Rahall wants answers on mine inspections
Charleston Gazette - WV, USA
By Ken Ward Jr
.September 20, 2007
Rep. Nick Rahall is tired of reading about Southern West Virginia coal miners dying in mines that federal regulators have not properly inspected.
The Democrat, whose district includes the state’s southern coalfields, fired off a letter on Tuesday to Richard Stickler, assistant labor secretary for the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration.
“I want to know, and certainly I hope that MSHA would like to know, exactly why the agency is failing to conduct the inspections required by law,” Rahall told Stickler in the letter.
Rahall cited a Tuesday Gazette report about a Logan County mine where a worker fell to his death while building a new ventilation shaft.
MSHA inspectors had not conducted required complete reviews of Arch Coal Inc.’s Mountaineer II Mine in each of the last two quarters, according to agency records.
Two weeks ago, the Gazette reported that MSHA inspectors had not yet performed any required quarterly inspections this year at CONSOL Energy’s Bronzite Mine in Mingo County before a Sept. 3 roof fall death.
“MSHA has yet to explain to the coal-mining community why this lapse was allowed to occur,” Rahall said. “And, once again, we are learning about similar failures by MSHA to conduct proper inspections.
“If the media can conduct a fairly simple review of MSHA’s Web site and learn that the agency is not completing quarterly inspections, certainly MSHA can do the same and act on that information to correct these lapses,” Rahall said.
The Gazette also has determined that a third West Virginia mining death occurred at an operation where MSHA was behind on its required inspections.
On Aug. 4, 25-year-old Stevie Joe Browning was killed in an equipment accident at Rockhouse Creek Development’s No. 8 Mine in Mingo County.
MSHA officials conducted complete inspections for the first and second quarters of the year between March 7 and March 28 and between April 3 and May 11. At the time of the death, MSHA had not yet started a required inspection for the third quarter — and still has not begun that inspection, according to agency records.
And at a fourth coal mine where a worker was killed this year, MSHA inspectors also are behind on their required quarterly inspections.
MSHA inspectors began a complete review of CONSOL Energy’s Mine 84 in Washington County, Pa., on Feb. 6. They were still conducting that inspection when a fatal accident occurred on April 5.
The complete inspection was finished on May 2, records show.
On May 24, MSHA began its second quarterly complete inspection of Mine 84, but still have not finished that inspection or started a complete review for the third quarter of 2007, records show.
In all, MSHA officials were behind schedule in performing required quarterly inspections at four of the eight underground mines nationwide where coal miners have died on the job this year.
Under federal law, MSHA must inspect all underground coal mines in their entirety at least four times per year. For years, MSHA policy and practice has been that those inspections must be done one per quarter.
On Wednesday, MSHA spokesman Matthew Faraci said the agency’s Southern West Virginia district had implemented a policy to “use enhanced spot inspections in lieu of select regular inspections ... to ensure MSHA’s presence at every mine, every quarter.”
Faraci could not say when that program started, who approved it, or whether it had been discontinued.
Stickler made a vague reference to “enhanced spot inspections” during a Sept. 5 congressional hearing when Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., grilled him about the agency’s failure to conduct a complete inspection yet this year of the Bronzite Mine.
“I was told this morning that the spot inspections that MSHA conducted, one each quarter, were what MSHA refers to as enhanced spot inspections,” Stickler said, according to a transcript. “They were not referred to as full regular inspections, because they did not cover every area of the mine, but they went beyond the normal spot inspections.”
Generally, MSHA policies state that spot inspections are not to be counted toward meeting the legally required quarterly reviews.
But Jesse Cole, who was MSHA’s Southern West Virginia district manager from July 2004 through August 2006, said that doing so was common practice. “That is nothing new,” Cole said.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Grand jury indicts coal company
Grand jury indicts coal company
SAYS FRASURE CREEK'S ROAD WATERING ENDANGERS DRIVERS
By Cassondra Kirby
CKIRBY@HERALD-LEADER.COM
LOST CREEK --An Eastern Kentucky coal company has been indicted on a wanton endangerment charge, accused of creating dangerous driving conditions with its water truck on a busy Perry County road.
