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Man Survives Van Plunge Into Mine Subsidence
Scranton, PA

BY ANDREW M. SEDER THE SUNDAY TIMES

08/31/2003

A Roaring Brook Township man was knocked unconscious and his vehicle destroyed when the minivan he was driving was swallowed by a hole on Sadler Avenue in Scranton. The cause -- a mine subsidence.

Jack Bravetti, 61, said he has driven on that road back and forth from his house to his daughter's home in Dunmore on a daily basis for the past five years without a problem -- until last week.

While driving south on Sadler heading toward state Route 307, Mr. Bravetti veered his minivan a few feet to the right to give an oncoming vehicle some room and the next thing he remembers is waking up with a deployed airbag and several bruises and cuts.

He got out of his wrecked van and realized the roadway had collapsed and his van was a few feet below the road surface.

"I thought it was probably a mine subsidence. I could feel the cold air coming out of the ground," he said." It happened so fast. I was a victim of circumstance. It could have been anyone."

His hypothesis for the cause was proved right when inspectors from the Bureau of Surface Mining inspected the site and determined it was a subsidence over the old Underwood Colliery No. 3 Dunmore Coal Bed.

John Mack, a civil engineer with the bureau, said the heavy rainfall this summer is the most likely cause for the subsidence, which goes down 51 feet to the roof of the mine, which was abandoned in 1931.

"This happens everyday around Northeast Pennsylvania. We've been very busy this summer," Mr. Mack said.

The Scranton Department of Public Works put a barricade up in front of the 10-foot-by-4 foot hole on the 900 block of Sadler.

Mr. Mack said a work order has been sent out and crews should fill the subsidence by the end of this week at a cost of several thousand dollars.

Mr. Bravetti said he has driven the road again since his accident and will continue to do so -- albeit a bit more cautiously.

Mary Ann Shimkosky, of 928 Sadler Ave., said the hole that opened across the street from her house didn't surprise her.

"We've had two others around here 20 years ago," she said. "This one isn't that close to the house, so that's a relief."

"It could have been worse," Mr. Bravetti said. "It could have killed me or someone else."

Instead it just ruined a perfectly good 1999 Mercury Villager.

#681

From: "Rob McGee" <usmra@...>
Date: Wed Sep 3, 2003 4:56 am
Subject: Sixteen trapped in flooded coal mine in central China

usmra@...

Sixteen trapped in flooded coal mine in central China

Beijing,Tuesday, September 02, 2003: At least 16 miners were trapped today in a flooded coal mine shaft in Yichuan county in Central China's Henan province.

According to local officials, the flooding happened around midnight on Monday at a working platform in Fenjin coal mine of Yichuan county, Xinhua news agency reported.

Apart from miners on duty, a construction team was also working below the shaft at the time of the accident.

Top provincial government officials have rushed to the scene for rescue operations, the report said.

Last month, a series of accidents in the coal rich province of Shanxi and other provinces claimed nearly 150 lives, following which some provincial governments decided to hold local officials responsible for mine safety.

Under a new law promulgated in Shanxi province on Sunday, senior officials at all levels will be held responsible for safety in coal mines and will be severely punished if casualties occur.

Liu Zhenhua, governor of the province, said it was of vital importance to control the number of mines and completely shut down unauthorised mines in the process of establishing efficient supervision of production safety.

Thousands of miners die each year in China's coal mines and authorities blame most of the accidents to lax safety standards in private, village and county-run mines located in remote areas.
(PTI) 11:24 IST

#682

From: "Rob McGee" <usmra@...>
Date: Wed Sep 3, 2003 5:00 am
Subject: Rescue work continues in flooded coal mine in central China

usmra@...

Rescue work continues in flooded coal mine in central China

www.chinaview.cn

2003-09-02 21:01

ZHENGZHOU, Sept. 2 (Xinhuanet) -- Rescue workers have been working around the clock to save the 16 miners trapped in a coal mine which was flooded early Tuesday morning in Yichuan County of central China's Henan Province.

The flooding occurred around 12:40 a.m. at a working platform of the Huangcun Shaft of the Fenjin Coal Mine. Apart from the miners on duty, a construction team was also working below the shaft at the time.

Liu Xinmin, deputy governor of the provincial government, rushed to the scene to organize rescue operation and some rescue workers are busy pumping out floodwater from the shaft.

As of press time, water continues to pour out of the mine and the victims have not been found. Their chances of survival are slim as all the platforms were flooded, according to rescue workers.

With a designed production capacity of 350,000 tons of coal a year, the state-owned Fenjin Coal Mine has nearly 1,200 employees and the Huangcun Shaft has been in production since 1994.

Liu Xinmin said that an investigation team, headed by the provincial safety supervision department, was established soon after the accident and the provincial government ordered all coal mines in Luoyang City to close until they had all passed safety checks.

Meanwhile, safety checks will also be soon conducted in all thesmall coal mines in the province and those not meeting the conditions for safe production will be shut down, according to Liu.

#683

From: "Rob McGee" <usmra@...>
Date: Wed Sep 3, 2003 5:09 am
Subject: Industrial safety chief warns of "serious" situation

usmra@...

Industrial safety chief warns of "serious" situation

www.chinaview.cn

2003-09-02 22:41

BEIJING, Sept. 2 (Xinhuanet) -- The head of China's industrial safety authority has warned of a serious situation after revealing that 380 people die every day in accidents that cost more than 100 billion yuan (12 billion US dollars) in direct economic losses each year.

Wang Xianzheng, director of the State Administration of Production Safety, told a cadre training course on safe production here Tuesday that the number of serious accidents involving more than 30 deaths averaged 15 a year.

Production safety had improved, he said, citing deaths in coal mine accidents which came to 6,557 last year, compared with almost 10,000 deaths in previous years.

Despite the drop in death and accident numbers, the situation was still serious, he said. The direct and indirect economic losses caused by industrial accidents per year totaled over 200 billion yuan, or 2.5 percent of China's gross domestic product.

Every year in China, about 5,000 miners die from pneumoconiosis,a pulmonary disease caused by mine dust, said Wang.

#684

From: "Rob McGee" <usmra@...>
Date: Thu Sep 4, 2003 1:32 am
Subject: Training to respond

usmra@...

Training to respond

8-26-03

Gilette WY News Record

He went over the edge and screamed.

Face covered in blood from the accident, the man lay strapped in a rescue basket as he was lowered over the safety rail of the wrecked haul truck.

The Caballo mine emergency crew worked intently yet cautiously. Fifteen feet between cab level and dirt floor is a long drop.

The basket inched toward gravity until it was perpendicular to the ground, the helpless victim lying vertically and suspended by a rope.

Just then, the impossible seemed to happen.

The whistle sounded.

The Caballo workers' 35-minute exercise in disaster was over. Their chance to prove their hands-on skills at the 23rd annual International Surface Mine Rescue Competition a memory, but one that won't fade for some time.

Rescue teams from mines in Wyoming, New Mexico and Nevada converged on the Gillette area, the regular site for the competition. Events started Thursday at Cam-plex and ended with the final test at Rawhide mine Saturday and a dinner that evening.

Everyone shared a simple goal during the competition.

"Safety as a team is utmost. Safety of patients is priority," said Ivan Brown, co-captain of the Round Mountain Gold mine rescue team in Nevada.

Saturday's scenario was all too real: A couple cruising around in a pickup on mine property collides with a massive haul truck, one that would redefine the term monster truck. Injuries are abundant; there's even a fatality.

Teams are scored by completing every minute detail associated with the rescue, ranging from medical techniques to other routine procedures.

