After century, Darr Mine blast still worst in state
Monessen Valley Independent - Monessen,PA,
ROSTRAVER TOWNSHIP - A Rostraver historian said a local mining disaster that claimed the lives of 239 men and teens a century ago is a reminder that we are never far from the gates of eternity. The Rev. Chip Norton was the keynote speaker at the Darr Mine 100th anniversary service Saturday at Olive Branch Baptist Church in Van Meter.
Norton, a former Olive Branch pastor, described for nearly 200 people what it must have been like Dec. 19, 1907, just hours before tragedy struck that not only cut short the lives of the miners but profoundly affected the lives of those left behind.
"The morning started just like any other morning, some men went to work, some stayed home to go to church with their families whie others bustled about the patch town of Van Meter.
"It was getting on toward noon and the noontime meal was on the stove and the tables were being set when the area began to shake, and their lives would be changed forever," Norton said.
The historian said the horrific event brought out the best in many people who helped provide for the women and children who were suddenly left without provisions and social services.
"But God knew and somehow if you could talk to these people who survived, the wives, the children, the neighbors, the friends, you would find stories of the many miracles of provisions, many miracles of deliverance, many miracles of survival, many miracles of faith and strength," Norton said.
"May we remember not just the event, but that these were real people with real cities from where they had migrated, real towns where they lived, real wives who they loved, real children who were the apples of their eyes. May we learn we are never far from the gates of eternity ourselves," said the speaker.
The 11 a.m. service included prayers, the American and Hungarian national anthems, remarks from mining and union officials and representatives from the six sponsoring organizations, and placement of a ceremonial wreath at the nearby cemetery where 71 of the victims are buried in a common grave.
The Rev. Imre Bertalan Jr., executive director of Bethlen Home in Ligonier, said the fallen miners were simple breadwinners made heroes merely through tragedy.
"Emotions are never one dimensional," Bertalan said. "We must always be reminded that human life is more valuable than profits."
The Darr disaster claimed more lives than any mining accident in Pennsylvania history. Nationwide, more than 3,200 miners died in mining-related accidents in December 1907, making it the most deadly month in mining history.
Kevin Stricklin, administrator for the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, said the industry has made great strides in safety since the 1907 disaster at Pittsburg Coal Company's 65-year-old mine.
Stricklin, a native of Wickhaven, said the Miners Act of 1968 gave more teeth to federal inspectors' authority to shut down mines. He said stiffer penalties, better communication to the miners underground and better techniques to ensure a greater likelihood of survival in the event of an explosion were also enacted last year.
"As with any rules and regulations we have, there is typically someone's blood on it that has caused us to change our regulations," said Stricklin. "I can tell you that when you go out to meet with the widow, one miner dying is one too many," he said.
Edward Yankovich, international vice president of the United Mine Workers of America, said 100,000 miners have died in mining accidents since the Darr Mine tragedy and 100,000 miners have succumbed to Black Lung disease.
"As we sit here 100 years after the explosion to commemorate and celebrate the industry to which those immigrants from Hungary and all over Europe lent so much to its riches, I think about what they would want me to relay today," he said.
"I believe they would want us to continue the fight for human life and safety. I believe they would want us to embrace them and help them see through the (corporate) greed that tries to use us against them."
Yankovich said the union will continue to honor the spirit of fallen miners and take appropriate action.
Many who attended the service were there to honor their ancestors.
"This was absolutely incredible, a very, very unique and dignified service and wonderfully put together," said Steve Zolock, of Belle Vernon, who attended with his wife Sarah.
Zolock's great-grandfather, John Arva, was a Darr Mine victim. His grandfather, Mike Zolock, took off work that day to celebrate the Feast of St. Nicholas.
Joann Verin, of Belle Vernon, attended the service with her son, Tyler, a Belle Vernon Area ninth-grader who is writing a story for the "Young Voices" feature in The Valley Independent.
"He just studied this in school last year," Joann Vernin said. "I learned a lot about the tragedy here today."
