Coal Mine Explosion in WV

[LadyTevar]

This has been on CNN, MSNBC, and other US Channels. The best place to get the overview is Coal Tattoo, a news blog sponsored by the Charleston WV Gazette.

MONTCOAL, W.Va. -- Rescuers at the site of the worst U.S. coal-mining disaster in more than two decades likely won't be able to resume the search for four missing miners until at least Wednesday evening, officials said this afternoon.

Gov. Joe Manchin said it would take at least that long for crews to drill boreholes into the mine to ventilate poison gases and make the underground environment safe for rescuers to resume their search.

Manchin also promised to hold a public hearing as part of the investigation into Monday afternoon's explosion that killed 25 miners at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch Mine in Raleigh County.

During a news briefing shortly after noon, Manchin said rescuers who have been deep inside the mine described mine railcar tracks that were "twisted like a pretzel."

"It's quite evident that something went very wrong here," said Kevin Stricklin, administrator for coal mine safety at the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, who joined Manchin at the briefing.

Tuesday afternoon, the state Medical Examiner identified the first seven victims of the disaster: Steven J. Harrah, 40; William R. Lynch, 59; Jason Atkins, 25; Benny Ray Willingham, 61; Carl Accord, 52; Deward Allan Scott, 58; and Robert E. Clark, 41.

Rescuers were pulled out of the mine early today because of dangerously high levels of methane, and crews were beginning the process of drilling boreholes to vent the explosive gases and make it safe for rescuers to return underground.

The holes will be drilled in three places where the four missing miners are most likely going to be -- near the mining wall and inside the rescue chamber, said Jimmy Gianato, state director of the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. The holes have to be vented as they are drilled down and pipes have to be inserted to seal off the layers of mined-out area between solid rock, Manchin said.

The rescue teams searched past the point where they were endangering their own lives, Stricklin said. They reached the first of two rescue chambers in the mine before methane levels became too high to continue, he said.

Miners have enough food and water to last 96 hours, he said.

"As soon as we can send rescue teams back in the mine, we'll do it," Stricklin said. "I think it's a dire situation."

Sheri McGraw, director of communications for the American Red Cross' Central West Virginia chapter, was with miners' families when state and mine officials told them that 25 miners have been found dead so far.

"I just don't think there is much hope held out at all [with the families]," McGraw said. "They made it clear to the families that it is not a good situation in there and probably not survivable."

When the families were told the latest news, there were all sorts of reactions, she said.

"I think in a situation like this, everybody acts differently," McGraw said. "Some people go blank, some break down and cry, some rage and are angry. It was all of this all at the same time."

Rep. Nick Rahall, a Democrat who has represented the area in Congress for more than 30 years, traveled to the scene to stand vigil with the families of the missing 19 miners. Rahall said he and Manchin had just visited with the miners' families.

"There is a great deal of comfort being bestowed on them right now," Rahall said at a 6 a.m. press conference. "All things considered they are strong."

One man, a family member of a victim of the Sago disaster, drove down to be with the families, he said.

"He is able to talk to them in a way very few could," Manchin said.

Though names have not been released, three members of one family all died in the disaster, Manchin said. Another member of the family was also in the mine, but survived, he said. That man lost his son, nephew and older brother, said Manchin, who lost an uncle in the Farmington Mine disaster in 1968.

One of the four men still missing was believed to be running the longwall miner deep in the mine, Manchin said. The others were believed to be in another section, deep in the mine.

Gianato said that some emergency breathing devices were missing from a storage cache deep in the mine. Rescuers are operating under the assumption that trapped miners may have grabbed those to help them survive until help arrived, he said.

The accident occurred at about 3 p.m. Monday at Massey Energy subsidiary Performance Coal Co.'s Upper Big Branch Mine-South.

Stricklin said at a briefing just after 2 a.m. Tuesday that 25 miners were killed in the explosion.

The explosion is the deadliest mine disaster in the United States since 1984, when 27 people were killed at a Utah mine.

Stricklin said the explosion is believed to have occurred near shift change as a crew was exiting the operation in a mantrip, an underground mine vehicle.

There were nine miners on the mantrip, Manchin said at a 4 a.m. press conference after meeting with the miners' families. Of those, seven died and two survived and are in the hospital, he said. One of the seven died at the hospital, he said.

Manchin was on an out-of-state trip and headed back to the state after hearing about the "horrific blast," he said.

"These are good people, hard working people," Manchin said. "I asked them to do what they do best -- to love each other."

Earlier he sent out a press release, saying he spoke with President Obama, who promised to make every asset available to help.

