IN RECOGNITION of his outstanding contributions to public health through sciencebased advocacy, J. Davitt McAteer, JD, will receive the 2008 David P. Rall Award for Advocacy in Public Health at APHA's 136th Annual Meeting in San Diego. McAteer is an attorney in private practice in Shepherdstown, W. Va., and holds a number of other positions, including serving as director of governmental affairs and legal advisor to Wheeling Jesuit University in Wheeling, W. Va. His colleagues praise his 30-year career as a policy leader and social justice advocate.

"Davitt McAteer recognizes the importance of merging the core values of public health and social justice, with legal advocacy to realize social change," wrote Celeste Monforton, MPH, of George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, and Anthony Robbins, MD, MPA, of Tufts University School of Medicine, in a letter nominating McAteer for the Rall Award.

McAteer was appointed by West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin as a special advisor after the Sago Mine disaster killed 12 people in 2006. He served as assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health for the U.S. Department of Labor from 1994-2000 and as executive director of the Occupational Safety and Health Law Center from 1984-1993. He was director of the Mining Project at the Center for Law and Social Policy and solicitor of safety for the United Mine Workers of America, among his many public health advocacy positions.

As a young lawyer, McAteer teamed up with consumer activist Ralph Nader to advocate for mine safety reforms through the Center for the Study of Responsive Law. He worked with front-line coal miners to revitalize safety and health efforts within the United Mine Workers of America and has been appointed to numerous federal advisory committees.

In the mid-1980s, McAteer was asked by the South African National Union of Mine Workers to study safety issues and make recommendations for a comprehensive mine safety law. He has worked for health screening availability for miners and served as an on- site advisor to the International Union of Operating Engineers at the World Trade Center site in New York City.

The Harlan Daily Enterprise reported Wednesday that Lexington attorney Tony Oppegard made the request to the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration. He also wants the sole survivor and his family to receive a portion of the fine.

Spokeswoman Amy Louviere said the agency doesn't have legal authority to grant Oppegard's request. Louviere said fines paid by mine operators go directly to the U.S. Treasury.

Kentucky Darby has until Oct. 19 to pay the fine.

So will more narrowly focused groups, including motor sports racetrack owners, film producers and bicycle commuters.

Virtually all the tax breaks already exist. But many of them expired Jan. 1 for use in the current tax year, and the others will expire three months from now unless Congress renews them.

Included in those are the extension of an expired provision that gives Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands rebates against excise taxes charged on imported rum. The rebate, at $13.50 per proof gallon, has been in effect since 1999 and costs $192 million. It also would extend tax credits that expired at the end of 2007 for certain domestic corporations involved in the economic development of American Samoa. The cost of that is $33 million.

The largest group of beneficiaries in what is now the tax portion of the financial rescue bill is about 20 million mainly upper-middle income taxpayers. Without congressional action, the alternative medium tax, which originally was to affect only the very rich, would add some $2,000 this year to the tax bill of people mostly earning under $200,000 a year.

Thousands of businesses are waiting for renewal of the R&D (or research and development) tax credit, which expired at the end of last year. Without that credit, industry advocates say, high tech, biotech and aerospace companies have trouble hiring highly skilled workers needed to go head-to-head with foreign competitors.

The Information Technology Association of America reports an $18.5 billion drop in R&D activity since the beginning of the year when the credit lapsed. The R&D credit extension would cost $19 billion over 10 years. The cost of the entire tax portion of the bill is close to $110 billion.

The renewable energy incentives include an eight-year extension of investment credits for solar energy, as well as breaks for wind, geothermal and other alternative sources. The solar industry says extension of the credits through 2016 would produce an extra 440,000 jobs and more than $230 billion in investments.

The measure also has $8 billion in tax breaks for disaster victims, $5 billion for higher education tuition deductions, and $400 million in deductions for teachers who buy school supplies with their own money.

There are $3 billion in deductions for residents of states without income taxes that have state and local sales taxes. Extending the deduction would save people in Texas a projected $1.2 billion a year, or an average of $520 per filer claiming the deduction, said Matt Mackowiak, spokesman for Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Among some four dozen small provisions in the bill are:

• Establishing a new tax credit ranging from $2,500 to $7,500 for purchasers of plug-in electric drive vehicles. The cost is $758 million.

• Extending a credit of up to $10,000 for the training of mine rescue team members. The credit expires at the end of this year, and the one-year extension costs $4 million.

• Enacting President George W. Bush's proposal to erase the debt of the black lung disability trust fund at a cost of $1.3 billion.

• Extending for one year a seven-year depreciation timetable that NASCAR and other motorsport racing facilities have had for some years, the same tax break that amusement parks enjoy. Without the extension, the tracks would have to depreciate the cost of their improvements over 15 years, which would raise their taxes by $100 million.

• Extending for five years a program that reduces import duties on some wool fabrics. The tariff relief benefits U.S. worsted wool fabric producers that use imported fibers and yarns. The cost is $148 million.

• Increasing the single-year deduction in production costs, from $15 million to $20 million, that film and TV productions can take if the costs are incurred in economically depressed areas. It also, in an effort to keep film and TV productions in the U.S., allows more companies to use a domestic production deduction. The total cost is $478 million.