Rostraver Township Commissioner Ralph Iacoboni presented a proclamation.
"It means a lot to Rostraver to be here and be able to give this proclamation," Iacoboni said. "It is a sad day in that such a disaster happened, but hopefully a lot of reforms in the mining industry have resulted in improvements so that these types of disasters don't happen again."
The American Hungarian Federation spearheaded the memorial service as most of the fallen miners were Hungarian immigrants. It was joined by the Hungarian Reformed Federation of America, the Hungarian Reform Church of America, William Penn Association, the Calvin Synod of United Church of Christ and the Bethlen Communities of Ligonier.
The Rostraver Historical Society coordinated the event locally.
The following also took part: VFW Post 7023 Honor Guard, Perryopolis; Taps by Frazier School District students; Scott Hamilton on bagpipes; and remarks by miner Joseph Sbaffoni.
In 1994, The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission placed an historical marker along Route 981 at Olive Branch Cemetery.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Coal fire at Black Thunder lasts 12 hours
Coal fire at Black Thunder lasts 12 hours
Gillette WY,USA
October 2, 2007
A coal fire at Black Thunder mine that started Monday afternoon kept firefighters from Gillette and Wright busy for more than 12 hours and into Tuesday morning.
Crews were sent to the mine, operated by Thunder Basin Coal Co., and owned by St. Louis-based Arch Coal, after a fire in the south coal bin, or “coal barn,” was reported at 2:44 p.m., according to a Fire Department news release.
The incident resulted in a minor injury to a Black Thunder worker, but details were unavailable, the release stated.
Fire Department personnel worked through the night, returning to their stations late this morning for rest. On Tuesday, fire crews were just beginning to leave the mine at 8 a.m., said acting Fire Chief Rich Hauber.
Calls to spokesmen based at Black Thunder and Arch’s St. Louis headquarters were not returned by deadline Tuesday.
Gillette WY,USA
October 2, 2007
A coal fire at Black Thunder mine that started Monday afternoon kept firefighters from Gillette and Wright busy for more than 12 hours and into Tuesday morning.
Crews were sent to the mine, operated by Thunder Basin Coal Co., and owned by St. Louis-based Arch Coal, after a fire in the south coal bin, or “coal barn,” was reported at 2:44 p.m., according to a Fire Department news release.
The incident resulted in a minor injury to a Black Thunder worker, but details were unavailable, the release stated.
Fire Department personnel worked through the night, returning to their stations late this morning for rest. On Tuesday, fire crews were just beginning to leave the mine at 8 a.m., said acting Fire Chief Rich Hauber.
Calls to spokesmen based at Black Thunder and Arch’s St. Louis headquarters were not returned by deadline Tuesday.
MSHA Awards Half-Million Dollars in Mine Safety Grants
MSHA Awards Half-Million Dollars in Mine Safety Grants
October 2, 2007
The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) announced seven recipients of a total of $500,000 in grant funds for education and training at underground coal mines. MSHA established the competitive grants program through a provision in the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006.
"These grants will go a long way toward providing mine emergency training for coal miners," said Richard E. Stickler, assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health.
"The program is a fitting tribute to the miners lost at both the Sago and Jim Walter #5 mines."
Twelve applications were submitted. The selected grantees are as follows:
Grantee Amount Awarded Type of Program
College of Eastern Utah $54,000
Mine Emergency Training
Colorado Department of Reclamation, Mining & Safety $53,000
Training Materials for Mine Emergencies
Pennsylvania State University $135,000
Mine Emergency Training
United Mine Workers of America Career Center $73,000
Mine Emergency Training
Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals & Energy $85,000
Mine Emergency Training Vincennes University (Indiana) $50,000
Mine Emergency Training West Virginia Miners Health Safety & Training $50,000
Training Materials for Mine Emergencies
Applicants for the Brookwood-Sago grants must be states or nonprofit entities. MSHA may award as many as 10 separate grants a minimum of $50,000 each with a 12-month period of performance. These grants will be made on an annual, competitive basis to provide education and training for employers and miners, with a special emphasis on smaller mines.