Rescuers determined the pickup's driver didn't have a chance. But crews carefully had to extricate the passenger and the haul truck driver, both with obvious physical injuries made all the more realistic with gruesome moulage -- aka horror movie makeup.

At the end of each event, the whistle blew, the adrenaline slowly dropped and heart rates gradually reduced to normal.

#685

From: "Rob McGee" <usmra@...>
Date: Fri Sep 5, 2003 12:15 am
Subject: PA DEP and PHMC to Hold Second Workshop to Create Database on Locations of Abandoned Mine Maps

usmra@...

Press Release

Source: Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection

PA DEP and PHMC to Hold Second Workshop to Create Database on Locations of Abandoned Mine Maps
Thursday September 4, 12:16 pm ET

Free Workshop is Set For Sept. 10 in Schuylkill County; Anyone Who Has Mine Maps or Knows the Location of Such Maps is Invited

DEP Also Extends Public Comment Period on Proposed Changes to Permit Review Process

HARRISBURG, Pa., Sept. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- The PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) are inviting individuals who have or know of maps depicting the location of abandoned mines to a free workshop being held to create an abandoned mine map database in Pennsylvania.

The workshop is scheduled for 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 10, at DEP's Pottsville District Mining Office at 5 W. Laurel Blvd. in Pottsville, Schuylkill County.

DEP also has extended the deadline for public comment on a proposed Technical Guidance Document that outlines more stringent permit application review and mine inspection procedures to improve the verification of abandoned mine boundaries. The public comment period is now open until Oct. 1.

"We have extended the deadline to give interested parties even more time to review the document and provide their comments to us so we can meet our goal of improving and enhancing the permit review process," DEP Secretary Kathleen A. McGinty said.

"Our intention is to make the operators prove to us they have hard data that show the boundaries of abandoned mines. In addition, to assist the operators in meeting that requirement and to make mining as safe as we can, we are holding the second workshop on abandoned mine maps to create as thorough and accurate a database as possible to document the location of these maps."

DEP is asking all those who attend the workshop, which is sponsored by DEP's Bureau of Deep Mine Safety (BDMS) and PHMC's Bureau of Archives and History, to bring a list of all maps in their possession so department staff can input locations into the database. The creation of the database on abandoned mine map locations is one of numerous actions being taken by DEP in the wake of the Quecreek Mine accident in July 2002.

This workshop follows one held Aug. 13 at the Four Points Sheraton in Greensburg, Westmoreland County. About 60 people attended the workshop, including representatives from the mining and mine engineering industries, academia and others with abandoned mine maps in their possession. The workshop also included seminars conducted by both DEP and PHMC.

The Pottsville workshop will include sessions on the history of mining in Pennsylvania, the importance of compiling a database, and proper methods and procedures for the preservation of maps.

Anyone who possesses maps or knows where other maps are located is invited to attend the workshop in Pottsville. Those who attend are asked to provide a list of all mine maps in their possession, including the mine name, company name, county, township, coal seam, map scale, whether it is a final or a certified map, the current location of the map and a contact name and phone number.

Those who are unsure as to whether their mine map is the true final map or whether their map is accurate and complete should place a disclaimer on the map as well as the list they are submitting at the workshops. DEP will ensure that the disclaimer is included in the database.

In addition to creating a database on the locations of abandoned mine maps, DEP also has catalogued mine maps in its repositories, electronically scanning some 3,900 maps. The department also is creating a database for entering mine production data collected from hard-copy mining reports over the past 130 years to enable searches that will allow comparisons with known maps to get a more accurate picture of mine voids and mine workings.

DEP, PHMC and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) have partnered to establish a central mine map repository and institute procedures to treat the maps as historic resources. DEP is immediately modifying its current mine subsidence outreach efforts to include a solicitation to the general public for copies of maps of abandoned mines throughout the state. These historical mine maps are scattered among both public and private holders.

In addition to its efforts to locate and catalogue mine maps, DEP is implementing numerous procedural and policy changes in order to correct deficiencies in the department's policies uncovered by the Quecreek investigation. These policies include increasing the role played by BDMS during the permit review process and, for the first time, giving BDMS a voice in permit approval decisions, requiring mine inspectors who are leaving DEP to turn over all their records and maps to DEP, and installing a more rigorous permit review process to validate the location of abandoned mine voids.

The proposed Technical Guidance Document addresses the latter point and will establish a method to be used when assembling, presenting and evaluating information regarding abandoned mines and require a specific evaluation of the "credibility" of the information on the extent of adjacent abandoned mine workings.

Other procedural changes and recommended legislative changes include:

 -- Amend Pennsylvania's outdated mine safety statutes, authorizing DEP to
promulgate regulations that keep pace with technology and permit
enforcement actions against mine operators who violate mine safety
standards.
-- Make violations of the mining laws part of the compliance record
examined by the department in granting new or revised deep mine
permits, and allow the department to assess monetary penalties for
violations of the act.
-- Implement a more rigorous and coordinated permit review procedure,
including the review of production records. A more rigorous review of
maps is also needed to ensure that features are accurately depicted on
maps submitted to the department.
-- Limit mining for permit applicants who cannot demonstrate that maps of
adjacent abandoned mines are reliable and credible until the applicant
satisfactorily demonstrates by other methods the location and extent
of adjacent abandoned mine voids.

DEP is seeking public comment on the document. The deadline to submit comment is Oct. 1.

To read the Technical Guidance Document, visit the PA PowerPort at www.state.pa.us, Keyword: "DEP Quecreek," and click the link labeled "OIG Report and Other Quecreek Documents." Any comments on the document should be sent to Thomas Callaghan at tcallaghan@... or by mail to Thomas Callaghan, Bureau of Mining and Reclamation, DEP, P.O. Box 8461, Rachel Carson State Office Building, Harrisburg, PA 17105. Callaghan also can be reached by phone at 717-783-1199.

Those who plan to attend the map workshop can register online by visiting the PA PowerPort at www.dep.state.pa.us, Keyword: "DEP Mine Safety;" by calling DEP at 570-621-3118; or by faxing the department at 570-621-3110. Directions to the workshop are available at the telephone number above.

For more information on the Quecreek accident, visit the PA PowerPort at www.state.pa.us, Keyword: "DEP Quecreek."

 CONTACT: Kurt Knaus
(717) 787-1323

www.usmra.com

#686

From: "Rob McGee" <usmra@...>
Date: Fri Sep 5, 2003 6:36 am
Subject: Mine explosion under investigation

usmra@...

Mine explosion under investigation

Sept 3 2003

By Audrey Schwitzerlette/REGISTER-HERALD BUSINESS EDITOR

An apparent Labor Day explosion inside Pineville's Pinnacle Mine is under investigation, according to officials with the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Miners are expected to return to underground work there today.

An MSHA spokesman in Arlington, Va., said Wednesday that preliminary information indicates there was an explosion at the mine Monday, but details about the cause of the explosion or the extent of damage were not yet available.

The state Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training is also conducting an investigation.

No one was working underground at the time of the incident because of the Labor Day holiday, although there was a "skeleton crew" working to check electrical and other routine mine functions. The explosion occurred at 9:58 a.m. and no one was injured, said Fred Stinson, an state mine inspector in Welch.

"The actual situation was not found until 9:30 that night," Stinson added. "The only damage was some disrupted ventilation doors."

The doors, he said, appear to have been dislodged by "probably a methane ignition," a build-up of methane coming into contact with a heat source. But the exact cause of the ignition - or whether it could have been prevented - had not yet been determined Wednesday.