"Tonight we mourn the deaths of our members at Massey Energy," Massey CEO Don Blankenship said in a prepared statement. "I want to offer my condolences to the miners' families who lost loved ones at Upper Big Branch. And I want to thank the rescue teams and the Massey members who continue to work hard on behalf of our miners and their families."

The disaster comes just four years after a series of mine accidents in West Virginia and Kentucky -- including one that brought criminal prosecution of a Massey subsidiary -- killed 19 workers and prompted the first reform of U.S. mine safety laws in 30 years.

Mine safety experts who were in contact with state and federal investigators said initial reports are that the explosion involved methane that built up inside a sealed area of the mine or that leaked through mine seals.

Such a scenario would be a repeat of the 2006 Sago and Darby disasters in West Virginia and Kentucky, which claimed 17 lives and prompted regulators to take a closer look at the safety of the vast sealed areas of underground coal mines for the first time in years.

"Seals can be deadly if they are not maintained and monitored properly," said Tony Oppegard, a former MSHA staff and longtime mine safety expert from Kentucky.

Outside the Upper Big Branch site, witnesses reported seeing smoke billowing from the mine, and several miners apparently escaped after donning their emergency breathing devices.

More than two dozen ambulances were staged in Whitesville, and crowds of residents lined the streets waiting for word on the potential disaster. Authorities had gathered families of the miners at a Baptist church in Whitesville and at a training building on the mine property, officials said.

"If you're from here, you're part of a coal mining family," said Grace Lafferty of nearby Harper. "You know a lot of people who work here. It takes your breath away, your heart drops and you have that empty feeling."

One miner from the Massey operation declined to give his name, but said, "This is scary in more ways than one."

"We've been through this many times before, and we know West Virginians will band together to get through it, but it doesn't get any easier," Rahall said.

At the 2 a.m. press conference, Rahall said that, though improvements were made after Sago, mine safety laws would have to be looked at again in light of the loss of life on Monday.

"It's unfortunate, but every mine safety law we have on the books today was written in the blood of coal miners," Rahall said. "Obviously, one coal miner's death is one too many."

Margaret White works at the Country General store, just a few miles from the mine.

"I see the men that work there every day. I know what kind of biscuit they want," she said. "I can't believe this happened. They all know me by name, even if I don't know theirs."

Area churches were open throughout the night, cooking food and providing a place for people to gather and pray.

Gary Williams, pastor of the New Life Assembly Church in Whitesville, said he knew many of the miners. At 1 a.m., members of his church were cooking hotdogs to send up to the families and rescue workers.

"We are just as in the dark as you are," said Williams, who works at a different Massey mine. "We are all familiar with them. They're friends we grew up with. Our kids play ball together."

A volunteer wearing a yellow reflective vest walked in the church to pick up the hot dogs.

"I've got hungry rescue workers up there, hungry families, hungry medical examiners," she said.

The Upper Big Branch Mine-South employs about 200 workers and last year produced about 1.2 million tons of coal, according to company disclosures filed with MSHA.

In seven of the last 10 years, the mine has recorded a non-fatal injury rate worse than the national average for similar operations, according to MSHA statistics.

Between 2008 and last year, safety violations at the operation more than doubled and fines issued by MSHA tripled, according to agency records.

One miner was killed at the operation in a July 2003 electrical accident and another in a March 2001 roof fall, according to MSHA records.

In January 2006, two miners died in a fire at Massey's Aracoma Alma No. 1 Mine. Eventually, Massey's Aracoma Coal Co. subsidiary pleaded guilty to 10 criminal mine safety violations and paid $2.5 million in fines related to that fatal fire.

On its corporate Web site, Richmond, Va.-based Massey says that in 2009, the company recorded "an all-time best" non-fatal accident rate and was the "6th consecutive year and the 17th year out of the past 20 years in which Massey's safety performance was stronger than the industry average."

[LadyTevar]

As of right now, bulldozers are being used to force a road for the drilling rigs up and over the mountainside. That is a lot harder than people realize, since the hillside to this point was left along because of the difficult access.

Once the drill rigs are in place, the plan is to vent the methane out of the mine so the rescuers could go back in and search the last remaining Safe Shelter, where they hope at least 3 of the missing men are hiding. The rescuers will also be removing the bodies of the 14 men found thus far, although finding the last 4 will be the main goal.

By the new Federal Laws, the Safe Shelter has food, water, and clean air to last 32 men for 96 hours. If the missing 4 reached the shelter, they could last for a couple weeks, as long as the clean air holds out. However, the dangerous levels of methane now in the mine have MSHA worried. A second explosion is only one of the possiblities.

[Broomstick]

West Virgina gets more than its fair share of such tragedies. I'm sorry to hear of another.

