CHARLESTON, W.Va. — After a 2006 West Virginia mine explosion killed a dozen miners, coal companies spent more than $1 billion on safety measures that did nothing to save the lives of at least 25 more men under similar circumstances this week.
The problem is that the safety reforms passed into law since the Sago mine disaster were focused almost exclusively on sustaining trapped miners long enough to rescue them — not on preventing underground explosions.
The result? Victims of the blast Monday at Massey Energy Co.’s Upper Big Branch mine probably died without ever getting a chance to use the expensive safety gear installed at the mine.
“That argues for doing more on the preventive side,” said National Mining Association lobbyist Bruce Watzman. “We need to be doing both.”
After Sago, where 12 miners died after being trapped for two days after an explosion, West Virginia and then Congress pushed through reforms that ordered mines to stockpile emergency oxygen, build so-called refuge chambers, and install sophisticated wireless communications systems and other gear.
Based on surveys of mine operators, Watzman estimates the industry has spent at least $1 billion to comply with those rules in the nation’s nearly 500 coal mines.
West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin said those changes have helped, but lawmakers never considered beefing up prevention measures and still haven’t, Watzman said.
“There was really no opportunity, unfortunately,” he said.
Kentucky lawyer and safety advocate Tony Oppegard said the agency needs to push Congress to mandate six inspections of underground mines each year, rather than four.
Other preventive measures could include requiring coal companies to pump out the methane gas before mining a coal deposit and conducting more accurate testing to determine the flammability of conveyer belts and other mine equipment — the most common causes of mine fires.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has discovered that modern mining equipment spits out more coal dust, which can intensify a small explosion into a deadly blast.
Investigators believe concentrated methane gas was behind this week’s explosion in Montcoal, W.Va., as at Sago. The colorless, odorless, yet highly flammable gas presents a major challenge for mine operators.
Methane detectors have been commonplace in underground mines since the 1970s, but it’s not clear whether they were in use at Upper Big Branch at the time of the explosion.
