at Crandall Canyon called retreat mining, or pillar-removal mining, which involves chipping away at coal blocks holding up the underground ceiling.
Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America, said there were warning signs that retreat mining would be even more dangerous at this mine and that federal authorities took only about a week to approve it.
Former MSHA director Davitt McAteer stressed that the mining plan at Crandall Canyon should never have been approved. "The mine safety program is broken in this country," he said.
Moore said the mining plan was recommended by the "foremost consulting engineers," the company's engineers and MSHA officials. He said McAteer and Roberts were "incorrect" in their statements.
"They have no knowledge of the situation," Moore said in an e-mail. Wednesday evening, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., chairman of the Senate labor committee, asked Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne for Bureau of Land Management documents relating to the mine. Much of the coal at Crandall Canyon was federally owned and leased to Murray's company by BLM.
BLM documents obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune show an inspector had concerns about the type of mining being done, and the head of minerals at BLM's Utah office said the company never asked for the agency's approval to conduct retreat mining at Crandall Canyon.
Salt Lake Tribune - United StatesSeptember 6, 2007
WASHINGTON - The head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration declined Wednesday to stand behind the mining plan - previously approved by his agency - at the Utah mine where nine workers were killed in cave-ins.
Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., chastised MSHA director Richard Stickler for "tepid" enforcement of mine-safety regulations and asked him point blank whether he would still endorse the Crandall Canyon mining plan approved by MSHA in June. Some believe the plan was dangerously flawed and led to the collapse.
"I will have to see the result of the accident investigative team," Stickler said, avoiding a yes or no answer. "I will wait until I get that information before I make that decision."
Stickler was on the hot seat Wednesday before a Senate subcommittee, one of three congressional panels probing the tragedy that trapped six miners and killed three rescue workers trying to reach them.
Under pressure from the committee, Stickler acknowledged he did not know about a March "bump" - a term for a pressure-born explosion of coal walls - that occurred in the Crandall Canyon mine about 900 feet from where the six miners were later caught in a cave-in.
The mine operators did not notify MSHA about the bump when it occurred, Stickler said, and he first heard of the incident from a news reporter. He said investigators would determine if the bump should have been reported.
Rob Moore, vice president of Murray Energy Corp., the co-owner of the mine, said Wednesday that management took appropriate action after the March bump and MSHA knew about the event.
Robert Murray, CEO of the company, declined to testify and senators signaled they would compel him to appear if he does not testify voluntarily.
"First, he said he was too busy but now he says he's too sick," Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said. "I'm personally convinced that we need and will issue a subpoena here."
Specter, who had opposed Stickler's nomination to the MSHA post, quizzed the director on why his agency didn't consider the bumps before and after the Aug. 6 collapse as a potential warning.
"You know there's going to be another one," Specter said. "Isn't there just blatant failure by MSHA to recognize the fundamental problem caused by these bumps?"
Stickler said that seismic activity can't predict future bumps and that rescue efforts had made the mountain more unstable leading to the other cave-ins. In a tense exchange, Specter pressed Stickler on why many violations at the Crandall Canyon mine carried no fine. Stickler said fines hadn't been assessed yet and told Specter he didn't understand what he was reading.
Specter charged back that he reads English just fine and if Stickler continued to evade the question, "we're going to have to look even more sharply on everything you've told us."
Byrd, the chairman of the full Appropriations Committee, lectured Stickler on MSHA's enforcement.
"What the hell is the problem at MSHA?" Byrd asked rhetorically, as several audience members erupted in applause.
"It is past time - way past time to take the gloves off," Byrd told Stickler, advising him to "crack some heads" at the agency to make improvements.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, stood up for the embattled witness.
"It's always easier after the fact to come in and find fault," Hatch added. He later told reporters that MSHA did the best it could with the knowledge it had and it is "pretty tough" to have the foresight to see a bump would occur.
Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, asked Stickler why rescue operations weren't halted earlier as Bennett had been told was the case. "It was with great feeling in the pit of my stomach to hear that rescue operations had begun again and three rescue workers were killed," Bennett said. Stickler said the experts thought it was safe for rescuers to re-enter the mine.