And it's true many people discount how rugged some of the terrain out there can be.

[UnderAGreySky]

Guess who was in charge?

Meet Don Blankenship, CEO of Massey Energy Company. Blankenship is also on the Board of Directors of the US Chamber of Commerce. In this speech above, he denies climate change, derisively refers to Speaker Pelosi, Senator Reid, and others as "greeniacs", and calls them all crazy. Watch the speech, you'll see. In his mind, "the greeniacs are taking over the world."

Massey Energy Company, Blankenship's highly successful strip-mining and mountaintop removal operation is the parent company of Performance Coal Co, where a tragic explosion occurred on April 5th. As of this writing, 25 miners have died and 4 more are still missing.

Don Blankenship inhabits a strange and bizarre world. In his world:

* It's fine for elementary school-age children to inhale coal dust while playing at school because Massey Coal "already pays millions of dollars in taxes each year".
* Blankenship truly believes that government regulation means "we all better learn to speak Chinese."
* He has absolutely no problem paying $3 million to elect state Supreme Court justice Brent Benjamin just ahead of a scheduled hearing of his appeal to overturn a large damage award for driving competitor Harman Mining Corporation into bankruptcy.
* Blankenship will spend millions to keep the Massey Energy's workforce non-union, is perfectly happy to discriminate against union workers even if it means being sued and losing, and might hate unions as much as he hates 'greeniacs'.

All supported by myriad links at the website.

[LadyTevar]

Massey Energy will Get Theirs at some point. Right now, I'm most concerned about the family. Nit and I just came back from dinner; while there we ran into a young woman who works in my building, and she explained that one of her family was still inside the mine. To make things even more 'close to home', my Pointy-Haired Boss was missing all day, as she was babysitting her cousin's children as they tried to find out information about their dad (her husband's uncle).

So, right now, I just hope they find the last 4 miners alive. The other 25 will be crossing my desk far too soon.

[eion]

This is horrible. Blood for Coal. About half my power bill comes from coal-fired power plants.

Once the drill rigs are in place, the plan is to vent the methane out of the mine so the rescuers could go back in and search the last remaining Safe Shelter, where they hope at least 3 of the missing men are hiding. The rescuers will also be removing the bodies of the 14 men found thus far, although finding the last 4 will be the main goal.

Is there a reason beyond economics, that you know of, that such venting wells aren't pre-drilled?

By the new Federal Laws, the Safe Shelter has food, water, and clean air to last 32 men for 96 hours. If the missing 4 reached the shelter, they could last for a couple weeks, as long as the clean air holds out. However, the dangerous levels of methane now in the mine have MSHA worried. A second explosion is only one of the possiblities.

Do the shelters have to be able to withstand the force of an mine fire or explosion or support the weight of the roof of the mine? Or are they just airtight tents with supplies?

[LadyTevar]

Updates:

Air quality still too bad for rescue crews to get into mine
Holes being drilled to clear out poison gas; 'sliver of hope' remains

WHITESVILLE, W.Va. -- After a day of drilling to clear toxic gases that remained from a deadly explosion, rescue crews remained unable to enter the Upper Big Branch mine because the air quality was still so bad.

The air had such high levels of carbon dioxide, hydrogen and methane, it was affecting workers who were drilling holes 1,000 feet into the mine, said the U.S. Mining Safety and Health Administration's Kevin Stricklin during a 3:30 p.m. press conference.

Crews were having to capture exhaust from the drills and divert it away to ensure the health of those operating the drills.

"We just can't take any chances of the rescue team going into an area that could be a problem or cause an explosion," Stricklin said during the press conference.

"We've asked the families to be patient."

Officials added that holes would be drilled into other areas of the mine near additional rescue chambers to make absolutely certain whether they had been deployed. Cameras would be used, they said.

A convoy of ambulances was stationed outside the mine so crews would be ready when the rescue teams go in, Gov. Joe Manchin said.

Expected rain and storms over the next couple of days won't affect rescue efforts, Stricklin said.

Careful work by drilling team

All day Wednesday, workers labored to get a fan in place to pull bad air out of the Upper Big Branch mine so rescue workers could re-enter the mine to look for four missing miners, Stricklin said.

Three holes were being drilled 1,000 feet into the mine. Manchin said the drilling had to be precise to reach the area where the miners were suspected to be.

One of the missing miners was working on a longwall section and three were working nearby, Manchin said.

Workers needed to be able to gauge the quality of the air to determine when it is safe to allow rescue teams back in the mine.

The teams would advance at 1,000-foot increments, Stricklin said.