In 2001, 13 men died in two explosions at the Jim Walter Resources #5 mine in Brookwood, Ala. Another explosion at the Sago Mine in Buchannon, W.Va., claimed 12 lives in early 2006.
SOURCE U.S. Department of Labor
October 2, 2007
The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) announced seven recipients of a total of $500,000 in grant funds for education and training at underground coal mines. MSHA established the competitive grants program through a provision in the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006.
"These grants will go a long way toward providing mine emergency training for coal miners," said Richard E. Stickler, assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health.
"The program is a fitting tribute to the miners lost at both the Sago and Jim Walter #5 mines."
Twelve applications were submitted. The selected grantees are as follows:
Grantee Amount Awarded Type of Program
College of Eastern Utah $54,000
Mine Emergency Training
Colorado Department of Reclamation, Mining & Safety $53,000
Training Materials for Mine Emergencies
Pennsylvania State University $135,000
Mine Emergency Training
United Mine Workers of America Career Center $73,000
Mine Emergency Training
Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals & Energy $85,000
Mine Emergency Training Vincennes University (Indiana) $50,000
Mine Emergency Training West Virginia Miners Health Safety & Training $50,000
Training Materials for Mine Emergencies
Applicants for the Brookwood-Sago grants must be states or nonprofit entities. MSHA may award as many as 10 separate grants a minimum of $50,000 each with a 12-month period of performance. These grants will be made on an annual, competitive basis to provide education and training for employers and miners, with a special emphasis on smaller mines.
In 2001, 13 men died in two explosions at the Jim Walter Resources #5 mine in Brookwood, Ala. Another explosion at the Sago Mine in Buchannon, W.Va., claimed 12 lives in early 2006.
SOURCE U.S. Department of Labor
Kennedy: tougher mine-safety efforts needed
Kennedy: tougher mine-safety efforts needed
The Courier-Journal
October 2, 2007
WASHINGTON — With 24 deaths so far this year in the nation’s coal mines, federal safety enforcement still needs improvement, a top Senate Democrat said today.
“Ineffective enforcement, outdated technology and inadequate safety standards are the heart of the problem,” Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said at a coal-mine safety hearing.
Enforcement and safety efforts by the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration have come under renewed focus in Congress since Utah’s Crandall Canyon mine disaster in August, when six miners were trapped and presumed lost and three rescue workers were later killed trying to save them.
Kennedy was among a bipartisan group of lawmakers who last year wrote and passed new mine-safety legislation in answer to the Kentucky Darby Mine No. 1 accident and accidents at West Virginia’s Sago and Alma mines. A total of 19 miners died in those accidents, five of them at Darby.
While that legislation is making a difference, Kennedy said, “Today we find ourselves asking new questions about whether this did enough to make mining safe.”
Congress is considering additional safety legislation this year.
Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., cautioned that not every mine accident requires legislation.“So we must wait until all the facts are in before we determine what course to take,” he said.
Kennedy acknowledged that the Utah accident is still under investigation and that it’s too early to expect answers as to what went wrong.
But, Kennedy said, “at Crandall Canyon … MSHA apparently missed the warning flags about serious safety problems.”
Kevin Stricklin, MSHA’s administrator for coal mine safety and health, said his agency was never notified about a “mountain bump” in March, a catastrophic failure of part of the mine that resulted in the suspension of mining in one section.
His agency approved new mining in another section 900 feet away in June, less than two months before the accident.
But Kennedy said other information available to MSHA would have shown that the Utah operation was dangerous.
“Why didn’t MSHA recognize the problem?” Kennedy asked.
Said Stricklin: “I think that’s something the investigation teams are going to have to come up with.”
MSHA currently has stopped all so-called retreat mining west of the Mississippi River to review operators’ plans. Retreat mining involves removing pillars of coal as miners complete operations.