Since Jan. 1, employees of the Frasure Creek Coal LLC mountaintop mining site in Lost Creek have excessively watered down Ky. 1146, creating muddy, slippery road conditions, the indictment alleges.
The indictment also says that employees operated the watering truck in the middle of the road, forcing motorists "to pass in a dangerous manner," a Perry County grand jury said.
The indictment against Frasure Creek, a subsidiary of Trinity Coal of West Virginia, was filed Friday. A court date has not been set.
Officials with Frasure Creek declined to comment on the charge yesterday. Jeff Hoops, a Trinity Coal official, did not return phone messages.
During lunch yesterday at Campbell's BP gas station at Ky. 1146 and Ky. 80, several Lost Creek residents said they hope the grand jury indictment will lead to change.
"I don't have a problem with them working and hauling, just the mud and the water," said Mike Thompson, who lives above the mine site and travels Ky. 1146 daily. Thompson said his son was involved in a crash on the road and there have been about half a dozen other wrecks in the past year.
Thompson and other residents say they want the coal company to blacktop its haul road -- the road coal trucks travel down before turning onto Ky. 1146 -- and then install a tire pressure washer at the end of the haul road so trucks' tires are clean when they pull out onto the road.
The haul road is dirt and gravel, which the company is required by law to wet in order to keep the dust down. When the road is wet, the coal trucks pick up the mud on their tires along with the typical muck found on the mining site and track it out onto Ky. 1146, residents say.
Both roads are watered hourly. The watering has continued, despite the grand jury indictment.
Because the road slopes downward, the water and muck stays on the road or rolls down Ky. 1146 to Campbell's BP at the bottom of the hill, residents say.
Eddie Campbell of Lost Creek, the owner of the BP, says inches of muck cake his parking lot daily.
"The customers are not going to walk through all of this," Campbell said. "It has hurt my business. I just don't see why they can't blacktop the haul road. Other places do."
Campbell says he tried unsuccessfully to talk to Frasure Creek officials about the problems. He says he has also complained to the state Department of Transportation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the federal Office of Surface Mining and others.
"Nobody found anything to be in violation until we went to the grand jury," Campbell said.
Glenda Martin of Lost Creek says she has lost control of her vehicle before in the slippery conditions, and the indictment may be the last shot to fix the problem.
"We don't want money from the coal company," Martin said. "We don't want them to stop mining. We just want our road fixed."
Reach Cassondra Kirby in the Hazard bureau at (606) 487-8785.
SAYS FRASURE CREEK'S ROAD WATERING ENDANGERS DRIVERS
By Cassondra Kirby
CKIRBY@HERALD-LEADER.COM
LOST CREEK --An Eastern Kentucky coal company has been indicted on a wanton endangerment charge, accused of creating dangerous driving conditions with its water truck on a busy Perry County road.
Since Jan. 1, employees of the Frasure Creek Coal LLC mountaintop mining site in Lost Creek have excessively watered down Ky. 1146, creating muddy, slippery road conditions, the indictment alleges.
The indictment also says that employees operated the watering truck in the middle of the road, forcing motorists "to pass in a dangerous manner," a Perry County grand jury said.
The indictment against Frasure Creek, a subsidiary of Trinity Coal of West Virginia, was filed Friday. A court date has not been set.
Officials with Frasure Creek declined to comment on the charge yesterday. Jeff Hoops, a Trinity Coal official, did not return phone messages.
During lunch yesterday at Campbell's BP gas station at Ky. 1146 and Ky. 80, several Lost Creek residents said they hope the grand jury indictment will lead to change.
"I don't have a problem with them working and hauling, just the mud and the water," said Mike Thompson, who lives above the mine site and travels Ky. 1146 daily. Thompson said his son was involved in a crash on the road and there have been about half a dozen other wrecks in the past year.
Thompson and other residents say they want the coal company to blacktop its haul road -- the road coal trucks travel down before turning onto Ky. 1146 -- and then install a tire pressure washer at the end of the haul road so trucks' tires are clean when they pull out onto the road.
The haul road is dirt and gravel, which the company is required by law to wet in order to keep the dust down. When the road is wet, the coal trucks pick up the mud on their tires along with the typical muck found on the mining site and track it out onto Ky. 1146, residents say.