The first vent hole was within 300 to 400 feet of an underground shelter, where rescue planners hoped the miners had taken refuge, Stricklin said.

Concentrations from the first sample revealed 14,000 parts per million of carbon monoxide, a "really high" level, and 10,000 parts per million of hydrogen, Stricklin said.

The sample also showed 3 percent methane. While not explosive on its own, it's dangerous when combined with both carbon monoxide and hydrogen, Stricklin said.

The first sample also revealed 15 percent oxygen. If the oxygen concentration is less than 19.5 percent, Stricklin explain, rescue teams would have to wear oxygen masks.

Early Wednesday morning, rescuers didn't get any response when they banged on the well casing, Manchin said. But Stricklin said it's hard to hear much on the surface when the missing miners are 1,093 feet underground, hopefully in a shelter, and drilling is ongoing.

Stricklin said officials met at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday to decide when to conduct a seismic test.

A "quiet period" was declared, drilling ceased, three dynamite charges were set off on the surface, and the miners would know to bang on the roof of their shelter.

Once the mine was ventilated, teams were expected to need several hours to reach the area where officials believed the miners are about 1,000 feet beneath the surface.

Searchers were going to have to navigate in the darkness around debris from structures shattered by the explosion and around sections of track that were "wrapped like a pretzel,'' Stricklin said.

"There's so much dirt and dust and everything is so dark that it's very easy, as hard as it may seem to any of us outside in this room, to walk by a body,'' Stricklin said.

Long wait for families

Officials theorized the missing miners might have been able to reach airtight chambers stocked with food, water and enough oxygen to sustain 15 miners for four days. But before the rescue teams were initially pulled out, they had checked one of two chambers nearby and found it empty. Unsafe conditions prevented them from reaching the second.

Ron Wooten, the state mining director, said miners are taught to escape first, "to try to get out of the mine the way they came in. They retreat to a shelter as a last resort. None of us here know what we would do in a similar situation."

Manchin said of the families, "They had a long night. They'll have another long day. They're prepared for that."

Although there continued to be hope the four missing miners would be found alive, Manchin said the families "know the odds are not in our favor because of the horrific blast."

The Monday explosion directly involved 31 miners.

Manchin said of the 25 who died, seven bodies had been removed from the mine. They were identified Tuesday by the state medical examiner as Carl Accord, Jason Atkins, Robert E. Clark, Steven J. Harrah, William R. Lynch, Deward Allan Scott and Benny Ray Willingham.

Manchin said four bodies that remain in the mine have been identified and 14 have not.

The identities of the four missing miners are not known.

Alice Peters said she was told her 47-year-old son-in-law, Dean Jones, was among the missing, though Massey said Wednesday it does not know which four miners might be alive.
Peters said Jones' wife, Gina, has been at the mine site since the explosion and will not leave.

"She's not doing too good," Peters said Wednesday. "They told them to go home because they weren't going to let the mine rescuers back in. They're still drilling."

Larry Asbury's son is on a mine rescue team. He joined about 50 mourners who packed the creaky pews of the modest St. Joseph Catholic Church a few miles from the disaster to honor the victims and pray that the missing turn up safe.

"The coal community is coming together and praying for miners and their families," he said. "It's just so important to show the community this kind of support."

The blast also left two miners hospitalized. At noon Wednesday, Manchin said one is "doing extremely well," and the other is in an intensive care unit.

Massey response

Massey issued a statement saying it "is devoting its attention and resources to the ongoing rescue efforts and the families."

The company said it is committed to providing the families with accurate, timely information.

"In an effort to ensure the families receive only information confirmed by state and federal authorities, the company established an area at the Performance Coal Training Center for families to meet directly with company and government officials," Massey said.

The company said Massey Chairman Don Blankenship participated in meetings with the families on Monday and Tuesday.

"Now that the drilling work has begun to penetrate the seams and the rescue teams are waiting for the atmosphere to improve, Blankenship will begin more in-depth meetings with the families," the company said.

Massey said company officials met with the families at the Performance Coal Training Center and were continuing to meet every two hours with the families.

The company said it also has established a toll free hotline -- 1-877-534-5152 -- for families to call if they require counseling or other services and assistance. Kanawha Pastoral Counseling Center is coordinating counseling services.

Federal investigations launched

The Mine Safety and Health Administration announced it has appointed a team to investigate the explosion.

Norman Page, manager of the MSHA district in Pikeville, Ky., is team leader. Other team members from MSHA's staff are Timothy Watkins, Ben Harding, Erik Sherer, Alvin Brown, Dave Steffey, Jerry Vance and Jasey Maggard.

