Families of Sago Miners Question MSHA, Mine Owners

By Evelyn Ryan, The Dominion Post, Morgantown, W.Va.

May 3–BUCKHANNON — Tuesday’s public hearing on the Jan. 2 Sago mine disaster is for the families of the 12 miners who died in the New Year’s explosion, Gov. Joe Manchin said.

Family members took advantage of the opportunity to grill top officials of ICG, owner of the Sago mine, for more than three hours, as well as crossexamine federal and state mine investigators for another two. The hearing took place at W.Va. Wesleyan college and was moderated by J. Davitt McAteer, who is conducting an independent investigation for the governor.

The two-day hearing is a joint project of the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration and the state Office of Miners Health, Safety and Training, agencies charged with investigating mine accidents.

The opening day offered a briefing on what the two mine agencies found when they inspected the Sago mine before the explosion and a recounting of how ICG employees responded to the accident. Today’s hearing picks up with the report from ICG on its findings about the explosion and the status of the state and federal investigations.

Questions from family members concentrated on Omega blocks, which were used to seal a section of the mine where the company had abandoned mining. The explosion is believed to have been triggered behind the blocks. The family members are concerned about the ability of the blocks to do their jobs and questioned whether the blocks were properly installed and whether the men doing that work were properly trained. MSHA is testing the Omega blocks at NIOSH’s Lake Lynn explosives laboratory, just north of Morgantown, MSHA District Manager Kevin Stricklin said.

Family members also want more information about the self-contained self-rescuers (SCSRs) the miners carried. In a letter to the family members, miner Randal McCloy, the sole survivor of the Sago disaster, wrote that the miners had to share SCSRs because some of the devices ran out of air.

SCSRs provide about an hour of oxygen, mine safety officials said, enough to allow a miner to reach an escape area when the air becomes dangerous. The SCSRs used by the miners also are being tested by MSHA.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Dominion Post, Morgantown, W.Va.

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