Both roads are watered hourly. The watering has continued, despite the grand jury indictment.
Because the road slopes downward, the water and muck stays on the road or rolls down Ky. 1146 to Campbell's BP at the bottom of the hill, residents say.
Eddie Campbell of Lost Creek, the owner of the BP, says inches of muck cake his parking lot daily.
"The customers are not going to walk through all of this," Campbell said. "It has hurt my business. I just don't see why they can't blacktop the haul road. Other places do."
Campbell says he tried unsuccessfully to talk to Frasure Creek officials about the problems. He says he has also complained to the state Department of Transportation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the federal Office of Surface Mining and others.
"Nobody found anything to be in violation until we went to the grand jury," Campbell said.
Glenda Martin of Lost Creek says she has lost control of her vehicle before in the slippery conditions, and the indictment may be the last shot to fix the problem.
"We don't want money from the coal company," Martin said. "We don't want them to stop mining. We just want our road fixed."
Reach Cassondra Kirby in the Hazard bureau at (606) 487-8785.
Coal company charged with making road unsafe
Coal company charged with making road unsafe
September 19, 2007 9:16 AM
LEXINGTON, Ky.
An eastern Kentucky coal company is facing a charge of wanton endangerment over accusations that its workers are creating dangerous driving conditions on a local road.The indictment alleges employees of Frasure Creek Coal's mountaintop mining site in Lost Creek are putting too much water on Kentucky 11-46 in Perry County, Kentucky -- making it muddy and creating hazards for drivers.
A grand jury issued the indictment against Frasure Creek last week. Officials for Frasure Creek, a subsidiary of Trinity Coal of West Virginia, declined to comment.
Mike Thompson drives the road daily. He says his son was involved in an accident on the road and that several other accidents have occurred over the past year because of the unsafe, muddy conditions. Residents want the company to blacktop its haul road and then put a tire pressure watcher at the end of the haul road so the trucks' tires are clean when they drive onto it.
Information from: Lexington Herald-Leader, http://www.kentucky.com
September 19, 2007 9:16 AM
LEXINGTON, Ky.
An eastern Kentucky coal company is facing a charge of wanton endangerment over accusations that its workers are creating dangerous driving conditions on a local road.The indictment alleges employees of Frasure Creek Coal's mountaintop mining site in Lost Creek are putting too much water on Kentucky 11-46 in Perry County, Kentucky -- making it muddy and creating hazards for drivers.
A grand jury issued the indictment against Frasure Creek last week. Officials for Frasure Creek, a subsidiary of Trinity Coal of West Virginia, declined to comment.
Mike Thompson drives the road daily. He says his son was involved in an accident on the road and that several other accidents have occurred over the past year because of the unsafe, muddy conditions. Residents want the company to blacktop its haul road and then put a tire pressure watcher at the end of the haul road so the trucks' tires are clean when they drive onto it.