MSHA said the team will be assisted by Rich Stoltz, Clete Stephan, Tom Morley and Sandin Phillipson.

Additionally, Derek Baxter and Dana Ferguson, trial attorneys for the Labor Department's Office of the Solicitor, are on the team.

Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., promised there will be a Congressional investigation into the blast.

Communications help arrives

A lack of cellular phone service in the area began to be resolved when portable cellular towers owned by AT&T and Verizon Wireless were activated.

The AT&T system went live about 1 a.m., said company spokeswoman Ellen Webner. It is set up adjacent to the command center in order to provide service in support of rescue and recovery efforts.

AT&T cautioned the extreme terrain limits the coverage provided by its portable system. The coverage does not reach the staging area for media and families, the company said.

Verizon Wireless said it has established a temporary cell site to provide wireless voice and data service to the emergency command center, the mine portal and portions of W.Va. 3.

In addition, Verizon Wireless said it has set up a 24-hour communications center where emergency personnel will have access to wireless Internet and more than 50 wireless phones.

"Additional phones also were deployed to enable coordinators and other emergency personnel to communicate and coordinate rescue and recovery efforts," the company said.

Upper Big Branch

The Associated Press reported that the Upper Big Branch mine produced more than 1.2 million tons of coal last year and uses the lowest-cost underground mining method, making it more profitable.

The mine produces metallurgical coal that is used to make steel and sells for up to $200 a ton -- more than double the price for the type of coal used by power plants.

The death toll in Monday's explosion was the highest in a U.S. mine since 1984, when 27 people died in a fire at Emery Mining Corp.'s mine in Orangeville, Utah.

If the four missing bring the total to 29, it would be the most to die in a U.S. coal mine since a 1970 explosion killed 38 at Finley Coal Co. in Hyden, Ky.

Though the situation looked bleak, Manchin pointed to the 2006 Sago Mine explosion that killed 12. Crews found miner Randal McCloy Jr. alive after he was trapped for more than 40 hours in an atmosphere poisoned with carbon monoxide.

[LadyTevar]

And again, I am highly suggesting the Gazette's Blog Coal Tattoo

[Broomstick]

This makes me angry.

It makes me angry because people who are opposed to nuclear energy because it's "dangerous' routinely ignore the fact that traditional energy sources kill people every single year, both here and abroad.

It makes me angry because people reap the benefits of this work, but do not recall the human cost. Pick up any object made of steel in your house, look at your car, your stainless steel kitchen utensils, random nails and screws - anything made of steel. Of which there is a lot in your life, I can guarantee it. Not a year goes by that the mining and refining industries that bring those things to you don't have people die in the making of them. The next time you pick something up that's metal, the next time you flick on the lights that receive the electricity from a coal fired plant, reflect on the fact that the men who died in West Virginia this week are part of the army that brought those things to your hand. Were their lives worth whatever you are holding now? Is is worth leaving their wives as widows, their children without fathers?

That's yet another reason I don't like to throw usable things away - I'm aware of the human cost behind a lot of things people take for granted.

[Crossroads Inc.]

I'll tell you what makes me angry.. Is that for a while I had "Hope"

I first heard about this and thought "Oh gee, another mining disaster, probably the mine is riddled with safety violations..."
But then I hear its been "upgraded" it has airtight safety rooms, extra oxygen canisters, special safe places with food. I begin to think "It sounds like this mine knows what its doing, it might just save the people inside!"

Then I hear about the news today. Seems it IS a mine riddled with safety violations, seems everyone inside is dead, seems the mine owners made a comment that "Saving lives is more expensive then paying fines for dead miners.

So yeah, nothing is new here.

[Broomstick]

That's why my father in law joined the marines - the alternative was the coal mines. Even as a young man he'd seen a lot of his relatives die either in mine accidents or coughing up blood and gasping for breath with ruined lungs and bodies.

Yes, there is an inherent danger in mining, but it COULD be made safer... except no one with money or power gives a damn about the people in the mine actually in danger.

[MKSheppard]

Everyone, let's support open top mountain removal mining. It's safer for the miners and their families than sending people down to die in holes like those mines.

Plus, after the mountaintop has been blown off; the backfill creates a decently large area of level land; which is not something you find easily in West Virginia.

[eion]

Everyone, let's support open top mountain removal mining. It's safer for the miners and their families than sending people down to die in holes like those mines.

Plus, after the mountaintop has been blown off; the backfill creates a decently large area of level land; which is not something you find easily in West Virginia.

Yes, increased safety is a benefit of mountain removal mining. I'm not sure the communities would be any better off considering the environmental drawbacks of mountain removal mining.

I vote life in prison for any mining executive who is convicted of negligence in relation to a mining disaster.

