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Mine Deaths Rise With Coal Prices    [

    Calls for Mine Safety Reform Follow Sad Pattern
    By Bill Estep and Linda Blackford
    The Lexington Herald-Leader

    Sunday 28 May 2006

Deaths this year renew talk of measures heard before.

    The drive for safety reforms in the wake of this year's coal-mining deaths in Appalachia repeats a pattern that dates back a century.

    The worst coal-mine disaster in US history, an explosion that killed 362 miners at Monongah, W.Va. in 1907, led to creation of the first federal mining agency.

    Congress approved mandatory federal coal-mine inspections and tougher enforcement after 78 miners died in a 1968 blast in Farmington, W.Va.

    The next major congressional overhaul required mine-rescue teams, training for miners and other measures. It came after two explosions at the Scotia Coal Co. in Letcher County killed 23 miners and three federal inspectors in March 1976.

    That history was the basis for a now-common saying: "Safety laws are written with the blood of miners."

    Coal-mine safety is again a pressing issue because of a spike in fatalities. After going down for several years, the death toll nationally has jumped to 33 so far in 2006.

    That includes 11 deaths in Kentucky - nearly half of them in a May 20 blast at the Kentucky Darby LLC Darby Mine No. 1 in Harlan County.

    There is a familiar ring, however, to some of the changes adopted and issues being discussed, such as increased air supplies to help trapped underground miners survive until help arrives, quicker mine-rescue response, and the use of certain materials to seal off unused parts of mines.

    "Some of it we've been talking about for a long time," said R. Larry Grayson, chair of mining and nuclear engineering at the University of Missouri-Rolla and of the Mine Safety Technology and Training Commission.

    For example, the United Mine Workers of America and others have long pushed for improvements in emergency oxygen supplies available to miners, said Tim Baker, deputy director for health and safety for the union.

    The rule for years has been that miners must have a small, portable oxygen-generating unit - called a self-contained self-rescuer - that produces about an hour's worth of air. The devices have been criticized this year after survivors of mine explosions in West Virginia and Kentucky said they didn't work properly.

    Budgets and Priorities

    In the late 1990s, the US Mine Safety and Health Administration began considering whether to require caches of oxygen in mines and other changes related to self-rescuers.

    However, Bush administration officials withdrew the idea in September 2001, citing budget restraints and changing priorities, said Baker.

    "When Bush came to office, it fell completely off the charts," Baker said. "The priority, I think, was, 'Let's regulate less.'"

    Dirk Fillpot, a spokesman for MSHA, said the agency withdrew the idea before formally proposing it as a rule. There was concern about whether there was enough evidence to justify some portions of the proposal, he said.

    Bill Caylor, president of the Kentucky Coal Association, said it was a reasonable decision in 2001 for MSHA to withdraw the potential rule on more oxygen packs for miners because increased federal restrictions would have eliminated mining jobs. The industry had not recovered from a 1990s slump at the time.

    In hindsight, however, "yes, it should have been done," Caylor said of the rule.

    After 12 miners died in January in an explosion at the Sago mine in West Virginia, MSHA issued emergency rules requiring that miners have access to two hours of air, plus extra supplies stored in the mine.

    The US Senate followed that last week with approval of a bill mandating additional oxygen supplies, a provision Kentucky lawmakers also approved this year.

    Baker noted that 14 of the 17 miners killed in explosions at Sago and Kentucky Darby did not die in the blasts, but ran out of oxygen before help arrived.

    "You would have had the chance of 14 of those people walking away" if new rules on oxygen supplies had been in place earlier, he said.

    The Senate bill also would require a one-hour response time from mine-rescue teams, half the current federal standard of two hours.

    In 2002, MSHA withdrew a proposed rule that would have increased the number and availability of rescue teams, said US Rep. George Miller of California, the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, which handles labor issues.

    Miller has been sharply critical of MSHA's policies under President Bush. He issued a report this year charging that the administration had stacked top jobs at the agency with officials friendly to the coal industry, reduced the number of mine inspectors and withdrawn or delayed implementing more than a dozen safety rules that had been under consideration.

    The administration also rolled back protections, some argue.

    For example, critics decry a change that allows coal companies to blow air into mines along conveyor belts that carry out coal. The practice ignores safety precedents and was a major factor in a January fire that killed two West Virginia miners, said Tony Oppegard, a Lexington lawyer and mine-safety authority.

    Interpreting Fatalities

    Some outside the coal industry complain that, under Bush, MSHA has focused on helping coal operators comply with rules, called "compliance assistance," instead of taking a tougher enforcement stance.