Information from: Lexington Herald-Leader, http://www.kentucky.com
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Judge asked to block Boone mine permit
Judge asked to block Boone mine permit
By Ken Ward Jr .Staff writer
A federal judge was urged Monday to block a coal company proposal that would bury more than a mile of Boone County streams.The Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition asked for a temporary restraining order to stop a new valley fill at Jupiter Holdings’ Callisto Surface Mine near Bob White.U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers in Huntington did not immediately rule or schedule a hearing on the request.Jupiter Holdings is part of Magnum Coal, and its Callisto operation would cover nearly 1,200 acres, according to state Department of Environmental Protection records.One of the environmental coalition’s leading activists, Maria Gunnoe, lives in Bob White. Her home is “located just downstream” from a valley fill that is already under construction at the Callisto mine, according to a court filing.“The fill is at the mouth of Big Branch, a tributary of Pond Fork of the Little Coal River,” the court filing stated.“Since that fill was started, she has been reluctant to use her land for farming because of stream pollution,” the court papers said. “She has also been extremely upset by the change in stream flow. The valley fill has made the stream flow unpredictable and she has, for the first time in 40 years, been severely flooded.“She is also very concerned that as the mining progresses, Pond Fork will flood and become more polluted and her use of her property and downstream stretches of Pond Fork will be impacted,” the court filing stated.Environmental group lawyers Joe Lovett and Jim Hecker cited Chambers’ March ruling that the federal Army Corps of Engineers officials had not fully evaluated potential environmental damage before approving four other strip mining permits.Chambers had noted an “alarming cumulative stream loss” to valley fills, and said that the corps “does not explain how the cumulative destruction of headwater streams already affected by mining in these watersheds will not contribute to an adverse impact on aquatic resources.”The judge later allowed Massey Energy to continue to dump waste rock and dirt into streams at three of those mines, because the company had already started operations there.After Chambers’ ruling, environmental group lawyers added the Corps’ permit for the Callisto mine to its existing lawsuit.Monday’s court filing said that lawyers previously told the judge the mine would not begin further valley fills until after an appeal of Chambers’ ruling was resolved by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.But last week company lawyer Richard Verheij told environmental groups that they planned to move forward sooner on at least one valley fill.Verheij told environmental group lawyers the company would confine its work to one valley fill in Dry Branch, and that doing so would “keep folks employed for the next 18 months,” according to a court filing. The fill in question would bury 2,435 feet of Dry Branch, court records show.In all, the Callisto Mine proposes four valley fills that would bury 5,750 feet of streams in tributaries of Roach Branch, Dry Branch and Lem White Branch, court records show.
By Ken Ward Jr .Staff writer
A federal judge was urged Monday to block a coal company proposal that would bury more than a mile of Boone County streams.The Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition asked for a temporary restraining order to stop a new valley fill at Jupiter Holdings’ Callisto Surface Mine near Bob White.U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers in Huntington did not immediately rule or schedule a hearing on the request.Jupiter Holdings is part of Magnum Coal, and its Callisto operation would cover nearly 1,200 acres, according to state Department of Environmental Protection records.One of the environmental coalition’s leading activists, Maria Gunnoe, lives in Bob White. Her home is “located just downstream” from a valley fill that is already under construction at the Callisto mine, according to a court filing.“The fill is at the mouth of Big Branch, a tributary of Pond Fork of the Little Coal River,” the court filing stated.“Since that fill was started, she has been reluctant to use her land for farming because of stream pollution,” the court papers said. “She has also been extremely upset by the change in stream flow. The valley fill has made the stream flow unpredictable and she has, for the first time in 40 years, been severely flooded.“She is also very concerned that as the mining progresses, Pond Fork will flood and become more polluted and her use of her property and downstream stretches of Pond Fork will be impacted,” the court filing stated.Environmental group lawyers Joe Lovett and Jim Hecker cited Chambers’ March ruling that the federal Army Corps of Engineers officials had not fully evaluated potential environmental damage before approving four other strip mining permits.Chambers had noted an “alarming cumulative stream loss” to valley fills, and said that the corps “does not explain how the cumulative destruction of headwater streams already affected by mining in these watersheds will not contribute to an adverse impact on aquatic resources.”The judge later allowed Massey Energy to continue to dump waste rock and dirt into streams at three of those mines, because the company had already started operations there.After Chambers’ ruling, environmental group lawyers added the Corps’ permit for the Callisto mine to its existing lawsuit.Monday’s court filing said that lawyers previously told the judge the mine would not begin further valley fills until after an appeal of Chambers’ ruling was resolved by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.But last week company lawyer Richard Verheij told environmental groups that they planned to move forward sooner on at least one valley fill.Verheij told environmental group lawyers the company would confine its work to one valley fill in Dry Branch, and that doing so would “keep folks employed for the next 18 months,” according to a court filing. The fill in question would bury 2,435 feet of Dry Branch, court records show.In all, the Callisto Mine proposes four valley fills that would bury 5,750 feet of streams in tributaries of Roach Branch, Dry Branch and Lem White Branch, court records show.
Feds missed inspections at Logan mine
Feds missed inspections at Logan mine
Charleston Gazette - WV, USA
By Ken Ward Jr.
September 18, 2007
Federal regulators missed required inspections during the past two quarters at a Logan County mine where a worker was killed Sunday, government records show.