Stricklin told the panel that “retreat mining can be done safely.” About 48 percent of the 223 active underground coal mines conduct retreat mining, he said. The practice is common in Kentucky.
Some family members of the Utah victims were in the audience for the hearing, conducted by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, of which Kennedy is chairman. The committee did not vote on legislation.
Dennis O’Dell, the administrator for health and safety of the United Mine Workers union, called the Utah accident a “man-made disaster” that could have been avoided.
The Courier-Journal
October 2, 2007
WASHINGTON — With 24 deaths so far this year in the nation’s coal mines, federal safety enforcement still needs improvement, a top Senate Democrat said today.
“Ineffective enforcement, outdated technology and inadequate safety standards are the heart of the problem,” Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said at a coal-mine safety hearing.
Enforcement and safety efforts by the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration have come under renewed focus in Congress since Utah’s Crandall Canyon mine disaster in August, when six miners were trapped and presumed lost and three rescue workers were later killed trying to save them.
Kennedy was among a bipartisan group of lawmakers who last year wrote and passed new mine-safety legislation in answer to the Kentucky Darby Mine No. 1 accident and accidents at West Virginia’s Sago and Alma mines. A total of 19 miners died in those accidents, five of them at Darby.
While that legislation is making a difference, Kennedy said, “Today we find ourselves asking new questions about whether this did enough to make mining safe.”
Congress is considering additional safety legislation this year.
Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., cautioned that not every mine accident requires legislation.“So we must wait until all the facts are in before we determine what course to take,” he said.
Kennedy acknowledged that the Utah accident is still under investigation and that it’s too early to expect answers as to what went wrong.
But, Kennedy said, “at Crandall Canyon … MSHA apparently missed the warning flags about serious safety problems.”
Kevin Stricklin, MSHA’s administrator for coal mine safety and health, said his agency was never notified about a “mountain bump” in March, a catastrophic failure of part of the mine that resulted in the suspension of mining in one section.
His agency approved new mining in another section 900 feet away in June, less than two months before the accident.
But Kennedy said other information available to MSHA would have shown that the Utah operation was dangerous.
“Why didn’t MSHA recognize the problem?” Kennedy asked.
Said Stricklin: “I think that’s something the investigation teams are going to have to come up with.”
MSHA currently has stopped all so-called retreat mining west of the Mississippi River to review operators’ plans. Retreat mining involves removing pillars of coal as miners complete operations.
Stricklin told the panel that “retreat mining can be done safely.” About 48 percent of the 223 active underground coal mines conduct retreat mining, he said. The practice is common in Kentucky.
Some family members of the Utah victims were in the audience for the hearing, conducted by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, of which Kennedy is chairman. The committee did not vote on legislation.
Dennis O’Dell, the administrator for health and safety of the United Mine Workers union, called the Utah accident a “man-made disaster” that could have been avoided.
Consol submits plans for mine re-entry
Consol submits plans for mine re-entry
October 2, 2007
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Consol Energy Inc. (NYSE:CNX) said Tuesday it has submitted to regulators plans to re-enter its Buchanan mine near Mavisdale, Va.
Production at Buchanan was idled in July after roof collapses damaged ventilation controls inside the mine. Consol evacuated the mine, and no injuries were reported.
Consol has now submitted a re-entry plan to the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration and to the Commonwealth of Virginia for review and comment. The company does not expect to receive approval to re-enter Buchanan before mid-October.
Buchanan's air quality 'continues to show an overall improvement,' Consol said in a statement. Carbon monoxide readings had risen above ambient levels after the incident, but have returned to normal in all but one monitoring station.
Consol has restarted nitrogen injection into the areas that showed elevated carbon monoxide readings. Injections will continue for a week to ten days, when the mine atmosphere will be re-evaluated.
Consol shares fell 52 cents to $46.82 in morning trading.
October 2, 2007
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Consol Energy Inc. (NYSE:CNX) said Tuesday it has submitted to regulators plans to re-enter its Buchanan mine near Mavisdale, Va.