"It could be some time before we pinpoint the source or origin," Stinson said. "It's sort of a drawn-out process."

Miners were not allowed to return to work underground until this morning, he said.

PinnOak Resources issued a statement saying the mine "experienced a disruption of ventilation controls" along its longwall section, the cause is unknown, those who were working during the disruption were evacuated from the mine area and state and federal officials are in the process of investigating.

Monday's explosion was not the first blow the mine has suffered in recent months.

In July, more than 180 workers - about 32 percent of the mine's 570 workers - were laid off from the Pinnacle mine.

The mine's owner, PinnOak Resources LLC, was formed earlier in the year to buy the assets of U.S. Steel Mining Co. LLC, which ran Pinnacle until May. PinnOak has said its goal in laying off workers there and at another mine in Alabama was to "focus on and resolve current staffing issues, longwall development timing and inventory considerations."

The local layoffs represented about $7.5 million in annual payroll.

#687

From: "Rob McGee" <usmra@...>
Date: Mon Sep 8, 2003 10:59 am
Subject: Mining accident claims 1

usmra@...

Mining accident claims 1

By JODY NEAL Bluefield Daily Telegraph

September 07, 2003

HURLEY, Va. - A mining accident Friday night at Twin Star Mine in Buchanan County killed one man and injured three others, police said.

David Walter Dotson, 28, of Hurley, Va., died from injuries sustained in a mining accident at Twin Star Mines on Upper Elk Creek on Friday, Trooper J.B. Starnes, of the Virginia State Police, said.

"He was using a cutting torch to cut the top off of a 55-gallon barrel. They thought the barrel contained antifreeze but it must have contained some kind of fuel," Starnes said. "The mine inspectors came in last night and did some checking."

Starnes said that Dotson was pronounced dead when he arrived on the scene Friday night. He said the initial 911 call came in at 8:58 p.m.

"There were three other people injured in the accident," Starnes said. Jason Lane was the worker transported to the hospital, Starnes said, with bruising and burns on his face and head. The other men who were injured were James Arthur Estep and Larry McClanahan. "They had burnt eyes and they hurt their hearing," he said. Starnes could not provide ages or hometowns for those who were injured in the explosion.

Starnes said that Knox Creek Rescue Service transported the injured man to the hospital.

#688

From: "Rob McGee" <usmra@...>
Date: Mon Sep 8, 2003 10:57 am
Subject: Workers to strike over workplace deaths

usmra@...

Workers to strike over workplace deaths

BY CHRIS LATHAM

PERTH � Four-thousand members of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) are expected to strike on September 8, demanding safer working conditions in the construction industry, following citywide stop work meetings on September 4 and 5.

The strike is part of an escalating campaign of industrial action that began when 1000 construction workers walked of the job on August 29 and occupied the foyer of the state Labor government's ministerial offices. Four days later, 350 workers on seven Perth building sites staged a 24-hour strike in protest at unsafe working conditions.

The demonstrations have been called in response three incidents. The first was the decision by the Builders Registration Board to drop charges of negligence against a builder on whose site a worker was killed in September 2002 in an accident.

CFMEU construction division assistant state secretary Joe McDonald, speaking at a Socialist Alliance-organised forum on August 30, said that WA employment protection minister John Kobelke had promised the union that the government would strip the builder of his ticket.

Instead, the builder had been allowed to continue operating. This is despite the CFMEU having to conduct 16 separate stoppages over unsafe work practices on the builder's site in the last 12 months.

The second incident was the decision by Transfield Engineering to appeal a conviction for the workplace death of construction worker Joseph Guagliardo in 2000. This appeal is holding up the compensation claim for Guagliardo's widow.

The final incident was the death on August 28 of a worker on a Robe River construction site, bringing to 23 the number of workers killed on construction sites in the last 14 months in WA.

#689

From: "Rob McGee" <usmra@...>
Date: Tue Sep 9, 2003 9:29 am
Subject: Pineville mine rocked by second explosion in less than a week

usmra@...

Pineville mine rocked by second explosion in less than a week

9 Sept 2003

Less than a week after a Labor Day explosion at Pinnacle Mine halted work at the Wyoming County site, a second explosion there is under investigation.

PinnOak Resources LLC, a coal mining and energy resources company, said its Pinnacle Mine in Pineville "experienced symptoms of a second disruption of its ventilation controls (Sunday) morning, apparently in the same area as what appears to have been a similar incident last week."

As a result of last week's incident, the mine was already idle except for workers who were restoring the previously damaged ventilation system.

State and federal agencies - several of whom were on site Sunday investigating the first explosion when an unusual smell and dust were discovered - are assisting the company in a thorough investigation, officials said.

A Mine Safety and Health Administration spokesperson said it could be several days before details regarding the cause of the explosion are available.

"We're back to square one and we still have a problem there," Terry Farley with the state Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training said Monday.

"Obviously we have some methane accumulating in the gob area and obviously there is an ignition source."

Trying to pinpoint the source of the explosion may be difficult since it's in the waste area, which is inaccessible, Farley said.

In its statement, PinnOak said, "Immediately upon discovery of (Sunday's) incident, the electricity supplying the mine was shut off as a precaution against fire and/or injury, and the 12 workers underground walked toward an evacuation route at the other end of the mine from the involved area, which on-site officials determined was the quickest and safest escape route.

"All reached the surface safely and uninjured."

The company said the mine has been idle since the Labor Day incident, and it would remain idle until all questions about its cause have been resolved.

The Pinnacle mine, a longwall mine with an onsite preparation plant, produced 3.5 million tons of metallurgical coal in 2002.

The company was formed earlier this year to purchase the assets of U.S. Steel Mining Co. LLC.

More than 180 of the mine's 570 workers were laid off in July while the company resolved staffing and other questions.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

- E-mail: bnaudrey@...

#690

From: "Rob McGee" <usmra@...>
Date: Tue Sep 9, 2003 9:32 am
Subject: MSHA Issues Final Rule on Mine Emergency Actions

usmra@...

9/8/03 4:00:00 PM

To: National Desk

Contact: Rodney Brown of the U.S. Department of Labor, 202-693-9425; web: http://www.msha.gov

ARLINGTON, Va., Sept. 8 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) today announced it will issue a final rule specifying actions mine operators must take in the event of an underground coal mine emergency. The new rule supercedes an emergency temporary standard (ETS) issued by MSHA in December 2002 in response to investigative findings surrounding the Sept. 23, 2001, explosion at Jim Walter Resources Mine No. 5 in Brookwood, Ala., that claimed the lives of 13 miners.

"Often during emergency situations, confusion, disorientation, and questions about what to do or how to proceed can inhibit and delay sound decision-making and leadership," said Dave D. Lauriski, assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health. "This new rule establishes a single point of contact for miners underground to look to for guidance in the event of a mine emergency and it provides for better training of miners to prepare for such situations. This rule provides one more tool to help send more miners home safe at the end of every working day."

As with the ETS, the new rule requires operators of underground coal mines to designate, for each shift that miners work underground, a responsible person to take charge during a mine fire, explosion and gas or water inundation emergency. The new rule requires the responsible person to initiate and conduct an immediate evacuation of the mine when there is a mine emergency that presents an imminent danger to miners.

The new rule also broadens the existing requirements for a program of instruction for firefighting and evacuation to address fire, explosion, and gas or water inundation emergencies. In addition, the new rule amends Part 48 of CFR 30, Mineral Resources, to require that annual refresher training for miners include a review of the emergency evacuation and firefighting plans in effect at their mine.

