Mining
sb admin | August 22, 2007This time, it's not an Act of God, but instead it just that Big, Bad Mountain. Owner/operator of the Crandall Canyon mine, Mr. Bob Murray said today:
"Had I known that this evil mountain, this alive mountain, would do what it did, I would never have sent the miners in here.  I'll never go near that mountain again."
We couldn't make this stuff up if we tried. No wonder reporters were wondering where Mr. Murray has been over the last few days.  (I had two calls on Monday wondering if I knew where to find him. )Â
They were craving a few more choice quotes from the guy. He …
sb admin | August 22, 2007These three men were killed while trying to rescue six miners trapped at Crandall Canyon in Utah:
Dale Ray Black, 48, of Huntington, Utah (read more about him from the Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret Morning News)
Brandon Kimber, 29, of Price, Utah (read more about him from USA Today and the Washington Post)
Gary Jensen, 48, of Redmond, Utah (read more about him from 9NEWS)
In other news:
New York Times: Firefighters Joseph Graffagnino, 33, and Robert Beddia, 53, died battling a blaze in the Deutsche Bank building at Ground Zero.
Associated Press: UFCW president Joseph Hansen has called for a…
sb admin | August 22, 2007The Mountain Eagle's Tom Bethell pulls no punches in today's editorial with an in-your-face critique of the coal industry and their investment (not!) in safety technology. He writes:
"Name five U.S. coal companies that have generously supported research to develop a two-way PED, hardened wireless two-way phone systems, and a tracking system capable of instantly locating miners. You canât, because none has."
"Worse yet, the coal industry isnât spending a dime to help undercapitalized entrepreneurs move their promising products from bench-testing to mine-testing and then through the final…
sb admin | August 20, 2007By Liz BorkowskiÂ
Although work has begun on a fifth borehole into the Crandall Canyon mine, officials acknowledged yesterday that the six miners may not be found. This LA Times article describes the anguishing choice between leaving the miners underground â a notion âakin to soldiers leaving comrades on the battlefieldâ â and risking more fatalities in a rescue operation thatâs already claimed three lives.
In todayâs Washington Post, Karl Vick and Sonya Geis report that the focus has now shifted to determining the cause of collapse, and the retreat mining techniques being used are the first…
sb admin | August 20, 2007When MSHA's Gary Jensen, 53, died last week in a rockburst at the Crandall Canyon mine, it had been 26 years since a federal mine inspector had died in the line of duty. Mr. Jensen joined MSHA in 2001 as an inspector. He had worked for nearly 30 years as a coal miner, and was especially skilled in roof control.Â
He is survived by a wife and four children, with one remarking that one of his father's trademarks was putting himself before others. Â
In a 2003 document marking MSHA's 25th anniversary, the agency offered a small tribute to the 16 federal inspectors who lost their…
sb admin | August 16, 2007Join an on-line chat at 1:00 pm today (8/16) on technology to locate trapped miners.
On day 11, the rescue efforts continue for the six trapped miners at a Utah coal mine. A third borehole (2") punctured the mine workings yesterday afternoon to allow a camera to be lowered into the mine to scan for any sign of the miners. With each borehole drilled and each camera-search, the questions being repeated across the nation are "where are the miners?" and "why don't we know more precisely where they are in the mine?"Â
After the Sago disaster, family members, worker advocates and coal…
sb admin | August 15, 2007The Salt Lake Tribune reports that a third borehole has reached a cavity in the Crandall Canyon mine, but efforts to lower a microphone into it have failed so far. The Tribune has the most extensive coverage of the rescue efforts, and in a blog post yesterday Arianna Huffington contrasts its performance to that of the New York Times:
⦠the Times has been thoroughly scooped by the Salt Lake Tribune, which uncovered a memo revealing that there had been serious structural problems at the Crandall Canyon Mine in March -- in an area just 900 feet from the section of the mine that collapsed last…
sb admin | August 15, 2007by Tom Bethell                                                                                                     (Posted with permission from The Mountain Eagle, Whitesburg, KY)
As we go to press, six coal miners remain trapped in Murray Energyâs Crandall Canyon Mine, near Huntington, Utah. Nothing has been heard from them since a portion of the mine caved in on August 6, and the heartbreakingly slow efforts to reach them have yielded no sign of whether they are alive. We join with mining…
sb admin | August 14, 2007In "Memo shows mine already had roof problems," (Aug 12) the Salt Lake Tribune's Robert Gehrke first reported on a history of rockbursts at the Crandall Canyon mine.* I first learned this on NPR's Morning Edition (Aug 14) when Frank Langfitt reported that in March of this year, another severe rockburst occurred at the Crandall Canyon coal mine. Apparently, no miners were injured by that mining "bump," which Langfitt described "like an explosion as the floor buckles and coal shoots out from the pillars that hold up the ceiling," but the situation was severe enough, that Murray …
sb admin | August 13, 2007Ellen Smith, Managing Editor of Mine Safety and Health News reported at 5:30 pm (EST, 8/12) on the status of the operation to rescue the six trapped miners at the Crandall Canyon mine in Emery County, Utah. She wrote that MSHA Assistant Secretary Richard Sticker, said they are dealing with
"the most difficult ground conditions -- ever"
and conditions are getting much more difficult.