    David Dye, the acting administrator at MSHA, and other agency officials have defended its record of protecting miners' safety and health.

    One indicator of success is that US coal-mining deaths dropped several years in a row to a record low of 22 in 2005, and injuries have also declined, the agency said.

    "In addition to emphasizing increased enforcement of mine-safety laws, MSHA has promoted prevention and worked with the mining community ... to make America's mines the safest in the world," Dye said in congressional testimony soon after the Sago disaster.

    But safety advocates argue the recent jump in deaths shows MSHA's pursuit of the wrong policies is only now coming home to roost, exacerbated by increased coal production.

    In a conference call last week, Congressman Miller cited a "constellation of events and trends" as factors in increased fatalities, including MSHA's focus on compliance assistance, the loss of federal inspectors, and the fact that "Congress walked away from its oversight" of MSHA and the coal industry.

    Or, as Baker said, "You reap what you sow. Unfortunately, in this case we're reaping something pretty bad."

    Caylor, president of the state coal association, disagreed that safety has slipped in mines because of MSHA's focus on helping coal operators comply with the law. There is no discernible pattern to this year's deaths that would explain the increase, he has told the Herald-Leader.

    "I don't subscribe that the Bush administration is currying favor with mine operators," he said last week.

    The University of Missouri's Grayson said future mine safety efforts shouldn't get bogged down in political differences: "We need to make sure this becomes a culture of prevention," he said. "Yes, politics can get in the way."

    Cement vs. Foam

    Another current issue that's been discussed in the past is mine seals.

    In the Sago and Kentucky Darby disasters, the performance of mine seals built of styrofoam-type blocks is an issue. The blocks are used to seal off sections of mines that are not being used, so that they don't have to be ventilated.

    An ignition of methane gas that built up in sealed areas may have been the cause of the blasts at Sago and Kentucky Darby.

    Baker said that federal rules initially required coal companies to use solid cement seals to block off unused sections of mines, but regulators later allowed use of the foam-type blocks, called alternative seals.

    Coal operators like them because they are easier to work with and hold down costs, but the union argues they should not be used.

    After the May 20 Harlan County blast, MSHA placed a moratorium on installing any new alternative seals. Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher also ordered increased testing for potential methane leaks at the seals.

    The US Senate bill doesn't have everything safety advocates want, but it's a step toward improving miners' chances of coming home alive, they say. The measure would also boost penalties for violations, require improved lifelines to guide employees out of mines, strengthen mine seals and ultimately require wireless communication and tracking systems to help locate miners in an underground emergency.

    The House may vote on the measure in early June. Congress hasn't approved comprehensive mine-safety changes since 1977; the bill would be another of the historic changes born of tragedy.

    "I think it's probably rare when all of your issues are addressed in one piece of legislation," said Tony Oppegard, a Lexington lawyer and mine-safety authority. "I don't think it's what miners need or deserve, but it's an improvement."

    Go to Original

    Mine Deaths Rise With Coal Prices; Fatigue Could Be Factor
    By Roder Alford
    The Associated Press

    Saturday 27 May 2006

    Harlan, Kentucky - In the coalfields of eastern Kentucky, it's known as the hoot owl shift.

    In those wee morning hours, while most people in this small eastern Kentucky town are sleeping, crews of miners, wearing hard hats, steel-toed boots and layers of black dust, are still at work, digging coal from deep underground.

    With coal prices at record highs, mining companies have been pushing to increase production, adding overnight and weekend shifts to keep conveyor belts rumbling, and generating more overtime hours for miners who have some of the most physically grueling jobs in the country.

    Now, industry groups and mine regulatory agencies are wondering if fatigue may be a common factor in the sharp increase in coal mining deaths this year. Already this year 33 coal miners have been killed on the job in the United States, all but three of them in the Appalachian coalfields. In 2005, the total was 22.

    "It is something that needs to be looked at," said Bill Caylor, president of the Kentucky Coal Association. "If we're cranking out more production with the same number of employees, miners may be working six or seven days a week, instead of five, and potentially not getting enough rest."

    Companies went in search of experienced miners about three years ago when prices for Appalachian coal skyrocketed. The coal is now selling for as much as $64 a ton on the spot market, a threefold increase over the base price three years ago, sparking a boom that has rejuvenated the mining industry in these mountains.

    Now, river docks are bustling with barges coming to carry away the region's black gold. Trains, laden with coal, rumble out of the mountains en route to electric generating plants across the country. And coal operators have been pressing miners to keep up the pace.