Full text of the rule can be found on MSHA's website at http://www.msha.gov. The final rule becomes effective on Tues., Sept. 9, 2003.

#691

From: "Rob McGee" <usmra@...>
Date: Wed Sep 10, 2003 9:27 am
Subject: Mining accident claims life of Virginia man

usmra@...

Mining accident claims life of Virginia man
Associated Press

September 9, 2003

PAINTSVILLE, Ky. � A Virginia man died in a mining accident yesterday in Eastern Kentucky, according to the Kentucky Department of Mines and Minerals.

Preston L. Dye, 73, of Swords Creek, Va., was operating a D-8 Caterpillar dozer when he backed over a 30-foot highwall, a statement from the department said.

Dye was pronounced dead at 9:20 a.m. EDT by Johnson County Coroner J.R. Frisby.

The injury occurred at T&W Enterprises' No. 1 mine in Johnson County.

The death is under investigation by the Department of Mines and Minerals and the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.

It was the ninth mining fatality in Kentucky this year.

#692

From: "Rob McGee" <usmra@...>
Date: Thu Sep 11, 2003 10:28 am
Subject: Pot found at site of Kentucky blast

usmra@...

Pot found at site of Kentucky blast
Mine company has been cited for 54 violations

By JAMES R. CARROLL
jcarroll@...
The Courier-Journal

September 11, 2003

Marijuana was found at the site of a fatal mine accident in June, leading state regulators to file a new citation this week against the Cody Mining Co. in Floyd County, Ky.

After Paul Blair, 21, of Paintsville, was killed in an underground explosion on June 13, inspectors for the Kentucky Department of Mines and Minerals on the same day found a plastic bag containing what they believed was marijuana in a scoop bucket mine employees rode in.

The victim was not among those identified as using the bucket.

Tests by Kentucky State Police confirmed the substance was 0.3 grams of marijuana, according to state inspectors.

Cody Mining, Blair's employer, was cited for violating a state law prohibiting controlled substances in mines, the 54th violation issued against the company. The latest citation, issued Monday, was obtained by The Courier-Journal under an Open Records Act request.

Floyd County Coroner Roger Nelson said yesterday that an autopsy on Blair did not reveal the presence of marijuana.

"I can say that was not found," Nelson said. He declined to release his full report because the accident still is being investigated by federal officials.

Amanda Jenkins of Paintsville, Blair's sister, said she did not know marijuana was found at the mine.

"I haven't heard anything about that," she said. Her brother never spoke of workers at the mine using marijuana, she added.

Justin Morgan, a Lexington attorney representing Blair's family, said it was "shocking an operation was carried on in such a fashion. The family is grateful for all the hard work of the state investigators who have attempted to explain what happened."

Asked yesterday about the citation for marijuana, Robert Ratliff Sr. of Paintsville, the owner and operator of the mine, said, "I have no idea."

He said he did not know there was marijuana at the mine and he had not seen any employees smoking it. He declined to comment further on the matter or on any of the other violations his mine has been cited for. His son, Robert Ratliff Jr., was severely injured in the blast that killed Blair.

In its newest citation, state inspectors said the scoop bucket was operated by a foreman. Four employees rode in the bucket, including the miner who set off the explosion, Robert Delong.

Blair was not listed as using the scoop bucket.

Holly McCoy, spokeswoman for the state mines department, said her agency would not comment on the new citation, as it did not on the previous violations.

She confirmed, however, that the state did not conduct drug testing of any employees following the accident.

"We don't have the authority to drug-test people," she said.

McCoy declined to comment on whether the agency would like to have such authority. She said investigators rarely have encountered instances of possible drug use in recent years.

The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration doesn't track drug use in the mines, said spokesman Rodney Brown.

While autopsies after fatal accidents sometimes have turned up drug use by victims, "it's not something we count, not something we catalog," he said.

Brown added that federal law does not address drug use in mines and MSHA, like Kentucky, has no authority to conduct drug tests on miners.

Delong said he knew nothing of marijuana use among the miners.

"I didn't see none," he said. Delong suffered leg, neck and back injuries in the blast and said he is scheduled to undergo knee surgery.

Asked what he thought of miners possibly using marijuana, he said, "It's a pretty bad thing to hear."

Among the 53 previous citations issued between June 24 and Aug. 15, state regulators charged that the mine was "consistently operated" in a "reckless and dangerous manner." The Courier-Journal reported on those citations on Aug. 31.

State regulators have asked the Kentucky Mine Safety Review Commission to permanently revoke some of the mining certificates of the mine's owner and some of his employees. MSHA is conducting a separate investigation but has not yet issued its findings. Federal violations could result in fines and criminal prosecution.

The mine has been closed since the accident and must fix all the safety violations the state found before it can reopen.

Blair's death was one of nine coal mine deaths in Kentucky this year � the most of any state. Nationwide, 24 miners have died in 2003.

State inspectors said the mine in McDowell "was operated with complete disregard for the safety of the mining crew and in wholesale violation of the mine safety laws of the Commonwealth of Kentucky."

Regulators said explosives were detonated simultaneously at three places in the mine when Blair was killed. State law permits only one place to be blasted at a time.

The mine also used excessive amounts of explosives, inspectors said.

In addition, a cross-tunnel connecting two main entrances to the mine was cut improperly. Blair, Delong and the younger Ratliff retreated to that cross-tunnel, known as a crosscut, in the apparent belief it would be safe in the planned explosion. But because the crosscut wasn't at a right angle as required under state regulations, it was penetrated by the blast, and the miners were struck by debris.

The mine also operated illegal equipment, was full of potentially explosive coal dust, and was inadequately ventilated, citations said. The company also was cited for carrying explosives and workers in the same bucket and for not moving explosives in a proper container. Cigarettes, cigarette packs and lighters also were found underground, the state said.

#693

From: "Rob McGee" <usmra@...>
Date: Thu Sep 11, 2003 10:31 am
Subject: Hundreds of miners tragically lost in coalfield disasters over last century

usmra@...

Hundreds of miners tragically lost in coalfield disasters over last century

BILL ARCHER Bluefield Daily Telegraph

August 31, 2003

BOISSEVAIN, Va. - McConley "Buck" Byrd can still remember the day his father came home from the Boissevain Mine on Feb. 27, 1932.

"He was on the day shift," Byrd, 81, recalled. "He came back home for a little while, then he went right back in. It took them seven days to get them all out. The last body they brought up was a coal miner named Miller."

Mine explosions resulting in losses in the hundreds of lives of coal miners brought tragedy into almost every family living in the coalfields and working underground. Pocahontas Fuel's Boissevain Mine had been a testing ground for mine mechanization, but the miners complained of the excessive dust created by the machines. A gas and dust explosion at 1:30 a.m., in the morning trapped 38 coal miners underground - all were lost.

Boissevain wasn't the most costly coal mine explosion in the Virginia/West Virginia coalfields. On Dec. 6, 1907, 361 coal miners died in an explosion at the Monongah Mine west of Fairmont in Marion County. An explosion on April 28, 1914, claimed 183 coal miners at the Eccles Mine in Raleigh County, the very same mine where an explosion claimed 19 lives on March 8, 1928. Ninety-three died in the Bartley Mine explosion on Jan. 10, 1940.

The death toll at coal mines throughout the region continued to climb through the 20th Century. Mechanization reduced the number of coal miners underground on any given shift, but the profession remained very dangerous even into the late 1960s. The last large scale coal mine disaster occurred on Nov. 20, 1968, when 68 coal miners perished in a mine explosion at the Farmington No. 9 Mine - the third Farmington explosion of the century. Ten coal miners died at the Farmington No. 8 Mine On May 15, 1901, and 19 miners died in an explosion at the Farmington No. 8, Mine on Jan. 14, 1926.

