Clik here to view.
Coal mine safety and the presidential election
Helmets are place on crosses on a table during a memorial service for the miners killed in the Upper Big Branch Mine during which President Barack Obama will give the eulogy in Beckley, W.Va., Sunday,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Alpha cited by MSHA in March mining death
Federal regulators this afternoon made public the report of their investigation into the March death of 34-year-old Jeremy Sigler at Alpha Natural Resources subsidiary Kingston Resources Inc.’s...
View ArticleClik here to view.
MSHA targets respirable dust in ‘impact’ inspections
Today’s news release from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration about its monthly “impact” inspections included a new twist: MSHA recently added a criterion to its impact inspection policy to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Illinois coal miner dies on the job
Here’s the weekend’s sad news from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration: At approximately 5:00 am Sunday, a miner (the continuous mining machine operator), who was reported to be about 30...
View ArticleClik here to view.
44 years ago: The Farmington Mine Disaster
Gazette photo by Lawrence Pierce Forty-four years ago today, 78 miners were killed in an explosion at Consolidation Coal Co.’s No. 9 Mine in Farmington, W.Va Here’s how the United States Mine Rescue...
View ArticleClik here to view.
More mines face ‘pattern of violations’ crackdown
Here’s the news issued yesterday by the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration today announced that four mining operations...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Blankenship: ‘I don’t think I’m electable’
The Wall Street Journal’s Kris Maher has what I guess is considered a big scoop, a story posted last evening based on an interview with former Massey CEO Don Blankenship. The story starts out: The...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Another W.Va. coal miner dies on the job
The bad news this morning comes from Greenbrier County, W.Va., where a 27-year-old coal miner was killed on the job. The accident occurred at about 1:30 a.m. today at White Buck Coal Co.’s Pocahontas...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Search continues at CONSOL slurry impoundment
See comments section below for updates as they become available. UPDATED, 9 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012 — Here’s the latest statement issued a few minutes ago by CONSOL Energy: Working closely with...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Probe begins at CONSOL slurry impoundment
UPDATED, 3:45 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012, with audio of CONSOL’s briefing earlier in the afternoon: These photos, provided by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, show CONSOL...
View ArticleClik here to view.
MSHA lists impoundment collapse as fatality
The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration has now officially listed last Friday’s collapse of a slurry impoundment at CONSOL Energy’s Robinson Run operation in Harrison County, W.Va., as a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Slurry safety: Learning from the CONSOL collapse
It’s been nearly a week since the terrible collapse of a “saddle dike” at CONSOL Energy’s Robinson Run complex in Harrison County, W.Va. Crews are still looking for the body of a United Mine Workers...
View ArticleClik here to view.
‘Accidents occur’: Do coal miners have to die?
The bad news started early last Friday: A 27-year-old coal miner was crushed to death between two pieces of mining equipment deep inside an Alpha Natural Resources underground mine in Greenbrier...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Update on recovery at CONSOL impoundment
WVDEP photo Updates just came in from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration and CONSOL Energy on their efforts to recovery the body of a United Mine Workers miner missing since last Friday...
View ArticleClik here to view.
CONSOL miner update: Body found in dozer
Here’s the latest word from CONSOL Energy, issued this morning: Dive and rescue teams completed a series of pipe dives over the weekend that helped to more clearly define the exact position and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Still no proximity detection rules from MSHA
That’s the photo that the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration distributed today, as part of its “fatalgram” about the Nov. 30 death of 27-year-old coal-mine electrician Steven O’Dell in another...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Court upholds Stover conviction in UBB case
In a March 15, 2011 photo, Massey Energy Security Chief Hughie Elbert Stover, center, and his wife, left, are swamped by members of the media as they leave the Federal courthouse in Beckley (AP...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Judge won’t delay UBB superintendent sentencing
Gary May, left, of Bloomingrose, W.V., former superintendent of Upper Big Branch Mine, where an explosion killed 29 workers, walks with his defense attorney, Tim Carrico, at the Beckley Federal...
View ArticleClik here to view.
C.A. Phillips to retire from W.Va. mine safety office
It’s just been confirmed that C.A. Phillips, director of the West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training, plans to retire effective Dec. 31. C.A. has been director of the agency since...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Sago Mine Disaster, Jan. 2, 2006
It was 7 years ago this morning that an explosion ripped through International Coal Group’s Sago Mine in Upshur County, W.Va. Twelve miners died and another barely got out alive. Miner Randal McCloy...
View Article