Production at Buchanan was idled in July after roof collapses damaged ventilation controls inside the mine. Consol evacuated the mine, and no injuries were reported.
Consol has now submitted a re-entry plan to the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration and to the Commonwealth of Virginia for review and comment. The company does not expect to receive approval to re-enter Buchanan before mid-October.
Buchanan's air quality 'continues to show an overall improvement,' Consol said in a statement. Carbon monoxide readings had risen above ambient levels after the incident, but have returned to normal in all but one monitoring station.
Consol has restarted nitrogen injection into the areas that showed elevated carbon monoxide readings. Injections will continue for a week to ten days, when the mine atmosphere will be re-evaluated.
Consol shares fell 52 cents to $46.82 in morning trading.
Feds relied on grad student for review of controversial mining method
Feds relied on grad student for review of controversial mining method
Salt Lake Tribune -
United States
October 2, 2007
WASHINGTON - Federal mine regulators relied on a graduate student to do the technical review for proposed retreat mining in the Crandall Canyon mine, the head of coal mine safety told a Senate committee today.
The mine's operators, UtahAmerican Energy Inc., had submitted a proposal in May to do retreat mining in Crandall Canyon, and provided a technical analysis from its engineering consultant, Agapito Associates Inc., which said it could be done safely.
The Mine Safety and Health Administration relied on the technical review of an engineering graduate student when it approved the mining on June 15, Kevin Stricklin, MSHA's administrator for coal mine safety, told senators.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., seemed surprised by the disclosure. Stricklin said that is not normally the case, but was in this instance.
A report by the National Institutes on Occupational Safety and Health called into question the computer modeling done by Agapito to back up the proposed mine plan. The NIOSH report said that its own computer modeling showed that it would be reasonable to expect problems mining in Crandall Canyon because of the pressure created by the depth of the mine.
Asked why MSHA didn't recognize the problems in Agapito's technical analysis, Stricklin said that is something the agency's investigation will have to look at.
Six miners - Kerry Allred, Don Erickson, Luis Hernandez, Juan Carlos Payan, Brandon Phillips, Manuel Sanchez - were killed Aug. 6 after the intense pressures bearing down on the underground mine caused a bump or bounce, where coal exploded from the pillars and a massive cave-in, entombing the men.
Ten days later, another bounce occurred, trapping miners under heaps of coal. Three died and six others were injured.
A similar bump in March had forced the company to halt mining in an area about 900 feet to the north of where the August disaster occurred. Stricklin said MSHA was not officially informed of the March bump.
Had the agency been notified, there would have been additional scrutiny of the proposed mining in the south barrier.
Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., questioned why the Bureau of Land Management knew of the problems in the mine, but the information was not shared with MSHA. Kennedy likened it to the failure of federal intelligence agencies to coordinate information prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Family members of the trapped miners were on hand for the hearing and will testify before a House committee tomorrow.
Also Tuesday, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said he was working with the Labor Department to ensure that the Utah Mine Safety Commission, appointed by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. to review what could be done to prevent future accidents, gets the information it needs from MSHA's investigation team. Thus far, MSHA has refused to provide information to the Utah commission.
Salt Lake Tribune -
United States
October 2, 2007
WASHINGTON - Federal mine regulators relied on a graduate student to do the technical review for proposed retreat mining in the Crandall Canyon mine, the head of coal mine safety told a Senate committee today.
The mine's operators, UtahAmerican Energy Inc., had submitted a proposal in May to do retreat mining in Crandall Canyon, and provided a technical analysis from its engineering consultant, Agapito Associates Inc., which said it could be done safely.
The Mine Safety and Health Administration relied on the technical review of an engineering graduate student when it approved the mining on June 15, Kevin Stricklin, MSHA's administrator for coal mine safety, told senators.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., seemed surprised by the disclosure. Stricklin said that is not normally the case, but was in this instance.
A report by the National Institutes on Occupational Safety and Health called into question the computer modeling done by Agapito to back up the proposed mine plan. The NIOSH report said that its own computer modeling showed that it would be reasonable to expect problems mining in Crandall Canyon because of the pressure created by the depth of the mine.