[Simon_Jester]

This makes me angry.

It makes me angry because people who are opposed to nuclear energy because it's "dangerous' routinely ignore the fact that traditional energy sources kill people every single year, both here and abroad.

Though... the history of the uranium mining industry isn't bloodless either. I have to say.

[LadyTevar]

As of 8am:

Rescue teams progressing into Upper Big Branch Mine


MONTCOAL, W.Va. -- Rescue teams entered the Upper Big Branch Mine early Thursday morning after tests revealed that the air quality in the mine is safe enough to proceed.

After an extensive discussion of the plan, four eight-man teams went into the mine just before 5 a.m., Gov. Joe Manchin said.

"Right now, we're in full rescue [mode]," he said.

The teams are trying to locate four miners still unaccounted for after Monday's deadly blast. Twenty-five miners have already been confirmed dead, in the worst U.S. mining disaster in a quarter-century.

The teams will first check two refuge chambers near the last known locations where the miners were working. The chambers have enough air, food and waters to sustain the miners for up to four days.

During the first rescue attempt, crews encountered potentially explosive levels of methane, carbon monoxide and hydrogen.

Since then, rescuers have drilled a shaft into the mine from the surface and ventilated the mine.

"We've taken a sample down there," said Kevin Stricklin, coal administrator for the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, said at about 3 a.m. "It's non-explosive underground as well."

The teams are progressing on mantrips, and will have to walk the last mile or so, Manchin said. If they encounter major obstacles, the miners' families have agreed that the mission can change to a combination of rescue and recovery, he said.

But for now, the focus is still on finding survivors.

"The families are very hopeful, very prayerful," he said.

The teams are in constant communication with the command center on the surface via radio.

Manchin said officials will provide updates on the rescuers' progress every two hours.

It will likely take the rescuers several hours to reach the refuge chambers, which are several miles from the mine's entrance, Stricklin said. They will ride on mantrips - mine vehicles that usually carry miners into the mine -- as far as possible, then walk the rest of the way.

Each rescuer will carry a 30-pound breathing apparatus on his back in case he encounters pockets of unbreathable air.

Because of the constant drilling of ventilation holes, workers on the surface have not been able to listen for signs of life inside the mine, Stricklin said. A second shaft is almost finished, stopping within about 40 feet of the mine underground, but drilling will cease while the rescuers are in the mine.

If the conditions in the mine are worse than expected, the rescue teams may pull out while the drilling on the second and third holes is completed and the mine is further ventilated.

"We are hopeful we can go in and finish this mission," said Joe Main, MSHA's director. "It is a rescue mission."

[LadyTevar]

Everyone, let's support open top mountain removal mining. It's safer for the miners and their families than sending people down to die in holes like those mines.

Plus, after the mountaintop has been blown off; the backfill creates a decently large area of level land; which is not something you find easily in West Virginia.

Yes, increased safety is a benefit of mountain removal mining. I'm not sure the communities would be any better off considering the environmental drawbacks of mountain removal mining.

I vote life in prison for any mining executive who is convicted of negligence in relation to a mining disaster.

Why yes, shep, let's flatten every fuckin' mountain that WV uses for Tourism, let's make the whole state into a moonscape, drown every holler with fill-dirt, bury every creek with silt and arsenic-laced run-off, and watch all the fish and other wildlife down-stream die from the poisons, and the families who live downstream die from the poisoned water-table contaminating their wells and other water sources.


BTW: There's a town not 25miles outside of Charleston, just over a few ridges from Montcoal, that has no drinkable water thanks to the mountaintop removal mine in their area. They are forced to truck in potable water or purchase bottled water, JUST TO TAKE A BATH because the water they'd depended on for generations is too poisonous to even wash with.

So take your sarcastic "level the mountain" hogwash and drown in it.

[MKSheppard]

Why yes, shep, let's flatten every fuckin' mountain that WV uses for Tourism, let's make the whole state into a moonscape

You really are pretty dumb about your state's history. West Virginia's been a moonscape TWICE before. The goddamn state's been clear cut of every tree of any size TWICE before. None of your forests are anything newer than a century or so.

They are forced to truck in potable water or purchase bottled water, JUST TO TAKE A BATH because the water they'd depended on for generations is too poisonous to even wash with.

Because you know, water filtration plants or pipelines don't exist in West Virginia.

So take your sarcastic "level the mountain" hogwash and drown in it.

If this had been an open cut mine, those 25 certificates would never have come to your desk for stamping.

