Two months after the nation’s worst coal mining disaster in 40 years, an exploratory team entered the mine yesterday to determine if it was safe enough for government inspectors to enter. For weeks, high amounts of dangerous gases had prevented entry.
An April 5 explosion killed 29 mine workers at Massey Energy Co.’s Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia, bringing mine safety issues to national headlines. Critics accuse the Richmond, Va.-based company of sacrificing worker safety for profits. In the last few weeks, more Massey workers have also come forward with similar allegations. Massey is also under criminal investigation by the FBI for the explosion.
Massey has refuted these accusations and last week announced that nine of its mines and plants had received prestigious safety awards from the Mine Safety Health Administration (MSHA) and another non-profit safety association. The Washington Independent examined these awards and questioned the legitimacy of the organizations they came from. The MSHA, for example, awarded one mine an award, but three years ago issued it “pattern of violations” notice.
A recent article in the Washington Post points to the case being built against another mine operated by Massey Energy — Tiller No.1.
Even as MSHA inspectors prepare to reenter Upper Big Branch on Wednesday for the first inspection since the fatal accident, the agency has focused much of its energy in recent weeks on the infractions at Tiller. MSHA officials say they have spent more than 1,000 hours building a case that Tiller deserves to be the first mine in the country to face the toughest enforcement tool available to regulators.
The article also explains how mine companies can “stave off federal action.”
It can take years of inspections before a mine is notified that it is at risk of [“pattern of violations”] status. And along the way, a mine owner can use numerous tactics to stave off federal action. The first escape hatch is the 90-day notice, which gives mine operators time to correct problems and wipe them off the scorecard. And in four safety categories, a company may stop the clock simply by contesting the violation. Once a protest is made, the MSHA cannot count the violation until the matter is resolved by the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission.