Multiple explosions at any one mine were not unusual. The Lick Branch Mine near Switchback in McDowell County suffered two explosions within a two-week period.

The first occurred right after Christmas on Dec. 28, 1908, claiming 50 lives. The second explosion at the same mine occurred on Jan. 12, 1090, and claimed 67.

An explosion at the Jed Mine, also in McDowell County, claimed 83 lives on March 26, 1912, and the mine was renamed Havaco and reopened after World War II. An explosion at Havaco on Jan. 15, 1946, claimed 15 lives.

"I remember the Havaco explosion," Byrd recalled. "After I came back from the service, I went through the 12 week short course in Welch. It wasn't too long after I finished that class that I made my first class papers. I went to Jenkinjones and made foreman. I was about 24 years old and had 120 men working for me."

The Boissevain explosion had a profound effect on the Byrd family. "Right after that, my dad worked to organize the Boissevain Mine," Byrd said. "I think it became a union mine in 1933. They made my father the first president of the Boissevain local and the first check weighman. Since he passed away, people have come to me to help them solve problems."

Byrd was a foreman for Consol for 30 years and posted an incredible record of never having lost a man on any shift he worked.

He was working at Jenkinjones when the first explosion at Bishop, claimed 37 lives on Feb. 4, 1957, was moved to Amonate after an explosion there on Dec. 28, 1957 claimed 11 lives and had just been moved from first shift to second shift there on Oct. 27, 1958, when a second blast at Bishop claimed 22 lives.

"Bishop happened in the day heading," Byrd recalled. "We had just had a big cut off (the Friday before the second Bishop explosion) at Amonate. Back then, their orders came from Youngstown Sheet and Tube. They cut me back to second shift and they cut off about 500 men at that time. I remember a lot of guys went in before they got their paychecks telling them they'd been cut off."

Consol sent Byrd to work as foreman at the Bishop Mine in 1959. He finished his active mining career at that mine, and in 1971 joined the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration where he spent the next 16 years as an inspector with an emphasis on helping reduce the number of mine fatalities.

"Some of those explosions like Bartley, I don't remember real well," Byrd said. "But the ones that happened after I was working - it's something I'll never forget."

In his landmark book on mine disasters titled "They Died in the Darkness," author Lacy A. Dillon chronicled mine explosions from Newburg on Jan. 21, 1886 to Farmington in 1968. Dillon observed that of the 43 explosions he examined, more occurred on Tuesday than any other day of the week and that more explosions occurred in March than any other month, with January coming in second.

"McDowell County, the most southern county of the state had the largest number of explosions, while Fayette County came in second," he wrote. Marion County had the most casualties due to the Monongah explosion, the nation's costliest mine explosion. The first decade of the 20th Century was the worst for mine disasters with 1906 and '07, being the worst years on record.

Byrd acknowledged that great progress has been made in his lifetime, but he cautioned that coal mining remains a challenging profession.

Reply | Messages in this Topic (2)

#694

From: "Rob McGee" <usmra@...>
Date: Thu Sep 11, 2003 10:34 am
Subject: Feds cite Marion County Quarry

usmra@...

Feds cite Marion County Quarry

September 2, 2003

By ARMANDO RIOS
Bulletin Staff Writer; armandor@...

Federal authorities have cited the Marion County Quarry for failure to follow proper procedure for disposing of materials after an accidental explosion there last month. As a result, two county employees have been dismissed

The U.S. Department of Labor Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) investigated after an Aug. 12 explosion at the quarry, according to Marion County Judge Charles Trammell. The explosion was the result of quarry employees disposing of approximately 400 pounds of blasting material.

In a news release, Trammel said the two Marion County Quarry employees were suspended pending further investigation after the explosion. They were discharged Aug. 26. They have the right to file for a grievance hearing before the Marion County Quorum Court.

MSHA officials arrived in Yellville Aug. 18 to conduct a joint investigation and inspection into the explosion at the mine, located on Highway 62/412 just west of Yellville. MSHA inspectors departed from Yellville Aug. 21.

Trammell stated he and quarry employees met with MSHA officials for three days.

"Along with the investigation in the explosion, they also did a regular inspection of the mine," Trammell stated.

MSHA inspectors noted the two quarry employees involved in the explosion both were MSHA certified and were considered explosive experts. They both were trained and certified as blasters under Arkansas law.

"MSHA officials cited the quarry foreman for several violations during the inspection, including failure to provide a record of training for personnel files, broken cover plate on a 110-volt AC wall switch, no berm barrier or mid-axle height at the south end of the stockpile, explosives stored improperly, and the fact employees could be injured if a stray bullet passed through structure walls," Trammell stated.

"Monetary amounts for the fines will be set by MSHA authorities," he added. "Once the amounts have been determined, the county will receive a letter stating the amount for each citation. The fines and citations were issued to the quarry foreman, but the county is responsible for paying the fines."

"This incident occurred while I was attending a judges' conference in Springdale," Trammell stated. "According to Marion County officials, no physical injuries occurred as a result of the explosion.

"The Marion County Sheriff's Office, and County Judge's Office have received several complaints of property damage, which are being submitted to the insurance authorities in Little Rock for processing. Upon my return to the county, I visited some of the sites of reported damage. The county is still in the process of gathering and evaluating the facts."

Trammell thanked the Marion County Sheriff's Office and all county employees who assisted with the matter in his absence.

"Everyone did a top-notch job, and should be commended for their professionalism during this incident," he added. "I want to thank the residents of Marion County for their support and patience during this incident.

#695

From: "Rob McGee" <usmra@...>
Date: Thu Sep 11, 2003 10:38 am
Subject: Coal mine managers indicted for serious safety violations

usmra@...

Coal mine managers indicted for serious safety violations

September 11, 2003

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) -- Five managers of an eastern Kentucky coal mine have been indicted for alleged safety violations that put their employees at risk.

Named in the indictment issued Wednesday were David Howard of Baxter, O.B. Jackson Jr. of Verda, Benny Southern of Middlesboro, Jacki Jaggers of Ingram, and Lonnie Wilder of Harrogate, Tenn.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Davis Sledd said they were charged after an investigation by inspectors from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration in Barbourville. The inspectors found that the roof in some sections of the B&D Mining No. 3 Mine in Harlan County was not supported by roof bolts, and miners were allowed to work beneath the unsupported roof in July and August, according to the indictment.

If convicted, each defendant faces up to a year in prison and fines of up to $100,000.

#696

From: "Rob McGee" <usmra@...>
Date: Thu Sep 11, 2003 10:39 am
Subject: Striking coal workers back at work

usmra@...

Striking coal workers back at work

Tuesday, 9 September 2003

The miners' union says job security is a key issue for workers at a central Queensland coal mine who have returned to work after a two-week strike.

A total of 160 miners from AngloCoal's German Creek central colliery marched through Middlemount on the weekend in protest over the state of enterprise bargaining negotiations.

The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union's (CFMEU) Steve Pierce says the workers want a guarantee that the size of the permanent workforce will be maintained during the life of the enterprise bargaining agreement.

"In some cases what the company has done is offered voluntary redundancies and some of the older people have left the workforce and those jobs instead of being replaced by younger people from wthin the community in permanent jobs, they've been contracted out," he said.

"People from outside the community have come in and filled them on an as-needs basis."

An AngloCoal spokesman says the CFMEU rejected a draft agreement tabled by management and is now in a deadlock.