Two other witnesses said MSHA never should have approved plans to use a process at Crandall Canyon called retreat mining, or pillar-removal mining, which involves chipping away at coal blocks holding up the underground ceiling.
Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America, said there were warning signs that retreat mining would be even more dangerous at this mine and that federal authorities took only about a week to approve it.
Former MSHA director Davitt McAteer stressed that the mining plan at Crandall Canyon should never have been approved. "The mine safety program is broken in this country," he said.
Moore said the mining plan was recommended by the "foremost consulting engineers," the company's engineers and MSHA officials. He said McAteer and Roberts were "incorrect" in their statements.
"They have no knowledge of the situation," Moore said in an e-mail. Wednesday evening, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., chairman of the Senate labor committee, asked Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne for Bureau of Land Management documents relating to the mine. Much of the coal at Crandall Canyon was federally owned and leased to Murray's company by BLM.
BLM documents obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune show an inspector had concerns about the type of mining being done, and the head of minerals at BLM's Utah office said the company never asked for the agency's approval to conduct retreat mining at Crandall Canyon.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
MSHA missed inspections before Mingo mine fatality
MSHA missed inspections before Mingo mine fatality
Charleston Gazette - WV, USA
.September 5, 2007
A Mingo County coal mine where a worker was killed Monday had not yet received a complete inspection this year by the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, government records show.
MSHA inspectors had not finished — or even started — a full examination of CONSOL Energy’s Bronzite Mine, the records show.
Under federal law, MSHA is supposed to conduct regular, complete inspections of all underground coal mines nationwide once per calendar quarter.
MSHA conducted three “spot inspections” of the operation in March, June and August. But those reviews involved half the inspection time of a typical complete review, records show.
Agency officials could not immediately explain the lapse, and CONSOL Energy declined to comment on it.
“That’s a question for the regulators,” said Joe Cerenzia, a spokesman for Pittsburgh-based CONSOL.
Wednesday’s roof fall at the Bronzite Mine near Nolan was the fourth coal-mining death in West Virginia this year, and the 24th nationwide, according to MSHA’s official count.
Utah leads the nation with nine coal-mining deaths. That figure includes three rescue workers and six miners from the collapse at the Crandall Canyon mine, who were added to MSHA’s count during the Labor Day weekend.
Nationwide, 71 coal miners have died on the job since the Sago Mine disaster, which came two days after the coal industry ended 2005 by marking its safest year ever with 22 deaths.
During a speech Aug. 23 to the Utah Mining Association, CONSOL President J. Brett Harvey called on the coal industry to drive accident rates to zero at every mine in the nation.
“We need to change the paradigm and we need to change it now,” Harvey said during the speech in Park City, Utah. “What industry must change is our incremental approach to safety improvement because it creates an unintended tolerance to accidents. We need to get to zero.”
Over the last year, MSHA has struggled to hire new inspectors to rebuild a work force that was severely cut during President Bush’s first term. But last year, the agency fell further behind on its duty to inspect all underground mines four times and surface mines twice per year. Required inspections not completed on time increased from 43 during the 2005 federal budget year to 245 in 2006, MSHA data shows. The completion rate was 95 percent, down from 99 percent in 2005.
At the Bronzite Mine incident in Mingo County, 35-year-old Brent Reynolds of Virgie, Ky., was operating a continuous mining machine at about 5 p.m. Monday when a roof fall occurred, said C.A. Phillips, deputy director of the state Office of Miners Health, Safety and Training.
Cerenzia said that Reynolds was working under roof supports, but that the roof fell back away from the face toward him.
“There was just some occurrence that caused that roof to move back in his direction,” Cerenzia said.
Reynolds was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m. at Williamson Memorial Hospital, Cerenzia said.
The Bronzite Mine started producing coal in 2004 under a CONSOL contractor, North Star Contracting, operated by Harold Porter of Debord, Ky., and Carl Kirk of Catlettsburg, Ky.
