Action lagging for mine-safety laws passed 2 years ago

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/national/212455/

BY TIM HUBER THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Posted on Wednesday, January 2, 2008

CHARLESTON, W. Va. — Two years after an explosion tore apart the Sago Mine, killed 12 men and prompted Congress to pass legislation strengthening mine safety standards, many of those standards have yet to be implemented.

Congress overhauled mine safety rules after the January 2006 blast at the Upshur County mine. Two other high-profile fatal mine accidents occurred that year, and an August collapse in Utah killed nine miners.

But the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration has yet to put into effect some of the standards established by the laws, and the United Mine Workers union, which represents some of the 42, 000 miners who work in the nation’s 670 underground coal mines, blames the agency and mine owners for the delays.

“MSHA, quite frankly, for some time now, since about 2001, has not been the agency that it was mandated to be by Congress to protect the coal miners in this country,” union president Cecil Roberts said. “MSHA, I think, has gone backwards.” The miners’ union sharply criticized the agency for failing to conduct quarterly inspections of every underground mine as required.

Furthermore, the agency hasn’t established standards mandating stronger methods of sealing abandoned sections of underground mines as the new legislation requires. It also hasn’t established rules requiring mine rescue teams to get better equipment and training, requiring wireless underground communications, airtight refuge chambers for trapped miners, or fire-resistant conveyor belts for mines.

“What remains to be done is a sustained effort,” said James Dean, who ran West Virginia’s Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training for six months after the Sago accident and now heads a state task force that evaluates mine safety equipment.

FULL story at link.