Meanwhile, the management of a central Queensland coal mine says a 48-hour strike by miners concerned about safety was unnecessary.

The CFMEU alleged management at Xstrata's Oaky Creek North mine knowingly used non-compliant equipment, putting workers' lives at risk.

General manager Dave Hetherington says an investigation has found safety regulations were not breached, but some management systems have been reviewed to prevent a similar situation.

"We have a system whereby work orders get automatically printed out from our computer system, and some of the jobs that should have been done, hadn't been entered into that system," he said.

"It's the maintenance of some safety equipment, so that the frequency of the checks that should have been done weren't carried out although because of the back-up systems and some fortunes that didn't compromise people's safety."

#697

From: "Rob McGee" <usmra@...>
Date: Thu Sep 11, 2003 10:41 am
Subject: MSHA, Safety Council Sign Alliance Agreement

usmra@...

9/9/03 5:58:00 PM

To: National Desk

Contact: Rodney Brown of the U.S. Department of Labor, 202-693-9425

CHICAGO, Sept. 9 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and the National Safety Council (NSC) today signed an agreement to work together to enhance safety programs for the mining industry. This MSHA Health and Safety partnership is part of Secretary Elaine L. Chao's ongoing efforts to improve the health and safety of workers through cooperative partnerships.

"The mining industry has just achieved its safest two years on record. Under this agreement, MSHA and the NSC will work together to make safety a top priority throughout the mining industry and send more miners home safe at the end of every working day," said Dave D. Lauriski, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health, speaking today at the annual National Safety Congress. "This agreement will result in a more focused relationship, with the objective of developing safety and health programs for the mining industry."

"The National Safety Council and the Mine Safety and Health Administration share a passion for doing everything we can to keep mine workers safe and prevent mining accidents," said NSC President Alan McMillan. "Mining can be a hazardous occupation and miners deserve to have the very best knowledge and training about safety and health issues. Through this partnership, the National Safety Council will work closely with MSHA to address the important needs of mine workers and mining companies."

Lauriski signed the new Alliance Agreement with NSC President and CEO Alan C. McMillan in a ceremony following his remarks at the conference's keynote session.

Among other activities under the agreement, MSHA and the NSC will:

-- Identify way to enhance participation of the NSC's Mining and Minerals Resources Section in safety and health outreach to the industry;

-- Collaborate on developing and conducting technical sessions at a variety of events and conferences; and

-- Work collaboratively to present clear and accurate statistical information on mining and minerals operations in the United States.

In addition, the alliance will enhance the existing relationship between MSHA and the NSC in the in the "Stay Out-Stay Alive" (SOSA) partnership, which educates young people and their parents about the hazards of playing in and around active or inactive mines. The SOSA partnership, coordinated by MSHA, currently includes about 90 member organizations.

MSHA promotes safety and health in the nation's mines through enforcement, education and training, and technical assistance. The NSC is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to educate and influence society to adopt safety, health and environmental policies, practices and procedures that prevent and mitigate human suffering and economic losses arising from preventable causes. The agreement between MSHA and NSC is the latest such alliance agreement in the mining industry.

U.S. Labor Department releases are accessible on the Internet at http://www.dol.gov. The information in this news release will be made available in alternate format upon request (large print, Braille, audio tape or disc) from the COAST office. Please specify news release when placing a request. Call 202-693-7773 or TTY 202-693-7755.

#698

From: "Rob McGee" <usmra@...>
Date: Thu Sep 11, 2003 6:01 pm
Subject: Mines agree to safety package

usmra@...

Mines agree to safety package
Wednesday, 27 August 2003
Australia

In a move to embrace the highest standards of safety and rescue capabilities, Cobar's CSA and Peak Gold mines last week formally signed off on a joint response agreement.

The agreement will facilitate the sharing of mine rescue capabilities at the two sites which in total employ a workforce of more than 400 people.

Cobar's third mine at Elura is not currently a signatory to the agreement due to its sale process although it is hoped once the new Endeavour Mine is commissioned CBH management will be keen to participate.

While there is no doubt all local mines would assist each other in the event of a large scale emergency at a particular site, the formal adoption of a joint response agreement will ensure this assistance is rendered in the most effective way.

CMPL initiated the joint response process in 2002 with the previous owners of the Peak Gold Mine.
At the time it was embraced by the rescue teams at CSA mine and the Peak, but was largely informal in nature.
The recent change in ownership at the Peak Gold Mine has created an opportunity for both mines to adopt a formal, documented agreement on joint response.

The agreement formalises how assistance will be requested, how the response will be co-ordinated and what resources will be available.

An essential component of the arrangement will be the adoption of joint training exercises, which will allow rescue teams to train together in each other's mines.

Richard Morland, general manager CSA Mine and Jim Simpson, general manager Peak Gold Mine last week agreed this initiative marked a significant step forward in terms of co-operation between local mines.

It also represents the first of many issues on which greater co-operation will yield good outcomes.

"We are both keen to ensure the success of this initiative," the two general managers said.

"Our rescue teams are motivated and enthusiastic and will benefit from the opportunity to train together and support each other in times of need."

#699

From: "Rob McGee" <usmra@...>
Date: Thu Sep 11, 2003 11:04 pm
Subject: Miners deliver a revival at UK Coal

usmra@...

Miners deliver a revival at UK Coal
Terry Macalister
Thursday September 11, 2003
The Guardian

A productivity drive by Britain's dwindling number of mineworkers has helped transform the finances at UK Coal, although the pit operator remains in the red.

UK Coal produced an �800,000 pre-tax loss in the first half of the year, compared with a �12.5m deficit last time. The bulk of the revival is attributed to changes in working practices which has put British coal supplies on an equal footing with foreign imports.

But the group's finances have also benefited from a recovery in international prices plus strong demand for its former mining sites for redevelopment.

UK Coal made a �5.9m profit on the sale of �8.3m worth of property assets. The company's remaining property portfolio, represented by 49,000 acres of land, is valued at about �174m.

Overall sales volumes at UK Coal increased but deep mine output was down from 8.3m tonnes to 7.9m due in part to the closure of the Prince of Wales colliery in Yorkshire.

Despite its improved short-term performance, the longer term outlook for the traditional British deep coal mine remains bleak. They face extinction within five years if UK Coal, which produces more than 90% of deep-mined coal, does not secure a government subsidy to finance the mining of new coal reserves.

UK Coal received almost no subsidies in the first half of 2003 but is campaigning for �79m of public money which it says it needs to access more than 100m tonnes of reserves to safeguard 4,000 jobs after 2008.

UK Coal's workforce will fall from 6,000 to 4,600 early next year when the loss-making Selby complex closes. Others pits will follow suit if they do not receive a public subsidy. Government consultants have already visited two of the eight collieries at risk and a report on UK Coal's claims is expected towards the end of October - a month later than scheduled.

One mining analyst, who asked not to be named, said management at UK Coal should be praised for the beneficial changes introduced since the departure of the chief executive Richard Budge who ran the firm as RJB Mining.

#700

From: "Rob McGee" <usmra@...>
Date: Thu Sep 11, 2003 11:05 pm
Subject: Officials to be held liable for mine safety in north China

usmra@...

Officials to be held liable for mine safety in north China

www.chinaview.cn

2003-08-31 22:59

　　TAIYUAN, Aug. 31 (Xinhuanet) -- Senior officials at all levels will be held responsible for safety in coal mines and will be severely punished if casualties occur, under a regulation promulgated Sunday by north China's Shanxi provincial government.

　　Liu Zhenhua, governor of the province, said it was of vital importance to control the number of mines and completely shut downunauthorized mines in the process of establishing efficient supervision of production safety.