[bobalot]

Why yes, shep, let's flatten every fuckin' mountain that WV uses for Tourism, let's make the whole state into a moonscape

You really are pretty dumb about your state's history. West Virginia's been a moonscape TWICE before. The goddamn state's been clear cut of every tree of any size TWICE before. None of your forests are anything newer than a century or so.

How does this make her point any less valid?

They are forced to truck in potable water or purchase bottled water, JUST TO TAKE A BATH because the water they'd depended on for generations is too poisonous to even wash with.

Because you know, water filtration plants or pipelines don't exist in West Virginia.

Nice way of evading the point. The residents shouldn't have to build filtration plants or purchase bottled water to simply bathe themselves because the mining companies fucked up all their drinking water.

So take your sarcastic "level the mountain" hogwash and drown in it.

If this had been an open cut mine, those 25 certificates would never have come to your desk for stamping.

Wow, a response that warps the nature of space and time with the sheer scale of its shittiness.

[Twoyboy]

I vote life in prison for any mining executive who is convicted of negligence in relation to a mining disaster.

We have some guys at work who have just transferred from the mining and minerals industry in South Africa, and apparently this is effectively the case there. Every supervisor, superintendent or manager of an actual operation signs an agreement that they are responsible for the safety of their workers and if an accident occurs they are prosecuted.

I get the feeling quite a few of my previous bosses would have refused to sign something like that. At one training session where the Safety Officer said that no amount of profit was worth a loss of life, I asked when he was shutting down the site. My question was not taken well.

[Molyneux]

Why yes, shep, let's flatten every fuckin' mountain that WV uses for Tourism, let's make the whole state into a moonscape

You really are pretty dumb about your state's history. West Virginia's been a moonscape TWICE before. The goddamn state's been clear cut of every tree of any size TWICE before. None of your forests are anything newer than a century or so.

So doing a third time is a good idea...because...?
Oh, and there's a difference between cutting down trees and removing mountains.

They are forced to truck in potable water or purchase bottled water, JUST TO TAKE A BATH because the water they'd depended on for generations is too poisonous to even wash with.

Because you know, water filtration plants or pipelines don't exist in West Virginia.

Great! So the mining companies will pay for all the water filtration plants? And to clean up the rivers and groundwater so the wildlife doesn't get wiped out?

[Broomstick]

Everyone, let's support open top mountain removal mining. It's safer for the miners and their families than sending people down to die in holes like those mines.

Actually, if you add of some of the longterm consequences of open mining it's just as deadly - it's just that fewer miners and more non-miner locals get killed.

There is no way to do these things without risk and without consequences. But really, Shep, when did you ever give a fuck about other people?

[Broomstick]

This makes me angry.

It makes me angry because people who are opposed to nuclear energy because it's "dangerous' routinely ignore the fact that traditional energy sources kill people every single year, both here and abroad.

Though... the history of the uranium mining industry isn't bloodless either. I have to say.

Nope, it's not.

I keep saying the universe is a hostile and dangerous place. It is. Life isn't safe. I just wish more people had an appreciation for the risks that go into making our civilization and cushy as it is for so many.

[Broomstick]

Why yes, shep, let's flatten every fuckin' mountain that WV uses for Tourism, let's make the whole state into a moonscape

You really are pretty dumb about your state's history. West Virginia's been a moonscape TWICE before. The goddamn state's been clear cut of every tree of any size TWICE before. None of your forests are anything newer than a century or so.

So? That's an excuse to make the same mistakes over and over again?

They are forced to truck in potable water or purchase bottled water, JUST TO TAKE A BATH because the water they'd depended on for generations is too poisonous to even wash with.

Because you know, water filtration plants or pipelines don't exist in West Virginia.

There are practical difficulties to running pipelines over mountains, not that I'd expect you to understand that.

And filtration alone won't render that water safe, you'd need something more like distillation. The end result is that it probably is cheaper to truck in water for that number of folks than to build a plant sufficient to the job. Of course, it would have been better[/] never to poison the groundwater in the first place!

So take your sarcastic "level the mountain" hogwash and drown in it.

If this had been an open cut mine, those 25 certificates would never have come to your desk for stamping.

No, she just would have had certificates from a town buried in ash/debris that slipped after a rainstorm, or certificates from people dying of poisoned water, or some such. And it's not like open mines are accident-free, either. Shit happens.

[LadyTevar]

Shep, I don't know WTF your major malfunction is when it comes to myself and/or WV, but I'm sick and tired of your blatant trolling whenever a thread about WV is posted.

Stop the BS trolling. Now. Have at least a smidgin of respect for the dead, WVians or not. If you can't do this, get out of this forum altogether.

[LadyTevar]

Well... FUCK.

