Photo by Ben Adducchio, W.Va. Public Broadcasting
Labor Secretary Hilda Solis had a lot of nice soundbites from her visit deep underground at a northern West Virginia coal mine yesterday … but it doesn’t look like the mine’s recent safety problems and violations were discussed by Solis or by any of the local or national press who covered this dog-and-pony show.
West Virginia Public Broadcasting reported on what Solis says she’ll tell folks in Washington about the trip:
I’m going to tell them how in awe I was of the facility here.
Wall Street Journal reporter Melanie Trottman, who was given exclusive access to Solis during the mine visit, quotes the Labor Secretary this way:
This is probably one of the most premier and regulated mines. It probably has a lot to do with the cooperation between management and the employees.
And Tim Huber of The Associated Press declared:
Patriot’s Federal No. 2 is well regarded by labor, industry and regulators as a well-run, safe operation. Like other West Virginia underground mines, it already has added airtight emergency shelters, caches of oxygen and other improvements required by the state after a pair of high-profile accidents killed 14 miners in January 2006.
Huber quoted Solis:
I got to see first hand what kinds of resources are available. I’m just in awe.
Indeed, Federal No. 2 has for many years had a strong safety record. The mine lists no deaths going back to at least 1995. Its non-fatal injury rate has been better than the national average in 12 of the last 14 years, according to U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration records.
But the most recent quarterly results available on MSHA’s Web site — for the period from January through March 2009 — show a non-fatal injury rate that is more than twice the national average. That rate includes 20 injuries during the first quarter of the year. And other MSHA data includes a list of 10 more injuries in the second quarter — meaning more miners have been hurt at this operation during the first half of 2009 that were typically hurt in a full year going back more than a decade.
What’s going on? Did Solis ask? How about Joe Main, President Obama’s nominee to run MSHA … did he ask his United Mine Workers of America brothers at the Federal No. 2 operation about this? What did the miners say about safety conditions? We don’t know, because the Labor Department closed that part of the visit to the press, except for a national reporter from the WSJ, who hasn’t reported on any of this …
Mine safety and health violations at Federal No. 2 are also on the rise, according to MSHA data.
For the decade 1995 through 2004, the operation averaged a violation rate of 37 violations for every 200,000 hours worked. Since then, Federal No. 2 has averaged 65 violations per 200,000 hours worked.
And how about this idea that Federal No. 2 was way ahead of the curve in improving its emergency equipment and practices in response to the Sago Mine disaster?
Well, I took a look at the most recent quarterly inspection by MSHA. It began on July 1 and is ongoing. So far, MSHA inspectors have issued 27 citations.
Those citations included two violations of rules governing mine escape tunnels (including not having required “lifelines” to lead miners to the emergency breathing device caches — a new requirement post-Sago), one violation of rules governing firefighting equipment, one violation of MSHA rules governing sprinklers, and two violations of rules governing escapeway maps.
Not for nothing, but the mine’s previous quarterly inspection, from April through June, also prompted two citations for violations of firefighting equipment rules and one for a violation of communications equipment rules.
Subscribe to the Coal Tattoo
Hilda Solis – coal’s newest cheerleader?
easy tiger. soundbites are only a cover story. this administration will take care of business. lose the anger already.
speaking as someone who lives with M.T.R. in mingo co. I’m just glad to see an underground mine.
This mine is like fantasy land come to one in the southern part of the state and tour it and see what you think.
All that needed to be said was, “the Washington dog and pony show”
When I worked for OSM we ordered to put together a tour for then President Carter. We were told to find a coal company in EKY which was in compliance, had both surface and underground mines and was UMWA. We were specifically told to
NOT show the President any “bad” or “problem” areas. Unfortunately nothing has changed except the players and they have really not changed at all.
As a former miner, im delighted to know a labor secretary visted an underground mine, to get firsthand info on coal mining matters. The penaltys should be double for false management entrys relating to safety issues in all our mines. This has been the real problem down through the years.
Still sounds like sour grapes from a local rag that was pushed aside by the big boys at news corp and the Wall Street Journal.
[...] is a bit inconvenient for Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, who visited the mine last year and touted its fine safety record, and for MSHA chief Joe Main, because this is a United Mine Workers operation that is frequently [...]