02-1-06,9:08am
Jan. 27—The owners of the West Virginia coal mine where 12 miners were killed in a Jan. 3 explosion were ordered by a federal judge Jan. 26 to allow Mine Worker safety experts access to the Upshur County mine as part of the investigation into the deadly blast.
On Jan. 25, International Coal Group (ICG) barred UMWA safety officials from accompanying federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and state mine safety investigators into the nonunion Sago Mine.
Federal mine safety laws permit the union to represent miners at any mine on safety issues at the request of two or more miners. Several Sago miners, along with the families of two of the miners killed, asked for UMWA representation in the investigation. Over ICG’s objections, MSHA certified the union’s participation Jan. 18.
When ICG refused union leaders entry Jan. 25, MSHA sought a court order to force the company to allow UMWA representatives access to the mine. The next day U.S. District Judge Robert E. Maxwell ordered ICG to stop blocking union safety officials from entering the mine. The company agreed to allow UMWA safety investigators into the mine while it appeals the ruling.
Mine Workers union leaders and other job safety advocates say the nation’s mine safety has been compromised by the Bush administration’s emphasis on voluntary compliance with safety rules—in contrast with previous administrations, which have favored strong enforcement.
‘Let’s Get on with Finding out What Happened at Sago’
“ICG has spent countless hours and wasted valuable time with its baseless attacks on the UMWA,” says union president Cecil Roberts. “Meanwhile, the Sago miners, the families of the victims of this disaster and the American public cry out for answers. Let's get on with it, and find the answers to the questions surrounding this tragedy.”
ICG’s strident objections to allowing the union to take part in the investigation appear to stem from its strong anti-union history. According to The Charleston Gazette, court papers filed by ICG charge that MSHA is “allowing the UMWA to infiltrate the Sago Mine. It’s clear that the union is launching a broad-based campaign against IGC, a 100-percent union-free company.”
“It's time for ICG to stop its delaying tactics at the Sago Mine, stop lying about the facts of the UMWA’s involvement with this investigation and get on with the critical need to find out exactly what happened at Sago so that we can all take steps to see that it never happens again at Sago or any other mine in America,” Roberts says. “That has been and remains the UMWA’s only focus in this investigation,” he adds.
UMWA representatives will have the right to be present during any MSHA and state interviews of the miners and will be allowed to accompany investigators during mine walk-throughs.
Congress Looks into Sago and Logan County Mine Disasters Meanwhile, Gov. Joe Manchin (W. Va.) Jan. 23 signed new mine safety legislation that requires all miners be equipped with tracking devices that will give rescuers a better chance of finding missing miners in a disaster and requires supplies of oxygen to be placed throughout the mine to supplement the one-hour supply miners now carry.
The law would also create a Mine and Industrial Rapid Response System, including a 24-hour hot line to move rescue crews faster to mine emergencies. Operators would be required to report fires and explosions within 15 minutes, or face $100,000 fines.
“MSHA was developing similar rules on the federal level, but when the Bush adminsitraiton took office in 2001, they killed these and many other important safety and health protections,” says AFL-CIO Safety and Health Director Peg Seminario.
In addition, the law requires operators to store additional supplies of oxygen for miners, on top of the one-hour canisters now required by federal law.
In Washington D.C., congressional hearings convened following the Sago disaster and the deaths of two miners Jan. 20 in a fire at a Logan County, W.Va., mine. Lawmakers looked into the Bush administration’s funding cuts in MSHA, its reduction in the number of safety investigators and it’s record in negotiating reductions in fines with mine owners over safety violations.
In addition, mine safety advocates also say the close coal industry ties of Bush administration appointees to MSHA leadership positions have further weakened the MSHA’s commitment to safety enforcement. Bush has appointed former senior executives from Peabody Energy, AMAX Inc., the American Mining Congress, Cyprus Minerals Co. and other such companies to high-ranking posts within MSHA.