April 8, 2010
Rescue teams were 1,000 feet from destination

MONTCOAL, W.Va. -- Crews continuing a desperate search for four missing coal miners got to within 1,000 feet of a refuge chamber where they hope the miners took shelter before being pulled from the mine this morning after repeated sampling showed unsafe air quality that could threaten another explosion.


"We've had a setback," Kevin Stricklin, coal administrator for the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, said at a 10:15 a.m. briefing.


Gov. Joe Manchin called the situation "the worst scenario" for rescuers hoping for a miracle following a huge explosion Monday that killed 25 Massey Energy workers and injured two others in the worst U.S. coal mining disaster in more than a quarter century.


Stricklin said the explosion has filled the mine with an "explosive mixture" of high levels of carbon monoxide and methane, along with low levels of oxygen, and that officials would not risk rescuers lives in the search for the missing miners.


"It tells us it was a very violent explosion," Stricklin said. "There is so much gas built up in the area that it's taking us a while to ventilate."


Stricklin said changes in barometric pressure, prompted by a weather front moving into the Raleigh County area, could also be complicating the rescue. Barometric pressure changes increase the natural tendency of geology in underground coal mines to release explosive methane.


Rescue crews had been sent back into the mine shortly before 5 a.m. today, after being pulled early Tuesday because of dangerous gases. They again reached about the same point -- an area near where the mine's longwall section begins, near one of two rescue chambers that have not yet been checked for potential survivors. Rescuers believe that the last location of three of the miners was in a separate tunnel north of there, and that one other miner was last known to be somewhere on the longwall section.


Crews on the surface planned to immediately resume drilling additional boreholes to try to speed up the ventilation of the mine and sweep the explosive and toxic gases out so that rescuers can resume their work, officials said.


Mine safety officials repeatedly called this morning's development a setback, but also insisted that the operation remained a rescue effort, not a project to recover the miners' bodies.


"We couldn't let the rescue teams underground any longer based on the readings," Stricklin said. "But nothing has changed. It's still a rescue operation."


Officials have said Monday's blast was likely caused by an explosion of methane gas, and possibly fueled by the presence of coal dust.


Any chance of survival hinged on the miners using self-contained self-rescuers, or SCSRs, to make their way to refuge chambers stocked with enough air, food and water to last for four days.


An SCSR is a breathing apparatus that generates about an hour's worth of oxygen. In the event of a catastrophe, miners are trained to first try to get out of the mine. If they can't, the next step is to make their way to a rescue chamber and hunker down.

Rescuers made an initial foray into the mine Monday night, but by early Tuesday morning were forced to pull out when they detected toxic and highly explosive gas levels underground. During that time, searchers were able to check one refuge chamber, which was empty.


They did discover that three SCSRs had been removed from emergency stockpiles, leading rescuers to believe that at least some miners had survived the initial blast.


In the meantime, workers drilled one ventilation shaft down 1,100 feet into the mine, with two additional holes near completion. Using large fans, they used the borehole to pump gas out of the mine so that rescuers could go back in.


Early this morning, safety officials said the mine was again safe for rescuers, and four eight-man teams renewed their search for survivors.


The drawn-out, agonizing vigil brought back memories of the Sago disaster, in which 12 miners died after a methane gas explosion in the Upshur County mine in January 2006.


In the wake of Sago, and the death of two miners in a fire at Massey Energy's Aracoma mine days later, Congress passed the MINER Act, which required mine operators to update and improve their communication and tracking equipment.


The legislation also required the installation of SCSRs and refuge chambers in mines.


But critics of the MINER Act contend that it places too much emphasis on surviving a catastrophe after it occurs, rather than preventing it in the first place.


Since Monday's explosion, the Upper Big Branch Mine's numerous citations for safety violations have come under close scrutiny. In January, inspectors cited the mine for a ventilation shaft that we pumping air the wrong way, and on the day of the explosion inspectors flagged the mine for insufficient emergency maps and a bad electrical splice on a piece equipment, according to a report by The Associated Press.


On Wednesday, Stricklin said Monday's citations were issued in a part of the mine about five miles away from where the explosion occurred.


"I'm very confident that the violations in this area," he said, pointing to a map of the mine taped to the wall in the ad hoc pressroom in Marsh Fork Elementary School, "had nothing to do with the explosion over here."


Gov. Joe Manchin has promised a full state investigation into Monday's explosion, while U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall, the West Virginia Democrat whose district includes the state's southern coalfields, said Congress will hold hearings as well.


While the cause of the blast remains unknown, Stricklin grimly conceded earlier this week that the tragedy was preventable.

"We know it wasn't operating safely," he said, "or we wouldn't have had an explosion."