　　The province halted all mine operations on Aug. 19 after three fatal accidents earlier in the month.

　　A gas explosion on the morning of Aug. 11 at the Xing'ergou coal mine in Datong city killed at least 37 workers. Another two coal mine accidents in Yangquan city and Zuoquan county killed 28 and 25 respectively.

　　All mine owners and managers in the province are required to attend a seven-day training programme on safety. Mines will be denied approval to resume operating unless they pass checks and tests by official departments, under the regulation.

　　Government leaders at all levels must bear the responsibility of production safety and any duty breaches would result in seriouspunishment including dismissal.

#701

From: "Rob McGee" <usmra@...>
Date: Thu Sep 11, 2003 11:09 pm
Subject: Judge throws out major citation in slurry spill

usmra@...

Judge throws out major citation in slurry spill
MSHA's 1994 corrective plan is called unclear

September 10, 2003

Associated Press

One of two major safety citations issued following a massive Eastern Kentucky slurry spill in October 2000 has been thrown out by an administrative law judge.

Judge Irwin Schroeder of the Mine Safety and Health Review Commission ruled that "prudent mining engineers" could not have understood a corrective plan that federal regulators approved after a smaller spill at the impoundment in 1994. After the larger spill, MSHA cited Martin County Coal Co. for not complying with the plan.

But Schroeder said MSHA should have made the plan clearer.

In a five-page ruling signed Aug. 28, Schroeder wrote, "As the ultimate approving authority for the impoundment plan, MSHA is responsible for any ambiguities it could have resolved prior to approval."

On Oct. 11, 2000, 300million gallons of slurry poured into an adjacent abandoned mine, out into Wolf and Coldwater creeks, and into the Tug Fork of the Big Sandy River, along the Kentucky-West Virginia border.

The spill buried lawns up to 7 feet deep in the slurry � made up of coal waste, water and coal-cleaning chemicals � and all fish were killed in two streams. Experts have called the spill one of the worst environmental disasters in the southeastern United States.

Massey Energy, the parent of Martin County Coal, reported spending $46million to clean up the spill. In August 2002 the company agreed to pay $3.25million in penalties and damages to the state of Kentucky.

Those penalties came on top of an earlier $225,000 fine by the state Fish and Wildlife Service.

Initially it also was fined $55,000 each from the Mine Safety and Health Administration for two instances of an "unwarrantable failure" to prevent the spill. In one instance, investigators said the company failed to follow recommendations to make a discharge pond safe after the 1994 leak.

In dismissing the pond-safety citation, Schroeder wrote, "The slurry discharge methods that (MSHA) alleges were required under the 1994 plan were far from standard industry practice in impoundment management."

The judge also dismissed a more minor citation issued to the company and its consultant, Geo/Environmental Associates, for not filing detailed enough inspection reports.

MSHA officials have not indicated whether they would appeal the rulings.

#702

From: "Rob McGee" <usmra@...>
Date: Thu Sep 11, 2003 11:11 pm
Subject: National Gypsum Named One of America's Safest Companies

usmra@...

National Gypsum Named One of America's Safest Companies
Monday September 8, 4:00 pm ET

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Sept. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- National Gypsum Company, one of the world's largest producers of gypsum wallboard, has been recognized as one of America's Safest Companies by Occupational Hazards magazine.

Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., National Gypsum operates 31 plants, 4 paper mills, 8 mines and quarries, and 2 research facilities. Last year, the company's total case accident incident rate was 2.17 compared to 10.2 for its industry group.

"Working safely is the number one requirement for our associates," said President and CEO Thomas C. Nelson. "In fact, we list safety as one of our five core values. When operations are detailed enough to have a strong safety performance, good productivity, quality, service, and profitability follow."

The 15 other companies recognized by the magazine are: Bechtel Group Inc., Bon L Manufacturing, CF Industries Inc., CSX Transportation, DaimlerChrysler, DuPont, Exxon Mobile Chemical, Haynes International Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Koppers Inc., MeadWestvaco Corp., Motorola Inc., Pactiv Corp., Quincy Compressor, and the Salt River Project.

These companies were selected based on recommendations by industry professionals, recognition by industry associations, participation in programs such as OSHA's Voluntary Protection Program, state and local awards, and Occupational Hazards' research into the occupational health and safety philosophy and programs of the company.

National Gypsum's safety performance also has been recognized by the National Safety Council, the Gypsum Association, the Mine Safety and Health Administration, and the National Mining Association.

National Gypsum supplies wallboard, interior finishing products, and cement backerboard to the construction industry. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., the company has a network of 31 plants in North America and employs approximately 2700 employees.

#703

From: "Rob McGee" <usmra@...>
Date: Thu Sep 11, 2003 11:15 pm
Subject: PinnOak Mine Fire??

usmra@...

PinnOak Mine Fire??

Fairview, WV

September 11, 2003

A possible fire in a Wyoming County mine is keeping 400 miners out of work. It's unknown when they'll be able to return to their jobs. Workers are nervous that they could be out of work for weeks. Some are fearful that the mine could be shut down all together. Investigators say their main concern is making sure the mine is safe.

#704

From: "Rob McGee" <usmra@...>
Date: Fri Sep 12, 2003 7:39 am
Subject: Gillette man killed at Bel Ayr mine

usmra@...

Gillette man killed at Bel Ayr mine

By DUSTIN BLEIZEFFER Friday, September 12, 2003

GILLETTE -- A Gillette man was killed in an accident at RAG Coal West's Bel Ayr coal mine about 20 miles south of Gillette on Tuesday, according to mine officials.

Brad Beavers, 36, an RAG mine employee, was killed when a tow strap broke as he and another miner attempted to use a pickup to get another pickup unstuck. Beavers was struck by the "tow hook," said Steven Laird, RAG manager of lands, legislative and public affairs.

No one else was hurt in the accident, which occurred at about 9:45 a.m.

Laird said Beavers was taken to Campbell County Memorial Hospital, but it was unclear if Beavers had died at the scene of the accident or if he was pronounced dead at the hospital.

"Our thoughts are with his family and we extend our condolences," Laird said in a phone interview Tuesday evening.

The mine shut down operations after the accident and allowed its day-time crew to go home. Laird said only a skeleton crew was in place for the Tuesday night/Wednesday morning shift.

"MSHA (Mine Safety and Health Administration) will conduct a full investigation tomorrow," Laird said Tuesday evening.

Local MSHA officials visited the scene Tuesday, as did the State Mine Inspector. Laird said Beaver's was the first mine employee fatality at Bel Ayr in the mine's nearly 30-year history.

It is the second mine fatality in the Powder River Basin area this year.

Wright man Rick Richardson, 44, died of head injuries sustained in a fall Feb. 20 at Arch Coal's Black Thunder coal mine. Richardson was a plant manager at Black Thunder.

In 2002, two serious but separate highwall accidents occurred at Black Thunder. The first, in January, resulted in a debilitating injury to miner Les Butts. A large rock crashed down on a vehicle operated by Butts. He suffered severe spinal injuries and has not returned to work.

The second highwall accident on Feb. 20, 2002, claimed the life of miner Allen "Big A" Greger. A section of highwall came loose and smashed the rubber-tire dozer he was operating in the pit. An MSHA report concluded that the mine had failed to adequately ensure highwall safety.

#705

From: "Rob McGee" <usmra@...>
Date: Fri Sep 12, 2003 7:41 am
Subject: 7 injured in fog pile-ups

usmra@...