U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration inspectors had not conducted a complete review of the Mountaineer II Mine since March, agency records show.
Under federal law, MSHA is required to conduct a complete inspection of every underground coal mine once per quarter.
Federal officials had conducted numerous “spot inspections” at the Arch Coal Inc. operation. Such reviews generally aren’t as thorough as the required quarterly inspections, experts say.
The Mountaineer II Mine accident is the second time this month that a West Virginia miner was killed in an operation where MSHA missed required inspections.
Around 7 a.m. Sunday, construction worker Robert D. Fraley was killed when he fell about 350 feet down an airshaft being built at the Mountaineer II Mine, state and federal mine safety officials said.
Fraley, 53, of Dorothy, worked for Coalfield Services Inc., a Wytheville, Va., contractor that was helping with the shaft construction, according to a John Snider, a spokesman for Arch Coal.
The Mountaineer II Mine is part of Arch Coal’s new Mountain Laurel Complex near Sharples. St. Louis-based Arch Coal operates the facility through its nonunion arm, Mingo Logan Coal Co.
Arch has been gearing up production at Mountaineer, as it prepared for the start-up of an advanced longwall mining machine.
Through the first six months of 2007, the mine produced 500,000 tons of coal with 216 workers, according to MSHA data.
Sunday’s accident was the second fatal shaft-construction accident nationwide in the last six weeks.
Nationwide, shaft construction work has consistently reported accident rates worse — sometimes more than twice as high — as other coal-mining work, according to MSHA.
In Sunday’s accident at Mountaineer II, Fraley was assisting in preparing a cement floor with a grinder to install an automatic closing door between two ventilation fans, the MSHA report said. A co-worker saw Fraley standing next to a railing that separated their work area from the airshaft, the report said. About five minutes later, Fraley was gone. The co-worker reported him missing, and his body was found at the bottom of the shaft at about 8:20 a.m.
“The railing separating the work area from the air shaft was four feet high and extended across the fan house from wall to wall,” the MSHA report said. “The railing was located eight feet from the mine opening. No work was scheduled on the airshaft side of the protective railing.”
So far in 2007, MSHA officials have conducted eight special inspections focused on shaft construction at Mountaineer II.
Those reviews involved a median of 10 hours per inspection, compared to the 77-hour median time MSHA inspectors spent on complete mine inspections at the operation, records show.
MSHA’s last complete, quarterly inspection started in mid-January and took more than 90 hours of work through March 28, agency records show.
Since then, MSHA inspectors have also visited the mine 14 times on special spot inspections aimed at operations that liberate large amounts of explosive methane. Those inspections involved a median of eight hours per inspection, agency records show.
Federal inspectors conducted one more lengthy spot inspection of the mine that involved 107 hours of work between June 4 and June 27, MSHA records show.
But since that complete inspection that ended March 28, federal officials have not started a regular, quarterly review at the mine.
MSHA officials at agency headquarters in Arlington, Va., could not immediately explain the inspection oversight at Mountaineer II.
Two weeks ago, Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., blasted MSHA after reading a Gazette report about the agency’s failure to conduct a complete inspection yet this year of CONSOL Energy’s Bronzite Mine in Mingo County, where a worker died in a Sept. 3 roof fall.
“I’m absolutely flabbergasted — flabbergasted,” Byrd told MSHA chief Richard Stickler. “I’m at a loss.
“How can we have any faith that things at MSHA are improving if you’re not even fulfilling these basic inspection responsibilities?”
Stickler said that his staff had told him that MSHA conducted “enhanced spot inspections” each quarter at the CONSOL mine.
“They were not referred to as full regular inspections, because they did not cover every area of the mine, but they went beyond the normal spot inspections,” Stickler told Byrd.
Byrd asked Davitt McAteer, who ran MSHA during the Clinton administration, to comment on Stickler’s response.
“Spot inspections were to be conducted or are to be conducted in an effort to pinpoint and to determine if there are particular types of problems,” McAteer said. “But the statute mandates from the 1969 act that you worked so hard to pass that the mines be inspected four times a year in their entirety.”
Charleston Gazette - WV, USA
By Ken Ward Jr.
