Government defends oversight of deadly coal mine

By Tom Doggett and Lisa Lambert

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Bush administration on Monday
defended the government’s oversight of the Sago coal mine and
said none of the previous safety problems cited at the West
Virginia mine appeared to be the cause of the January 2
explosion that killed 12 miners.

Republican Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, chairman of the
Senate Appropriations subcommittee on mining issues, asked if a
$2.8 million cut in the federal Mine Safety and Health
Administration budget and loss of 183 agency staff contributed
to the Sago accident.

Specter, whose panel took testimony on Monday about the
accident, said he would not support a federal budget that does
not spend more on mine safety.

David Dye, MSHA’s acting administrator, told the panel
budget cuts did not play a role in the Sago accident. The Bush
administration’s 2007 budget plan, to be unveiled next month,
will seek more money for mine rescue technology, he said.

The White House also wants Congress to boost the maximum
penalty paid by mine operators for each safety violation from
the current $60,000 to $220,000, Dye said.

Government inspectors ramped up enforcement at the Sago
mine, issuing 208 citations in the year before the accident and
insisting on prompt corrections. “At this time, we have no
information that would suggest that the explosion was related
to a recurrence of any of the conditions that were required to
be abated before the explosion,” Dye said.

Dye noted that a buildup of dangerous methane gas had not
been among the mine’s problems.

He declined to say when the probe would be finished.

The government’s enforcement actions saw the all-injury
incident rate at the Sago mine drop from 55.8 in the second
quarter of last year to 8.3 in the fourth quarter, Dye said.
Federal safety officials spent 744 on-site inspection hours at
the mine last year, up 84 percent from 2004.

The number of coal mining deaths fell 42 percent and coal
mine injuries declined 22 percent from 2000 to 2005, Dye said.
Around 70,000 miners work in the U.S. coal industry, down from
a peak of 700,000 in 1923, when American coal production was
half what it is today.

Lawmakers on the subcommittee called for better breathing
devices and communication equipment for miners. The Sago miners
had standard breathing devices with one hour of oxygen.

“One hour of precious air — grossly inadequate for miners
whom we know may have to barricade themselves and possibly wait
many hours, even a day, maybe more, for rescue,” said Democrat
Robert Byrd of West Virginia.

“I want to know if the 1960′s-era technology is truly the
best we can offer miners today,” said Iowa Democrat Tom Harkin.

Dye announced the Mine Safety and Health Administration is
seeking public comment for 60 days on how to improve
underground mine rescue equipment.

The National Mining Association said an independent panel
will study how new technologies and training can improve mine
safety. The panel’s initial recommendations are due July 1.

Bennett Hatfield, president of International Coal Group,
which owns the Sago mine, said ICG supported better wireless
communications and breathing devices for miners. NASA space
robot technology could also help rescue crews, he said.

Hatfield said government inspectors would have shut the
mine if it was unsafe. None of the 208 citations issued in 2005
“involved an immediate risk of injury,” and all but three were
corrected by January 2 when the disaster occurred, he said.

Government safety inspectors were at the West Virginia mine
nearly every working day in the months before the accident and
would “not have allowed the continued operation of the Sago
Mine if they believed it to be unsafe,” Hatfield said.

In separate mine accident last week near Melville, West
Virginia, two miners were killed and 19 escaped a fire that
broke out in a mine owned by Aracoma Coal Co., a unit of Massey
Energy Co..

West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin wants a new state law to
require reserve oxygen stations in mines and technology to
electronically track miners.

The United States has about a 250-year supply of coal, with
the industry calling America the Saudi Arabia of coal. The
biggest use for coal is as fuel for power plants, accounting
for half of U.S. electricity generation.