Asked why MSHA didn't recognize the problems in Agapito's technical analysis, Stricklin said that is something the agency's investigation will have to look at.
Six miners - Kerry Allred, Don Erickson, Luis Hernandez, Juan Carlos Payan, Brandon Phillips, Manuel Sanchez - were killed Aug. 6 after the intense pressures bearing down on the underground mine caused a bump or bounce, where coal exploded from the pillars and a massive cave-in, entombing the men.
Ten days later, another bounce occurred, trapping miners under heaps of coal. Three died and six others were injured.
A similar bump in March had forced the company to halt mining in an area about 900 feet to the north of where the August disaster occurred. Stricklin said MSHA was not officially informed of the March bump.
Had the agency been notified, there would have been additional scrutiny of the proposed mining in the south barrier.
Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., questioned why the Bureau of Land Management knew of the problems in the mine, but the information was not shared with MSHA. Kennedy likened it to the failure of federal intelligence agencies to coordinate information prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Family members of the trapped miners were on hand for the hearing and will testify before a House committee tomorrow.
Also Tuesday, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said he was working with the Labor Department to ensure that the Utah Mine Safety Commission, appointed by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. to review what could be done to prevent future accidents, gets the information it needs from MSHA's investigation team. Thus far, MSHA has refused to provide information to the Utah commission.
Feds at first refused to approve retreat mining
Feds at first refused to approve retreat mining
BLM reports show conditions were 'extremely hazardous
'By Robert Gehrke
The Salt Lake Tribune
October 2, 2007
Federal mine experts refused to approve retreat mining at Crandall Canyon until the mine operator changed its plan by including additional roof supports, a top Mine Safety and Health Administration official will tell Congress today.
Kevin Stricklin, head of coal mine safety, will walk senators through the steps the Mine Safety and Health Administration took before approving the plans to cut into the 500-foot thick coal barriers that were helping to support the roof, according to his prepared testimony, obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune.
Stricklin's comments come as the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee begins its inquiry into the August mine collapse that entombed six miners - Kerry Allred, Don Erickson, Luis Hernandez, Juan Carlos Payan, Brandon Phillips, Manuel Sanchez - and into the later bump that killed three rescuers and injured six others.
The House Education and Labor Committee is scheduled to hear Wednesday from five of the deceased miners' family members and Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.
Discussions of mining the thick coal walls first took place in the spring of 2006, Stricklin says, before Crandall Canyon was purchased by UtahAmerican Energy and Robert Murray. Murray bought the mine in August 2006, and requested approval in January to do retreat mining - a practice in which the pillars supporting the roof are cut away allowing the roof to fall in - in the coal barriers.
As part of its review, MSHA looked at technical analyses done by Agapito Associates Inc., a Colorado based engineering firm, requesting clarification on some issues in the report. The agency then sent its own experts to Crandall Canyon to observe conditions and recommended some changes, Stricklin said.
The company said last week it would not address issues relating to approval of its mine plan while MSHA is investigating the matter.
The retreat mining plan was approved in February, and work progressed until March, when a major bump - where pressures in the mine cause coal to burst from the roof or pillars - significantly damaged the mine and prompted operators to abandon efforts to recover the pillars in the north barrier.
Stricklin says the bump was not officially reported to MSHA; the company maintains it didn't have to report the event. The MSHA investigation will consider whether the event should have been reported, Stricklin said.
Despite the problems retreat mining in the north barrier, when mine operators asked MSHA to approve a similar plan in the south barrier, it was quickly OK'd on June 15.
MSHA experts recommended against cutting away eight pillars in the south barrier to protect ventilation tunnels. The pillars are in the area where the six miners were working on Aug. 6 when a massive bump caused a major collapse, trapping them underground.
Robert Ferriter, director of the Mine Safety and Health Program at the Colorado School of Mines, said that, given the problems that were experienced in the north barrier and the similarities in the type of mining and conditions, "one could reasonably anticipate the occurrence of additional coal mine bumps.