Last year, the mine produced 276,000 tons of coal with 37 employees, according to MSHA records. In August 2006, CONSOL took over the operation from North Star, and operated it under its subsidiary, CONSOL of Kentucky, records show.
In 2004 and 2005, the mine recorded a nonfatal injury rate that was more than four times worse than the national average. Last year, the record improved. But the injury rate was still 1 1/2 times the national average, MSHA data show.
Since October 2004, the operation has been fined nearly $16,000 for more than 140 safety violations.
More than $9,500 in fines accumulated over that period are listed as delinquent for violations issued during North Star’s time operating the mine, according to MSHA records.
Charleston Gazette - WV, USA
.September 5, 2007
A Mingo County coal mine where a worker was killed Monday had not yet received a complete inspection this year by the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, government records show.
MSHA inspectors had not finished — or even started — a full examination of CONSOL Energy’s Bronzite Mine, the records show.
Under federal law, MSHA is supposed to conduct regular, complete inspections of all underground coal mines nationwide once per calendar quarter.
MSHA conducted three “spot inspections” of the operation in March, June and August. But those reviews involved half the inspection time of a typical complete review, records show.
Agency officials could not immediately explain the lapse, and CONSOL Energy declined to comment on it.
“That’s a question for the regulators,” said Joe Cerenzia, a spokesman for Pittsburgh-based CONSOL.
Wednesday’s roof fall at the Bronzite Mine near Nolan was the fourth coal-mining death in West Virginia this year, and the 24th nationwide, according to MSHA’s official count.
Utah leads the nation with nine coal-mining deaths. That figure includes three rescue workers and six miners from the collapse at the Crandall Canyon mine, who were added to MSHA’s count during the Labor Day weekend.
Nationwide, 71 coal miners have died on the job since the Sago Mine disaster, which came two days after the coal industry ended 2005 by marking its safest year ever with 22 deaths.
During a speech Aug. 23 to the Utah Mining Association, CONSOL President J. Brett Harvey called on the coal industry to drive accident rates to zero at every mine in the nation.
“We need to change the paradigm and we need to change it now,” Harvey said during the speech in Park City, Utah. “What industry must change is our incremental approach to safety improvement because it creates an unintended tolerance to accidents. We need to get to zero.”
Over the last year, MSHA has struggled to hire new inspectors to rebuild a work force that was severely cut during President Bush’s first term. But last year, the agency fell further behind on its duty to inspect all underground mines four times and surface mines twice per year. Required inspections not completed on time increased from 43 during the 2005 federal budget year to 245 in 2006, MSHA data shows. The completion rate was 95 percent, down from 99 percent in 2005.
At the Bronzite Mine incident in Mingo County, 35-year-old Brent Reynolds of Virgie, Ky., was operating a continuous mining machine at about 5 p.m. Monday when a roof fall occurred, said C.A. Phillips, deputy director of the state Office of Miners Health, Safety and Training.
Cerenzia said that Reynolds was working under roof supports, but that the roof fell back away from the face toward him.
“There was just some occurrence that caused that roof to move back in his direction,” Cerenzia said.
Reynolds was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m. at Williamson Memorial Hospital, Cerenzia said.
The Bronzite Mine started producing coal in 2004 under a CONSOL contractor, North Star Contracting, operated by Harold Porter of Debord, Ky., and Carl Kirk of Catlettsburg, Ky.
Last year, the mine produced 276,000 tons of coal with 37 employees, according to MSHA records. In August 2006, CONSOL took over the operation from North Star, and operated it under its subsidiary, CONSOL of Kentucky, records show.
In 2004 and 2005, the mine recorded a nonfatal injury rate that was more than four times worse than the national average. Last year, the record improved. But the injury rate was still 1 1/2 times the national average, MSHA data show.
Since October 2004, the operation has been fined nearly $16,000 for more than 140 safety violations.
More than $9,500 in fines accumulated over that period are listed as delinquent for violations issued during North Star’s time operating the mine, according to MSHA records.
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