The Trump administration is negotiating to settle legal challenges brought by Murray Energy and a collection of industry trade associations over a rule change meant to toughen federal coal mine safety enforcement following the deaths of 29 miners in the Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster in 2010.
One of Gov. Jim Justice’s family mining operations has been cited by West Virginia inspectors for six safety violations — including one that will draw a “special assessment” penalty — in the investigation of the February death of a worker at a McDowell County coal preparation plant, accordin…
Seven years after the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster, federal regulators are still not fully implementing congressionally mandated reforms of the nation’s program for responding to coal mine emergencies, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Inspector General.
State safety inspectors wouldn’t inspect West Virginia’s coal mines anymore. They would conduct “compliance visits and education.”
Suppose the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration wanted to finally update its decades-old rule on exposure to silica dust to help protect coal miners from the rising threat of deadly lung disease.
As his days as the nation’s top mine safety regulator wind down, Joe Main is touting some undeniable successes, but he is also acknowledging his tenure as assistant secretary of labor for the Mine Safety and Health Administration comes to an end with a lot of unfinished business still on the…
A resurgence of the most advanced and deadly form of black lung disease appears to be far worse than had been originally reported, according to a new government scientific report and an investigation by National Public Radio.
Outgoing federal Mine Safety and Health Administration chief Joe Main is concerned that if the Trump administration makes regulatory and enforcement changes to address complaints from some in the coal industry, the moves could erode important protections for the nation’s miners.
Penalties for criminal violations of the laws intended to keep American workers safe and healthy are “woefully inadequate” and such crimes are rarely prosecuted, the national AFL-CIO said in a new report being released to coincide with the labor movement’s commemoration of what it calls Work…
Legal experts and mine safety advocates are saying the sentencing of former Massey Energy Co. CEO Don Blankenship to a year in prison sends a “powerful message” but also that federal laws need to be updated to provide stronger punishment for worker safety crimes.
On the last day for him to act on legislation passed this session, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin on Friday signed an industry-backed bill that weakens several of West Virginia’s mine safety requirements, but has been portrayed as a compromise between coal companies and organized labor.
A bill that’s being promoted as a compromise between coal industry lobbyists and the United Mine Workers union — and an effort to help the state’s ailing mining sector — easily passed the state Senate on Tuesday, despite concerns that the measure weakens safety protections for West Virginia’…
Safety checks would be reduced on the hoisting devices used to transport workers and supplies in some underground coal mines, under a bill that is moving through the West Virginia Legislature with support from the coal industry and the United Mine Workers union.
A bill agreed to by coal industry officials and the United Mine Workers union continues to easily move through the Legislature, despite state officials saying they haven't studied how language easing requirements for mine rescue teams would impact the ability to respond to future mine fires,…
Coal operators could cut back on mine rescue teams, pay lower fines for not quickly reporting workplace accidents and exercise improved rights to challenge safety citations under a bill that's making its way through the West Virginia Legislature with the blessing of the United Mine Workers union.
Peggy Cohen vividly recalls the early-morning phone call on Jan. 2, 2006.
Federal regulators said Tuesday that they want to expand the requirement for coal-mine operators to install life-saving “proximity detection” devices on certain underground mining equipment, with a new proposed rule that’s been in the works for years.
‘Proximity detection’ will save miners from being killed by continuous mining machines
Eight years ago, Rep. Shelley Moore Capito stood behind President George W. Bush and watched him sign into law the congressional response to a series of coal-mine disasters in West Virginia and Kentucky. Sen. Robert C. Byrd was there. So was then-West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, and Randal Mc…
Federal investigators on Tuesday cited a Patriot Coal subsidiary for serious violations related to the May “outburst” that killed two miners at Patriot’s Brody Mine in Boone County, saying company officials did not properly respond to a near-miss incident three days before the deaths.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — At about 10 p.m. on May 9, continuous mining machine operator Rob Sammons was loading a shuttle car with coal at Patriot Coal’s Brody Mine No. 1 when a nearby mine wall exploded. Sammons was knocked to the floor and buried up to his waist in coal.
Federal safety regulators have agreed to create a mine fire prevention training course as part of a proposal to settle a lawsuit brought against the government over lax enforcement at a Massey Energy operation where two miners died in a January 2006 fire, records show.