"The risk was quite clear," Ferriter said in his prepared testimony.
Ferriter quotes several reports by a Bureau of Land Management inspector, noting deteriorating conditions, bumps and roof falls in the area being mined.
BLM had already refused in 2004 to allow mining of the pillars between the barriers, determining the enormous pressures had caused them to deteriorate so badly that the plans to try pillar recovery were "wishful thinking."
But when it came to mining the barriers themselves, BLM allowed work to proceed but urged caution.
Ferriter said that, based on the BLM reports, "It is obvious that mining conditions in the barrier pillars were extremely hazardous, yet removal of coal pillars from the barrier pillars continued."
BLM reports show conditions were 'extremely hazardous
'By Robert Gehrke
The Salt Lake Tribune
October 2, 2007
Federal mine experts refused to approve retreat mining at Crandall Canyon until the mine operator changed its plan by including additional roof supports, a top Mine Safety and Health Administration official will tell Congress today.
Kevin Stricklin, head of coal mine safety, will walk senators through the steps the Mine Safety and Health Administration took before approving the plans to cut into the 500-foot thick coal barriers that were helping to support the roof, according to his prepared testimony, obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune.
Stricklin's comments come as the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee begins its inquiry into the August mine collapse that entombed six miners - Kerry Allred, Don Erickson, Luis Hernandez, Juan Carlos Payan, Brandon Phillips, Manuel Sanchez - and into the later bump that killed three rescuers and injured six others.
The House Education and Labor Committee is scheduled to hear Wednesday from five of the deceased miners' family members and Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.
Discussions of mining the thick coal walls first took place in the spring of 2006, Stricklin says, before Crandall Canyon was purchased by UtahAmerican Energy and Robert Murray. Murray bought the mine in August 2006, and requested approval in January to do retreat mining - a practice in which the pillars supporting the roof are cut away allowing the roof to fall in - in the coal barriers.
As part of its review, MSHA looked at technical analyses done by Agapito Associates Inc., a Colorado based engineering firm, requesting clarification on some issues in the report. The agency then sent its own experts to Crandall Canyon to observe conditions and recommended some changes, Stricklin said.
The company said last week it would not address issues relating to approval of its mine plan while MSHA is investigating the matter.
The retreat mining plan was approved in February, and work progressed until March, when a major bump - where pressures in the mine cause coal to burst from the roof or pillars - significantly damaged the mine and prompted operators to abandon efforts to recover the pillars in the north barrier.
Stricklin says the bump was not officially reported to MSHA; the company maintains it didn't have to report the event. The MSHA investigation will consider whether the event should have been reported, Stricklin said.
Despite the problems retreat mining in the north barrier, when mine operators asked MSHA to approve a similar plan in the south barrier, it was quickly OK'd on June 15.
MSHA experts recommended against cutting away eight pillars in the south barrier to protect ventilation tunnels. The pillars are in the area where the six miners were working on Aug. 6 when a massive bump caused a major collapse, trapping them underground.
Robert Ferriter, director of the Mine Safety and Health Program at the Colorado School of Mines, said that, given the problems that were experienced in the north barrier and the similarities in the type of mining and conditions, "one could reasonably anticipate the occurrence of additional coal mine bumps.
"The risk was quite clear," Ferriter said in his prepared testimony.
Ferriter quotes several reports by a Bureau of Land Management inspector, noting deteriorating conditions, bumps and roof falls in the area being mined.
BLM had already refused in 2004 to allow mining of the pillars between the barriers, determining the enormous pressures had caused them to deteriorate so badly that the plans to try pillar recovery were "wishful thinking."
But when it came to mining the barriers themselves, BLM allowed work to proceed but urged caution.
Ferriter said that, based on the BLM reports, "It is obvious that mining conditions in the barrier pillars were extremely hazardous, yet removal of coal pillars from the barrier pillars continued."
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