Thursday, January 19, 2006
By Dennis B. Roddy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Federal officials were so concerned about conditions inside the Sago mine that they had scheduled a meeting for Jan. 6 of the government's top mine safety enforcement officer and the president of International Coal Group, the mine's owners.
The meeting never took place: A Jan. 2 explosion in the mine in Tallmansville, W.Va., trapped 13 men underground, killing 12.
"We wanted to discuss the accident rate at the mine and compliance in general with the mine operator," said Suzy Bohnert, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Labor.
Officials of the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration scheduled the meeting between Ray McKinney, the agency's administrator for coal mine safety, and Ben Hatfield, ICG president, after a series of five earlier meetings between lower-level MSHA and ICG officials. The last of those meetings took place in mid-December.
MSHA inspectors had stepped up inspections inside the Sago mine, citing accelerating numbers of safety violations and lost-time accidents. Last year, federal inspectors issued 208 citations against Sago's operators, slightly less than half of them for what were classified "significant and substantial" violations of mine safety regulations.
As late as Dec. 14, federal inspectors issued a "withdrawal order," instructing Sago officials to clear the First Left Mains section of the mine because of an accumulation of combustible materials. First Left Mains was one of two sections being worked at Sago.
Federal mine inspector John D. Mehaulic Jr. wrote that "the operator has showed a high degree of negligence for the health and safety of the miners that work at this coal mine by allowing the conditions to exist."
The company did not challenge that citation or seven other "unwarrantable failure" safety orders. Such orders cite safety oversights that were pointed out in the past but not addressed, or are so obvious the company should have recognized them.
Several of the inspector's reports cited accumulated coal and coal dust inside work areas. Both are considered potential sources of fire or explosion. Two of the citations were written May 20 of last year, with the comment that the violations "should have been recognized by any prudent mine examiner given the responsibility of conducting a mine examination."
On June 2, an inspector discovered a battery charger station erected inside the mine's air intake -- considered a risk of pollution for the air being fed to miners below. The inspection report also said the station lacked a fire suppression system and said "no evidence could be found to indicate that a pre-shift examination was conducted" for the station.
The inspector took the unusual step of citing the pre-shift examiner, John Travise, saying he "has engaged in aggravated conduct by his failure to record and take action of a known hazard."
In October, an inspector cited the mine for failing to adhere to its ventilation plan. A month later, inspectors said pre-shift inspectors had missed six safety violations, including coal dust, loose roof, bad spacing for roof bolts designed to prevent cave-ins, and mud and water in a designated escape-way.
The Dec. 14 citation, which cited "a high degree of negligence," was issued when an inspector again found accumulated coal piles inside the work area, fine coal deposits on the mine roof and inadequate "rock dusting" -- ground stone used to suppress clouds of flammable coal dust.
Safety inspectors also issued nine other unwarrantable failure orders that the company is challenging.
Had it taken place, the Jan. 6 meeting would have been the sixth between MSHA officials and ICG officers regarding Sago conditions.
An ICG spokesman said the company could not immediately respond because "the appropriate people to ask about this are simply not available today."
As members of a joint state-federal investigating team began the first round of interviews with Sago employees, MSHA officials fended off criticism of their decision to wait until the the major portion of the investigation has been completed before holding public hearings.
The federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 allows Department of Labor investigators to use subpoena powers to compel witnesses to testify and produce relevant documents if done during a public hearing. MSHA has used that power only once in 29 years. By doing interviews privately, critics say, the agency's probe will lack sufficient powers to determine whether the mining company or any of its employees were negligent.
"I've been criticizing them for 20 years for doing it that way. It's not good government," said Tony Oppegard, a former MSHA official and onetime mine enforcement prosecutor in Kentucky.
Mr. Oppegard, now an attorney specializing in mine injury lawsuits, said MSHA procedures allow officials of the coal company to be present during any employee interviews, which he said could make workers hesitant to reveal any unsafe conditions.
"You can't expect miners to come in and testify about unsafe conditions in the mine when you have their employers across the table from them," Mr. Oppegard said.
Ms. Bohnert said yesterday that although interviews will be voluntary, investigators will not have given up their subpoena powers during subsequent public hearings.
"If there is insufficient voluntary cooperation from witnesses, MSHA has the option to notify the public and hold a public hearing, in which case persons may be subpoenaed to give testimony under oath and bring relevant documents to the public hearing," she said.
She also said that mine employees who request it will be given the status of confidential informants and interviewed privately.
In a telephone news conference yesterday, Richard Gates, who is heading up MSHA's investigation of Sago, said officials have interviewed four of the miners who were inside the shaft at the time of the blast, and that team members have been gathering records for the investigation.
Investigators have been unable to enter the mine to examine the blast scene, Mr. Gates said, because of continuing problems with flooding.
"The mine operator is currently in the process of pumping water from the mine," Mr. Gates said. "It appears that it may be three to four days before the accident investigation team has access to the mine."
MSHA also announced yesterday that George Fesak, director of program evaluation and information resources, has been named to head up an internal review of the agency's handling of Sago mine. Robert Friend, acting deputy assistant secretary for mine safety and health administration, made the announcement and said the internal review is routine.
As the investigation got under way, Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America, issued a statement criticizing ICG, which he said spent the first day of interviews attempting to determine which of its mining employees listed the UMW as their official representative in the probe.
Although Sago is a nonunion mine, the Mine Safety Act allows employees of nonunion mines to request that the UMW represent their interests during accident investigations. Mr. Gates yesterday said MSHA has accepted a UMW observer who will be present during the probe.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06019/640466.stm
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