Last August, the Obama administration issued a news release to brag that the coal industry had “virtually eliminated” deaths from a dangerous practice known as retreat mining. The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration release, dated Aug 5, 2013, touted a five-year stretch from 2008 to 2…
FLATWOODS, W.Va. -- After months of discussions about "proximity detection" devices, members of a state board on Thursday reached a conclusion: They need to talk some more about whether to require West Virginia's mine operators to install the life-saving equipment.For the fourth monthly meet…
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Labor and industry representatives on a West Virginia mine safety board are working on competing proposals to curb deaths and injuries from miners being crushed or pinned by fast-moving underground mining equipment.During a meeting Thursday in Charleston, members of the …
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Only one out of every 25 machines used in underground coal mines across West Virginia is equipped with proximity detection systems that can help prevent some of the most common deaths and injuries in the mining industry.Seventy-four pieces of underground mine equipment w…
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A state task force is recommending that West Virginia adopt a rule to begin requiring the use of "proximity detection" systems in underground coal mines.Last week, the West Virginia Mine Safety Technology Task Force approved the recommendation. It's scheduled to be consi…
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Members of a state board on Tuesday again delayed any action on a proposal that could end a common type of coal-mining accident in which workers are hurt or killed when they are crushed by a piece of underground equipment.The state Board of Coal Mine Health and Safety di…
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A coal mining contractor used dozens of illegal cash withdrawals from a Mingo County bank to help finance a multimillion dollar scheme aimed at lowering workers' compensation premiums for firms that provide workers to some of West Virginia's largest coal producers, feder…
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The state Supreme Court on Tuesday paved the way for the widows of two miners killed in the 2006 Aracoma Mine fire to pursue their lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Labor over lax enforcement of federal mine safety standards at the operation.In a 5-0 ruling, the jus…
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Nearly 25,000 current and former coal preparation plant workers would receive medical testing to detect diseases potentially linked to toxic chemical exposure under the proposed settlement of a decade-old court battle.The proposed deal offers one-time medical examination…
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- West Virginia led the nation in 2012 with seven coal-mining deaths, according to preliminary figures from the U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration. The fatality count for 2012 was one more than the six West Virginia coal miners killed in 2011.…
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- West Virginia led the nation in 2012 with seven coal-mining deaths, according to preliminary figures from the U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration. The fatality count for 2012 was one more than the six West Virginia coal miners killed in 2011.…
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- When Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney tours the coalfields in the swing states of Ohio and Virginia, he promises to reverse Obama administration environmental regulations the industry says are costing miners their jobs.But miners seldom hear that a Romney ad…
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The two widows from Massey Energy's Aracoma Mine fire asked the state Supreme Court on Wednesday to pave the way for their lawsuit against the federal agency charged with enforcing coal-mine safety rules."If a coal miner can't rely on a mine inspector to keep a mine safe…
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A federal appeals court has asked West Virginia's Supreme Court to decide a key issue in a case in which widows of the 2006 Aracoma Mine fire are suing the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration.On Tuesday, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals asked state justices t…
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The families of three deceased coal miners may pursue lawsuits that allege the Jackson Kelly law firm wrongly concealed evidence that those miners had black lung disease, a Raleigh County judge has ruled.Circuit Judge Harry L. Kirkpatrick III rejected an effort by Jackso…
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Federal and state regulatory agencies are moving quickly to replace potentially defective emergency breathing devices used by coal-mine safety inspectors.The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration bought 300 new self-contained, self-rescuers, or SCSRs, last year and …
Read more: http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/ CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Federal regulators on Thursday announced plans to phase out the coal industry's use of a defective model of emergency breathing device, giving the nation's mine operators up to 20 months to replace nearly 70,000 units.The…
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Federal coal mine regulators have concluded that a widely used emergency breathing device doesn't meet safety standards but have not yet taken any action to get the equipment out of the nation's mines.This week, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health i…