7 injured in fog pile-ups
11/09/2003 10:53 - (SA)

Johannesburg - Seven people were injured, one of them critically, in four pile-ups in thick fog on the N12 highway near Witbank on Thursday, police said.

Captain Eddie Hall said the first accident happened on the N12 just after 07:00 when two cars and two trucks collided in thick fog. Three people were injured and were taken to hospital.

Shortly afterwards four cars were involved in a collision on the same highway near the first accident. No one was injured.

Hall said the other two accidents happened on a road underneath the highway. The road leads to the Landau and Tweefontein mines.

In the first accident, a car collided with a small bus carrying about 35 mineworkers to Landau mine. A truck then hit the car and the bus, pushing the bus into a marsh and crushing the car.

The car driver was critically injured and taken to Cosmos Hospital in Witbank. The occupants of the bus escaped unscathed, but were taken to Landau mine hospital to be treated for shock.

Just after this, two cars, three trucks and a small bus that were coming from the opposite direction were involved in an accident.

Hall said they probably saw the other accident and slowed down, colliding in the thick fog. Three people were slightly injured.

Hall said the cause of all four accidents was bad visibility because of fog.

#706

From: "Rob McGee" <usmra@...>
Date: Fri Sep 12, 2003 7:51 am
Subject: New coal dust plan approved by Senate

usmra@...

New coal dust plan approved by Senate

By Joe Myers/REGISTER-HERALD REPORTER
September 12, 2003

The Senate approved a compromise measure Thursday aimed at countering a controversial coal dust monitoring plan put forward by the Bush administration, Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., said.

Byrd co-sponsored the provision with Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa.

"Our efforts will mean that miners will be better protected from levels of coal dust that can lead to black lung," Byrd said.

The measure requires the Department of Labor secretary to promulgate new rules incorporating real-time dust monitors once testing of the devices is completed next year.

"This language is binding," Byrd said. "The Labor Department must issue a new rule if the personal dust monitoring devices prove successful.

"And I hope that the administration understands that the miners of our states and their representatives in the Congress will be watching, and that we will continue to oppose any effort to circumvent the 1969 Mine Safety Act with regard to dust levels."

Earlier this year, the Mine Safety and Health Administration proposed new dust rules which were immediately denounced by the United Mine Workers of America.

Union safety officials claimed the rules would allow dust levels in the mines to creep upward, leading to greater risk of mine explosions and black lung disease.

Industry representatives also objected to the proposal, arguing further revisions would be needed to accommodate the personal monitors, Byrd said.

The compromise provision was hammered out with officials of the UMWA and the National Mining Association, the senator said.

"These are seriously flawed rules that would undercut long-running efforts to improve the working conditions of our nation's miners," Byrd said. "Under the proposed rules, the levels of coal mine dust permitted in the mine environment reportedly would increase well beyond what was mandated in the 1969 (law). This is a giant leap backward in the nation's work to protect the health of miners."

Since 1969, more than 106,000 miners have been diagnosed with black lung disease. About 5,000 new claims are filed annually.

The Byrd-Specter provision was included in a Department of Labor funding bill. That bill now moves to a House-Senate conference committee.

#707

From: "Rob McGee" <usmra@...>
Date: Sat Sep 13, 2003 2:31 am
Subject: Miner died of head trauma

usmra@...

Miner died of head trauma

By DUSTIN BLEIZEFFER Star-Tribune energy reporter

Friday, September 12, 2003

GILLETTE -- A tow hook attached to a truck with a 1-inch-thick tow rope came loose and shot through a window, killing 36-year-old Belle Ayr coal miner Brad A. Beavers, according to reports.

Beavers and another employee were attempting to get a truck unstuck from a mud hole.

The accident happened at about 9:45 a.m. Tuesday. No one else was injured in the accident, according to RAG Coal West, Inc., officials.

Campbell County Coroner Tom Eekhoff said Beavers was pronounced dead at 10:49 a.m. at Campbell County Memorial Hospital as a result of massive head trauma.

Beavers, of Gillette, had been employed as a production technician at RAG for about four years. Beavers is survived by his wife, Khris Beavers, his daughter, Bret Beavers, and son, Steven Beavers, all of Gillette.

Funeral services will be at 3 p.m. at the Park County Fairgrounds multipurpose building in Powell. Burial will follow at the Crown Hill Cemetery in Powell. A memorial fund for Beavers' children has been set up at First Interstate Bank in Gillette and Big Horn Savings Bank in Powell.

Miratsky-Easton Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Mine Safety and Health Administration officials investigated the accident scene at Belle Ayr on Wednesday, according to RAG officials. Wyoming State Mining Inspector Donald Stauffenberg also investigated the scene this week and was still in Gillette on Thursday, according to his office.

It will likely be several weeks before reports from the investigations are completed and made available to the public.

Belle Ayr administrators voluntarily shut down mining operations after the accident Tuesday and resumed operations Wednesday. The mine is located about 20 miles south of Gillette.

It was the first mine employee fatality at Belle Ayr since the mine began operating in the mid 1970s. However, mine officials indicated that there has been at least one contractor death at the mine.

So far in 2003, 24 coal miners have been killed on the job nationwide, according to MSHA. Beavers' was the third fatality at a Powder River Basin coal mine in the past two years.

Rick Richardson died of head injuries from a fall February 20 at Arch Coal Inc.'s Black Thunder coal mine. Allen "Big A" Greger was killed when a section of highwall came loose and smashed the rubber-tire dozer he was operating on Feb. 20, 2001, at Black Thunder.

On the Web: ( http://www.msha.gov/fatals/fabc2003.htm )

#708

From: "Rob McGee" <usmra@...>
Date: Sun Sep 14, 2003 5:01 am
Subject: Trapped miners in NW. China have little hope of survival

usmra@...

Trapped miners in NW. China have little hope of survival

9/13/03

　　XI'AN, Sept. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- There is little hope of survival for the 15 miners trapped in a coal mine in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, a coal mine official at the rescue site said Saturday.

　　Water infiltration occurred at the Sangshuping Coal Mine in Hancheng city Thursday evening when 22 miners were working below ground.

　　Only seven escaped, the others were all trapped.

　　Though rescuers are still pumping water from the tunnel, the water level rose again Saturday morning, which, according to Tian Junfeng, the official directing the rescue work, showed infiltration or collapse is still going on.

　　It will at least take a few more days to pump all the water out of the tunnel, so there is almost no hope for the trapped miners to come out alive, Tian said.

#709

From: "Rob McGee" <usmra@...>
Date: Sun Sep 14, 2003 5:14 am
Subject: Flooding traps 34 in mines

usmra@...

Flooding traps 34 in mines

9/12/03

Thirty-four miners were still trapped by flooding in two collieries in western China last night, but 19 of them were expected to be rescued this morning.

On Wednesday morning, the 19 were trapped by water suddenly gushing from a nearby deserted coal mine in Xiushan County of Chongqing Municipality.

It is possible that workers dredging along the No 2 shaft of the Chuanhe Coal Mine bored through to the deserted mine, causing the accident, a local mine administration official said.

As of 9 am yesterday, the water level in the shaft had dropped to 22 meters from 45 meters when the accident happened, said Liu Zuli, vice director of the municipal administration for coal industry.

When the water drops by another 2 meters by early this morning, rescuers could reach the victims.

More than 200 people have been sent to join in the rescue work, Liu said.

Elsewhere in Shaanxi Province, rescue workers were busying pumping water from the Sangshuping Coal Mine that was flooded on Thursday night.

Two dredging platforms were flooded near 9 pm, when 22 miners were working at the scene. Seven of them escaped.