• Allowing commercial fishermen and others hurt by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska to average out damage awards over three years rather than taking a one-year hit from the IRS. The cost is $49 million.

• Extending two programs that fund rural schools and rural communities that have been relying on declining income from logging on federal land or have low property tax bases because they are located on or next to federal lands. This is a major issue in the West. The cost is $3.3 billion.

• Exempting wooden practice arrows used by children from an excise tax of 39 cents per arrow. Oregon's two senators have pushed for the action, saying the tax was meant for more expensive archery arrows and is untenable for makers of toy arrows that may cost only about 30 cents apiece. The bill would affect about nine manufacturers nationwide, including one in Oregon. The cost is $2 million.

• Allowing employers to exempt from taxation what they spend on some fringe benefits for workers who commute to work by bicycle, for example reimbursing the cost of parking the bikes. The cost is $2 million.

Several House members and radio-TV commentators have recommended elimination of several of the measures, including those affecting wooden arrows, Puerto Rican rum, racetracks and film producers.

KIEV (Reuters) - A methane explosion at a coal mine in eastern Ukraine Saturday killed six people, the country's Emergencies Ministry said.

The blast ripped through the Duvanna mine in the city of Sukhodolsk in the Luhansk region of Ukraine.

"119 miners were underground of whom six were killed. The remaining 113 have been brought to surface," the ministry said in a statement.

Some of Ukraine's mining pits date from the 19th century and have been plagued by a series of accidents in the post-Soviet period.

BEIJING (AFP) — China has ordered its coal mines to store no more explosives than are needed for three days in order to reduce the risk of accidents in the lethal industry, state media said Sunday.

A recent statement from the cabinet also said that detonators stored underground must not exceed the requirements for 10 days of normal operations, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Explosives and detonators must be kept separately, the cabinet order emphasised, according to Xinhua.

In addition, the cabinet has ordered coal mines to put specific people in charge of the explosives and set up systems that carefully keep track of the deadly materials and ensure nothing disappears, Xinhua said.

Blasts often happen in Chinese mines, but they are more frequently caused by gas accumulating underground than by explosives mishandled by the miners.

Nearly 3,800 people died in Chinese coal mines last year, according to official figures, although independent monitors say the real figure is probably much higher as many accidents are covered up.

UMW official Dennis O'Dell levels the accusation against MSHA director Richard Stickler in a letter released Tuesday.

Typically, MSHA holds hearings in West Virginia, Kentucky, Alabama and one western coal state. This time, MSHA plans a single hearing via webcast from Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh and Denver and listen-only sites in Alabama and West Virginia, the nation's No. 2 coal producer.

O'Dell says listening isn't participating. He also says MSHA rarely gets a big turnout in Denver and questions whether any active miners live in D.C.

An MSHA spokeswoman had no immediate comment.

KUNMING, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) - Four people died and one other was injured after a coal mine shaft collapsed on Thursday afternoon in southwest China's Yunnan Province.

The cave-in occurred at around 2:30 p.m. in the licensed Zhenxing mine in Laibing Town, Xuanwei City. Eight people were in the shaft at the time of the accident, according to the city government.

Rescuers pulled out the victims at 4 p.m.. Those that were seriously injured died in hospital despite doctors' efforts. A slightly-injured worker was continuing to receive medical treatment. The others were unharmed.

The cause of the cave-in was being investigated.

CARLIN, Nev. (AP) - An accident at a Newmont Mining Corp. truck maintenance shop near Carlin killed one employee and injured another.

Newmont officials say 56-year-old Ronald Keen of Spring Creek died after the accident Thursday afternoon at the company's Gold Quarry truck shop.

The other employee was released after treatment for unspecified injuries at an Elko hospital. His name was not released.

Newmont officials say the two workers were dismantling a tool rack when it fell.

The cause of the accident is under investigation by the Mine Safety Health Administration and Nevada State Mining Inspector's Office.

Keen, a Newmont employee since 1987, is survived by his wife, Valencia, and two adult children.

Two people reportedly were injured in an apparent methane gas explosion at Somerville Central Mine in Gibson County today.

One of the injured was taken from the scene by ambulance, the other by helicopter. Their conditions are unknown at this time, according to Capt. Jon Mason of the Buckskin Volunteer Fire Department.

Mason said it appeared they were in a pit working some coal out of the mine and hit a pocket of methane gas, creating a flash fire at around 12:30 p.m.

The fire was already extinguished when members of the Buckskin and Somerville volunteer fire departments arrived. The mine, located in Mackey, is owned by Black Beauty Coal.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - The federal government says it’s developing new training materials aimed at reducing the most common causes of fatal accidents at nearly 15,000 U.S. mines.

The Mine Safety and Health Administration says the new training announced Thursday will focus on preventing fatal cave-ins, falls and failing to lock equipment and tag it to warn co-workers before working on it. MSHA says 75 percent of mining deaths since 2000 can be blamed on those and similarly common causes that get less attention than high-profile accidents such as explosions and fires.

The agency says it’s developing training on 20 separate topics for coal and other types of mines and quarries. The materials will be sent to the industry and posted on the agency’s website.