Read more in Coal Tattoo. CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Obama administration should expand its proposed rule to require mine operators to equip mining machines with devices meant to protect workers from being run over or crushed by those machines, the safety director of the United Mine Workers sa…
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Concerns about potentially faulty underground mine refuge shelters are much broader than previously reported, but federal and state regulators delayed action on the matter for months, interviews and a review of public records showed this week.Corroded and improperly size…
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Half of the coal mines examined in an audit by federal investigators violated rules that require companies to report accidents and worker injuries, according to the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration.MSHA said that 19 of 39 mines where it conducted the audits eit…
Read the order here. CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- State mine safety officials late Friday ordered emergency inspections of up to 500 rescue shelters in West Virginia's underground coal mines, citing concerns that cracked valves and fittings might make the units inoperable.The order from the Office o…
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Half of the coal mines examined in an audit by federal investigators violated rules that require companies to report accidents and worker injuries, according to the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration.MSHA said that 19 of 39 mines where it conducted the audits eit…
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Obama administration announced plans Monday to further delay a requirement for underground coal-mine operators to equip mining machines with devices meant to protect miners from being run over or crushed by those machines.U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration of…
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Federal regulators are working on a plan to phase out the most commonly used emergency breathing device in the coal-mining industry, but have no timeline for getting hundreds of potentially faulty units out of the mines.U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration official…
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Lawyers for one of the nation's largest makers of respirators have opened a new legal front in a longstanding dispute over black lung disease: a suit seeking to hold the former Massey Energy responsible for illnesses that miners have blamed on allegedly faulty breathing …
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The long-awaited deadline has arrived to improve safety in the nation's 540 underground coal mines by adding technology capable of tracking miners and communicating with them after a disaster.Whether the mandate will immediately improve safety for the nation's 46,000 und…
Read the study online.CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Union coal mines are significantly safer than non-union mining operations, according to a new report from a Stanford University law professor.Alison D. Morantz found a "substantial and significant decline in traumatic mining injuries and fatalities"…
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- West Virginia coal miners continue to die from black lung, despite working under coal dust levels that are currently legal, according to a soon-to-be-published study by researchers at West Virginia University.The study adds to the arguments by the Obama administration in…
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Coal operators need to make their priority eliminating all workplace deaths and injuries, the president of the United Mine Workers union and one major coal producer agreed Friday.UMW President Cecil Roberts and Patriot Coal CEO Richard Whiting found common ground on the …
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Federal authorities expect to continue working into early next year on a criminal probe at Patriot Coal's Federal No. 2 Mine, a Monongalia County operation once praised by regulators, labor and management as a model coal mine.One former Federal No. 2 foreman has already …
Read the Supreme Court's opinion hereCHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A lawyer at the Jackson Kelly firm has been suspended by the state Supreme Court for one year for withholding evidence from a retired miner seeking black lung benefits.In an opinion released Wednesday, Supreme Court justices unanimous…
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- A regulatory filing by Patriot Coal Corp. reveals that federal investigators have demanded information about methane gas detectors as they investigate questionable safety records at the Federal No. 2 mine in Northern West Virginia.The St. Louis-based coal operator said i…
Read the MSHA reportCHARLESTON, W.Va. -- More than four years after the Sago Mine disaster, fewer than one of every 10 underground coal mines in the United States has added improved communications and tracking equipment that could help miners escape an explosion or fire.Last week, the U.S. M…
CLARKSBURG, W.Va. -- A former foreman at one of West Virginia's largest underground coal mines admitted Wednesday that he lied about conducting a key safety test, as a federal criminal probe continued into allegations that Patriot Coal officials covered up evidence of explosive methane level…