September 18, 2007
Federal regulators missed required inspections during the past two quarters at a Logan County mine where a worker was killed Sunday, government records show.
U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration inspectors had not conducted a complete review of the Mountaineer II Mine since March, agency records show.
Under federal law, MSHA is required to conduct a complete inspection of every underground coal mine once per quarter.
Federal officials had conducted numerous “spot inspections” at the Arch Coal Inc. operation. Such reviews generally aren’t as thorough as the required quarterly inspections, experts say.
The Mountaineer II Mine accident is the second time this month that a West Virginia miner was killed in an operation where MSHA missed required inspections.
Around 7 a.m. Sunday, construction worker Robert D. Fraley was killed when he fell about 350 feet down an airshaft being built at the Mountaineer II Mine, state and federal mine safety officials said.
Fraley, 53, of Dorothy, worked for Coalfield Services Inc., a Wytheville, Va., contractor that was helping with the shaft construction, according to a John Snider, a spokesman for Arch Coal.
The Mountaineer II Mine is part of Arch Coal’s new Mountain Laurel Complex near Sharples. St. Louis-based Arch Coal operates the facility through its nonunion arm, Mingo Logan Coal Co.
Arch has been gearing up production at Mountaineer, as it prepared for the start-up of an advanced longwall mining machine.
Through the first six months of 2007, the mine produced 500,000 tons of coal with 216 workers, according to MSHA data.
Sunday’s accident was the second fatal shaft-construction accident nationwide in the last six weeks.
Nationwide, shaft construction work has consistently reported accident rates worse — sometimes more than twice as high — as other coal-mining work, according to MSHA.
In Sunday’s accident at Mountaineer II, Fraley was assisting in preparing a cement floor with a grinder to install an automatic closing door between two ventilation fans, the MSHA report said. A co-worker saw Fraley standing next to a railing that separated their work area from the airshaft, the report said. About five minutes later, Fraley was gone. The co-worker reported him missing, and his body was found at the bottom of the shaft at about 8:20 a.m.
“The railing separating the work area from the air shaft was four feet high and extended across the fan house from wall to wall,” the MSHA report said. “The railing was located eight feet from the mine opening. No work was scheduled on the airshaft side of the protective railing.”
So far in 2007, MSHA officials have conducted eight special inspections focused on shaft construction at Mountaineer II.
Those reviews involved a median of 10 hours per inspection, compared to the 77-hour median time MSHA inspectors spent on complete mine inspections at the operation, records show.
MSHA’s last complete, quarterly inspection started in mid-January and took more than 90 hours of work through March 28, agency records show.
Since then, MSHA inspectors have also visited the mine 14 times on special spot inspections aimed at operations that liberate large amounts of explosive methane. Those inspections involved a median of eight hours per inspection, agency records show.
Federal inspectors conducted one more lengthy spot inspection of the mine that involved 107 hours of work between June 4 and June 27, MSHA records show.
But since that complete inspection that ended March 28, federal officials have not started a regular, quarterly review at the mine.
MSHA officials at agency headquarters in Arlington, Va., could not immediately explain the inspection oversight at Mountaineer II.
Two weeks ago, Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., blasted MSHA after reading a Gazette report about the agency’s failure to conduct a complete inspection yet this year of CONSOL Energy’s Bronzite Mine in Mingo County, where a worker died in a Sept. 3 roof fall.
“I’m absolutely flabbergasted — flabbergasted,” Byrd told MSHA chief Richard Stickler. “I’m at a loss.
“How can we have any faith that things at MSHA are improving if you’re not even fulfilling these basic inspection responsibilities?”
Stickler said that his staff had told him that MSHA conducted “enhanced spot inspections” each quarter at the CONSOL mine.
“They were not referred to as full regular inspections, because they did not cover every area of the mine, but they went beyond the normal spot inspections,” Stickler told Byrd.
Byrd asked Davitt McAteer, who ran MSHA during the Clinton administration, to comment on Stickler’s response.
“Spot inspections were to be conducted or are to be conducted in an effort to pinpoint and to determine if there are particular types of problems,” McAteer said. “But the statute mandates from the 1969 act that you worked so hard to pass that the mines be inspected four times a year in their entirety.”
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