Same Fed Mgr. Who Reviewed 2006 Fatal Accident @ Massey Mine Will Lead New Investigation

[hatrack]

After a coal mine explosion that killed five people in 2006, an internal review by the Mine Safety and Health Administration sharply criticized its own inspection process. It said many safety flaws had not been corrected before the blast because of faulty inspection practices "coupled with weak supervisory, managerial and headquarters oversight."

Now the MSHA district manager who oversaw that mine's inspections has been named to lead the investigation of what went wrong at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch mine, where an explosion last week killed 29 workers. Former regulators and industry experts said MSHA should have chosen someone else to investigate last week's accident in West Virginia, the deadliest in a quarter-century.

"Does it concern me that a district manager who was involved in a previous devastating accident where multiple problems were not picked up by MSHA is running the investigation? Absolutely, that is troublesome," said Ellen Smith, owner and managing editor of Mine Safety and Health News, an industry newsletter. She said the agency should have chosen someone familiar with MSHA but not employed by it.

Other experts said MSHA should convene a public hearing, which is the only way for the agency to use subpoena power. MSHA has only held one public hearing about coal mine safety, and that was in 1977. "That is the only way MSHA has of getting at the truth," said Tony Oppegard, a former MSHA lawyer.

EDIT

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/13/AR2010041304643.html

[glitch]

1. Unbelievable. nt

[pscot]

3. Inevitable

n/t

[kristopher]

2. Don't worry, we can trust the regulators.

Just ask the nuclear industry.