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A Patriot Coal foreman told state and federal investigators he was ordered more than a year ago not to keep records of explosive methane levels he discovered inside sealed portions of the company's Federal No. 2 Mine in Monongalia County.John Renner of Morgantown said he…
Read the noticeCHARLESTON, W.Va. -- More than 4,000 emergency breathing devices are being recalled from U.S. coal mines after the manufacturer, CSE Corp., discovered a problem that could have prevented the units from starting properly.The recall involves CSE's SR-100, the most widely used se…
Read previous Gazette coverageCHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A Patriot Coal foreman who is cooperating with federal investigators has been charged with faking a methane test in the first formal action in a broad criminal probe at Patriot's Federal No. 2 Mine in Monongalia County.At the same time, docu…
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Mine operators have tripled their appeals of safety citations and fines in an effort to block tougher enforcement actions for repeat violations, members of a congressional hearing were told Tuesday.Companies formally challenged about 9,200 citations or fines issued by th…
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Six months ago, Obama administration Labor Secretary Hilda Solis emerged from Patriot Coal's Federal No. 2 Mine in Monongalia County and said she was "in awe" of "one of the most premier and regulated mines" in the Appalachian coalfields.After an underground tour in earl…
Read more in Coal TattooCHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Obama administration mine safety regulators this week formally kicked off a new program to target the types of violations most frequently linked to mining deaths.The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration's "Rules to Live By" campaign is start…
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Survivors of the 2006 fire at the Aracoma Alma No. 1 Mine have won a major round in their court battle with Massey Energy.Late last week, Logan Circuit Judge Roger L. Perry ruled that nine miners who escaped the fire had proven four of the five key elements to making a c…
FRANKFORT, Ky. -- The number of miners killed on the job in the United States fell for a second consecutive year -- to 34, the fewest since officials began keeping records nearly a century ago.That was down from the previous low of 52 in 2008.U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration docume…
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Obama administration doesn't plan to propose new rules aimed at ending black lung disease until September 2010, and it remains unclear if those rules will include lowering the legal limit on coal dust that causes the deadly disease.Department of Labor officials on Mo…
Read more in Coal Tattoo.CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Obama administration plans action "in the next couple of weeks" on a program to tighten dust limits in underground coal mines and take other steps "to end black lung disease," the new head of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration…
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A former safety director for the United Mine Workers union was confirmed this week by the U.S. Senate to run the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.Joe Main will serve as assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health in the Obama administration. He w…
Read more in Coal TattooA foreman at Massey Energy's Aracoma Alma No. 1 Mine will pay a $1,000 criminal fine after he admitted that he didn't conduct required evacuation drills prior to the January 2006 fire that killed two miners.U.S. District Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr. also sentenced Dav…
Read more in Coal Tattoo.CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A federal judge on Wednesday approved a deal in which a Massey Energy subsidiary pleaded guilty to pay a $2.5 million fine for 10 mine safety crimes related to the January 2006 fire that killed coal miners Don Bragg and Ellery Hatfield.U.S. Distr…
On the eve of a congressional deadline, Labor Department officials have finalized new rules governing coal-mine refuge chambers and the use of conveyor belt tunnels to ventilate underground mines. Read the rulesThe U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration submitted the rules for publicati…
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A Massey Energy subsidiary has admitted to criminal safety violations that caused the deaths of two Logan County coal miners in a January 2006 fire, federal prosecutors revealed Tuesday. Read the MSHA report Read the plea agreement Read the settlement with MSHAMassey's…
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - For the first time ever, mine safety authorities have completed all of the quarterly inspections of underground coal mines that are required by a nearly 40-year-old federal law.The U.S. Department of Labor praised the "unprecedented" success and said it was the result of …
Read the independent review.Five months before the Crandall Canyon Mine disaster in Utah, mine officials told a federal inspector about a massive "bump" that blew out two entire coal pillars.But the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration never investigated the accident.MSHA officials wer…
Federal and state investigators have issued conflicting reports on the November 2005 death of Chad Cook, a coal truck driver killed on a Mettiki Coal haul road along the Grant-Tucker County line.Cook, 25, was killed shortly after midnight on Nov. 8, 2005, when his truck ran off the road, rol…