    In a memo to employees last fall, Massey Energy Chief Executive Officer Don Blankenship stirred controversy by saying producing coal is the top priority.

    "If any of you have been asked by your group presidents, your supervisors, engineers or anyone else to do anything other than run coal (i.e., build overcasts, do construction jobs, or whatever) you need to ignore them and run coal. This memo is necessary only because we seem not to understand that the coal pays the bills," Blankenship wrote.

    The internal memo was followed a week later by another memo from Blankenship to employees, saying safety is the company's top priority.

    The US Energy Information Administration said coal production from Appalachian mines has increased by 2 percent over the past year. Kentucky miners produced an additional 4 million tons over the period, raising the state's total to 120 million tons; West Virginia produced an additional 5 million tons, raising that state's total production to nearly 156 million tons.

    Kentucky's mining industry has had a corresponding increase in employment, about 2,000 additional miners over the past two years, raising the total number of miners to about 14,800, not counting managers, engineers and support workers, said Carlos Cracraft, a labor market analyst in the Kentucky Department for Workforce Development. West Virginia has added about 3,000 miners.

    Cracraft said the miners, who earn an average $18.35 an hour, are working an average of 49.5 hours a week in Kentucky. That, he said, suggests some miners may have a typical 40-hour work week while others may be on the job for 60 hours or more.

    James Jarrett, 43, of DeBord in eastern Kentucky, said the job is far from easy.

    "I would say this is about one of the toughest jobs in the country," he said. "Ain't nobody else ever been where we've been, with a mountain over top of them. About every mine is working six days a week. I may get 60 to 70 hours a week, or I may go home in 48. It varies."

    Most miners are glad to get the overtime, Jarrett said, because it means more money in the pay check.

    Jarrett, who took time off for an unsuccessful election campaign for Martin County judge-executive, said he enjoys the hard work of mining. He plans to return to work next week as an electrician for Booth Energy of Inez.

    "My daddy was a miner. His daddy was miner," Jarrett said. "It's a good job.

    The impact of the additional hours may be greater on Kentucky miners, Caylor said, because their average age is now nearing 50.

    Joe Main, a mine safety consultant and former safety director for the United Mine Workers of America, said industry representatives and regulators should look at overtime when considering ways to improve mine safety.

    Coal operators are so focused on the bottom line that they're calling on miners to put in more hours instead of hiring additional workers to help carry the load, Main said.

    Jane Rice Williams, chairwoman of the Kentucky Mining Board, said she hears constantly about a shortage of miners, which could be one reason why existing miners are working so much overtime.

    However, Chuck Wolfe, spokesman for the Kentucky Office of Mine Safety and Licensing, said he doesn't know whether the five Harlan County miners who died last weekend were on overtime. Company representatives couldn't be reached for comment. No one answered the phone at the company office.

    Main said he "would be surprised" if the average Appalachian miner works less than 10 hours a week of overtime, primarily, he said, because coal operators prefer paying overtime to existing miners rather than hiring additional workers.

    A growing pool of inexperienced miners, who have passed a state test to become certified as coal miners, aren't being hired in large numbers, despite claims of a worker shortage, Main said.

    "That needs a clear examination," he said. "If you look at it from the standpoint of running a safe coal mine, you have to the people, focused people.... I just have a fear that the industry is in such fast motion that things like training to make sure miners and supervisors are up to speed may not be getting the emphasis that it should be."

    Government officials have the same concerns. In Kentucky, Gov. Ernie Fletcher issued an executive order directing coal operators to provide refresher training to miners on how to use the air packs that they carry with them into underground mines.

    "I think there's a real question as to whether the miners have had quality training in the use of those devices," Main said. "If they have not, that could be the difference between life or death."

    Caylor said investigators need to determine if there's a common factor in the fatalities. He said investigators are looking at the type of seals used at the Sago mine in West Virginia, where 12 miners died in January, and at Kentucky Darby No. 1, where five miners died May 20. Both used lighter, synthetic blocks, instead of the traditional concrete blocks to close off previously mined areas. They're trying to determine if the new type of seals allowed methane to leak into working areas of the mines, or whether they simply weren't strong enough to withstand the blast.

    "I don't know what single factor is causing this rash of fatalities," Caylor said. "The only legitimate factor may be if miners are worked beyond the five-day week, that fatigue may come into play. Maybe it's too much overtime.... When you sustain it, do it day in and day out, it does take a toll on you. That's just common sense."