by Donna Jablonski, Nov 19, 2007

The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) failed to perform required inspections at 107 of the nation’s 731 underground coal mines in Fiscal Year 2006, according to a report issued Nov. 16 by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of ithe Inspector General (OIG). MSHA also “misstated” the number of inspections it completed, the report finds. The reason? “Decreasing inspection resources” and “management did not place adequate emphasis on ensuring the inspections were completed and the reported completion rate was accurate.” Furthermore, management didn’t require inspectors to document “all critical inspection activities”—so even where inspections were performed, they were not all thorough.

At Utah’s Crandall Canyon Mine, where six miners were trapped and three rescue workers killed in August, the OIG found “significant inspection and supervisory deficiencies” in three of seven required inspections—including records of one inspection that were dated four months before the inspection took place.

As The New York Times reported Sunday:

The report depicted an agency that failed to devote enough resources to inspections at a time of increasing mining activity and that “did not place adequate emphasis on ensuring the inspections were completed.”

As assistant attorney general, Elliot P. Lewis, said that approximately 7,500 miners were employed at the 107 mines that did not receive the required inspections. The report also said that inspectors had often failed to document numerous activities that they were supposed to conduct, like taking samples of coal dust or checking high-voltage circuits.

Forty-seven coal miners died on the job in 2006, making it the deadliest year in a decade, with a 210 percent increase in fatalities over 2005. Lax oversight by the Bush administration and increasing demand for coal energy were cited as contributing factors. Congress since has toughened mine safety laws but was unable to block a former coal executive whose mines had injury rates at double the national average from being put in charge of MSHA. Failing to win Senate approval of his nominee for the post, Richard Stickler, President Bush gave Stickler the job through a recess appointment.

In a related development, the Senate subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education on Friday issued a subpoena calling Robert Murray, CEO of the company that owns Crandall Canyon, to appear before the panel Dec. 4. Murray failed to attend the panel’s Sept. 5 hearing on the mine disaster.

In its September hearing, the subcommittee questioned a controversial mining plan Murray Energy had requested and MSHA had approved that called for the use of “retreat mining“ at Crandall Canyon. “Retreat mining” involves pulling down support pillars as mining moves beyond an area. Most safety experts say it is much more dangerous than conventional mining methods, and Crandall Canyon’s previous owner had decided against its use because of safety concerns, Mine Workers (UMWA) President Cecil Roberts said at the time.

Following the mine collapse, Murray denied retreat mining was under way at Crandall Canyon and claimed a small earthquake led to the collapse—disputing scientists who said the seismic upheaval was caused by the collapse itself.

“We’re going to get to the bottom of what went on there,” the subcommittee’s ranking Republican, Sen. Arlen Specter, said in a release Friday.

Murray is an indispensable witness and, candidly, he really flouted the responsibility and authority of the United States Senate to have his testimony to find out what happened so we could do our utmost to prevent future occurrences.

In October, the subcommittee heard from family members of the trapped and killed miners. Cesar Sanchez, brother of miner Manuel Sanchez, spoke for many when he said:

As a family, we have many questions. We want to know how the mine owner got a permit to do this kind of mining, we want to know how MSHA put a rubber stamp on the mining plans submitted by the mine owner. We want to know how often this mine got inspected by MSHA, especially because there was more than one complaint made by miners….The company ignored these complaints.

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