Federal regulators have allowed mine operators to avoid fines for thousands of health and safety citations, despite a federal law that requires monetary penalties for such violations, government officials have confirmed.Over the last six years, the Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Healt…
Federal regulators are behind schedule this year to complete required quarterly inspections at more than 60 percent of Southern West Virginia's underground coal mines, government records show.U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration managers deliberately stopped some of the required inspec…
BUCKHANNON Stronger seals, proper methane monitoring and the removal of a pump cable from a sealed area underground could have prevented the Sago Mine disaster, according to a long-awaited report issued Wednesday by federal investigators.U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration investiga…
GATZMER - On Nov. 8, 2005, Chad Cook was hauling a load of coal down Mountain View Mine Road along the Grant-Tucker County line.Cook had picked up the load at Mettiki Coal's preparation plant in Maryland. He was headed for the Mount Storm Power Station, high atop the Allegheny Front.Shortly …
International Coal Group confirmed Wednesday that it has idled its Sago Mine, the Upshur County operation where 12 workers died last year in West Virginias worst mining disaster since 1968.In a prepared statement, ICG blamed Mondays shutdown on high production costs and weakening coal pric…
Click on the photo to read the report.United Mine Workers investigators on Thursday said friction between roof rocks and metal roof supports — not lightning — ignited the explosion that led to the deaths of 12 workers last year at the Sago Mine.UMW officials blasted two previous state report…
The owner of the Sago Mine said Wednesday it was ordering emergency shelters to protect miners at all of its underground coal operations.International Coal Group announced the move about a month before plans for installing the shelters are due to be filed with the state Office of Miners Hea…
BEAVER Hundreds of unsafe seals have been discovered in underground coal mines across the country, federal mine safety regulators said last week.U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration inspectors cited operators for seals with integrity problems, improper or nonexistent mortar and damag…
BEAVER Federal regulators and the coal industry are struggling to come up with a new rule to strengthen underground mine seals.Under a new federal law, the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration has until Dec. 15 to finalize the rule.MSHA officials hope to publish a draft proposal some…
Gov. Joe Manchin on Monday praised efforts to improve communications deep inside West Virginias underground coal mines.Theyre trying everything possible, Manchin said, after a tour of a Northern Panhandle mine that is testing new communications gear. I am very encouraged by the things w…
Lawmakers have amended Gov. Joe Manchins mine safety bill to severely limit the types of repeat violations that can prompt inspectors to temporarily close West Virginia coal mines.The legislation (SB68) was changed to allow regulators to consider only significant and substantial violation…
ADGER, ALA. -- At about 8:15 p.m. on July 9, 1997, miner Robert Acklin felt a blast of air as he stood at the bottom of the elevator shaft inside U.S. Steel Mining’s Oak Grove Mine.Deep beneath the rolling hills just south of Birmingham, Ala., Acklin smelled something burning. Smoke blew tow…
Federal mine safety officials on Thursday announced the formation of a panel to study the use of conveyor belt tunnels to bring fresh air into underground coal mines.The panel, formed by the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, also will examine the composition and fire-retardant prop…
On March 9, 1976, an explosion ripped through the Scotia Mine in Letcher County, Ky. All 15 miners who were underground at the time were killed.Two days later, a second explosion roared through the Scotia Mine. Eleven more men, including three federal inspectors, died.Federal investigators b…
BROOKWOOD, Ala. On a September afternoon in 2001, 32 miners repaired drilling machines and hoisted tunnel supports into place at the Jim Walter Resources No. 5 Mine. The mine is North Americas deepest, tracking the 6-foot-high Blue Creek seam almost a half-mile beneath the rolling hills j…
To access the Beyond Sago series, go to http://www.wvgazette.com/section/Series/Beyond+SagoHAZARD, Ky. It was not quite 10 a.m. yet on April 4, 2003. Truck driver James G. Williams had already hauled four loads of coal from Perry County Coals Big Branch deep mine to the companys preparat…
In the two decades before the Sago Mine disaster, the rate of major coal-mine accidents more than doubled, according to new research by a West Virginia University mining engineer.This growing problem is largely unrecognized, Danrick W. Alexander, a mining engineer who teaches at WVU, wrote…
TWILIGHT — At about 5:30 a.m. on Sept. 17, 2003, Rodney Sheets and four coworkers piled into a van in the parking lot of Progress Coal's Twilight MTR Surface Mine in Boone County.Daylight was still more than an hour and a half away. The workers needed to get into the pit by 6 a.m. and start …
CUMBERLAND, Ky. — At about 10:40 a.m. Dec. 30, 2005, in a tunnel inside H&D Mining's Mine No. 3 in Harlan County, Ky., Bud Morris was standing next to his coal car, dumping a load into a feeder bin.Another miner, Donald Eural Allen, drove his car toward the bin. He couldn't see Morris, b…
When an explosion ripped through the Sago Mine on Jan. 2, killing 12 workers, coal mine safety again became a national issue.The Sunday Gazette-Mail wanted to take a broader look, to examine the daily dangers faced by the 79,000 coal miners who help provide more than half of the nations ele…