Ellen Smith's report continues:
There continue to be severe bumps and outbursts along the ribs. They have explored four entries in the active working section, but because of the adverse conditions, they…
sb admin | August 11, 2007by Ken Ward, Jr. (This item first appeared on Nieman Watchdog; posted with permission)
Often after accidents like the one at Crandall Canyon, Utah, mine operators claim their mines had relatively few violations. Even if thatâs trueâand often it isnâtâârelatively fewâ just isnât good enough in a risky venture like coal mining. As I write this, the news out of Crandall Canyon, Utah, is not looking good. The Associated Press reports that a tiny microphone lowered deep into the earth early Friday picked up no evidence that six coal miners caught in cave-in four days ago were still alive. …
sb admin | August 10, 2007In the last few days, we have all been in a state of shock over the situation in Utah. Like several of my colleagues, I have been praying for the trapped Utah miners and their families and friends. I have been tuning in to the press conferences with mine owner Bob Murray, and I have been refreshing CNN's website over and over again to get the latest news on the rescue efforts.
Today, I walked passed a yellowed newspaper article from the Washington Post we hung on the side of a filing cabinet 20 months ago, in January 2006.
"Senators Say Budget Cuts Have Left Mines Unsafe" the headline…
sb admin | August 9, 2007Marty Bennett was a coal miner with 29 years of experience, including work at operations that practiced "retreat mining." He died at age 51 at the Sago mine in January 2006, along with 11 other coal miners. Today, his family organized a letter of support for the Crandall Canyon miners' families from victim-families of previous coal mining fatalities. Their letter was published in the Salt Lake City Tribune. (Full text below) Â
To the families,Â
Not many people can actually say what your hearts are feeling. We want you to know that this family can. We are the family of…
sb admin | August 7, 2007As I stay tuned for news on the fate of the six coal miners trapped at the Crandall Canyon mine in Emery County, Utah I've heard numerous tv and radio reporters say "hundreds of mine rescuers" have converged near the worksite to assist with the rescue operation. Who are these "mine rescuers"?
They include the official mine-rescue teams, typically a 6-person group especially trained and equipped to enter a mine after an explosion, fire, roof fall or other catastrophe occurs, as well as scores of other individuals with specialized knowledge or equipment to assist with the rescue…
sb admin | August 1, 2007
June and July 2007 has been a dangerous and deadly ones for 13 U.S. miners, and their families and co-workers left behind. So far this summer, 6 mine workers have died at metal mining operations, 4 workers employed at stone quarries and 3 coal miners.  These 11 men were working at mining operations in 11 different States: Alabama, Alaska, California, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon and Tennessee.     Â
As Mike Wright of the United Steelworkers reminded participants at a recent congressional hearing on mine safety, (his oral statement and…
sb admin | July 31, 2007In a post last week entitled Mining Professors Oppose Mine Safety Bill, I invited the signatories of a letter opposing new mine safety legislation to disclose their financial ties to the mining industry (if any) or other related conflicts of interest.  A couple of days later, one of the letter's signers, Larry Grayson, PhD of Penn State University, responded thoughtfully and thoroughly (here and here) to my post.  I respectfully invite the other signatories to follow Dr. Grayson's lead and provide their own disclosures.
Professor Grayson, who holds the George H., Jr. and Anne…
sb admin | July 25, 2007A group of 11 "academic experts in mine safety and health" sent a letter today to the leadership of the House Education and Labor Committee urging them to withdraw legislation (HR 2768 and HR 2769) on miners' safety and health. The authors of the letter say that "now is not the right time to pursue" further improvements for miners.
Signers of the letters include several chairs of mining engineering departments, such as professor Larry Grayson, who offered just days ago a similar dire warning about more mine safety protections in an op-ed called Mine Mania (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 7/22/07).…
sb admin | July 15, 2007The Louisville-Courier Journal's (LCJ) David Hawpe tells it like he sees it: "Coal is an outlaw industry." When criticized for degrading the industry and asked when he would stop calling it names, Hawpe replied when the industry started "behaving like something other than a bunch of outlaws." Read Hawpe's editorial here.Â
The LCJ columnist recounts some of the testimony from last week's public hearing on a proposed MSHA rule to strengthen seals in underground mines. He says:
"I'll stop using the phrase when industry officials stop opposing federal rules that could save miners'…
sb admin | July 13, 2007...said Melissa Lee, widow of coal miner Jimmy Lee, 33 who died at a Harlan County, KY mine.  At least 17 other families are probably feeling the same way about the improperly constructed seals at the Sago and Darby coal mines where their loved ones perished.Â
The Mine Safety and Health Admininstration (MSHA) issued an emergency temporary standard (ETS) on May 22, 2007 requiring stronger construction of permanent seals and more stringent maintenance and repair procedures (72 Fed Reg 28796.)  The agency determined that miners faced a "grave danger" of death and serious injury…
sb admin | July 12, 2007John F. Martonik, 58, former deputy director of OSHA's Health Standards Program passed away on July 11 at his home in Annandale, Virginia. John retired from OSHA in 2002 and since then used his industrial hygiene expertise to assist workers in compensation and liability cases. He was especially expert in evaluating occupational exposures to benzene and petroleum distillates, and was deeply committed to seeking justice for workers and their surviving spouses.
John Martonik earned a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering and a Masters degree in industrial hygiene from the…