Mine Deaths Increase 210 Percent Over 2005
by Mike Hall, Jan 2, 2007
The 12 coal miners killed in a Jan. 2, 2006, explosion at the Sago Mine in West Virginia were the first to die. On Dec. 17, John Elliot, killed in a roof collapse at the Dana Co.’s Prime No. 1 Mine near Maidsville, W.Va., was the 47th and last coal miner killed on the job last year, the deadliest year in the nation’s coal mines since 1996.
The death toll is a 210 percent increase over 2005, when 22 coal miners died on the job.
The Mine Workers (UMWA) union and other coal safety advocates fear the trend could continue due to:
*The huge demand for coal and its profits.
*The Bush administration’s lax enforcement record since taking over the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) in 2001.
*A workforce that is expected to grow younger and more inexperienced in the coming years.
Former MSHA administrator Davitt McAteer tells USA Today:
The big push is to get black stuff out of the ground. You neglect infrastructure, maintenance, education and (safety law) compliance. It begins to catch up with you.
Another former top MSHA official, Tony Oppegard, who served during the Clinton administration, is more blunt. He tells the newspaper that the Bush administration’s mine safety enforcement practices are to blame for the extraordinary rise in fatalities.
The policies of the last few years are taking root.Faced with the rising death toll, Congress toughened some mine safety laws in 2006 and the new Democratic-controlled Congress is expected to further strengthen safety rules.
New MSHA administrator Richard Stickler promises a new emphasis on safety enforcement—and after allowing its mine inspection force to drop from 634 inspectors in 1997 to 584 in 2005, MSHA is adding more inspectors. Safety advocates are taking a wait-and-see attitude on MSHA’s vows to crack down on safety violators.
Stickler, a former coal company executive, failed to win Senate approval because of concerns about the safety records at the mines he ran from 1989 to 1996, where the injury rate was double the national average. Bush was forced to use a backdoor recess appointment to place him in the post.
As oil prices remain high, so will the demand for coal. The push for even more production in mines that already are operating at record levels and making massive profits. The U.S. Department of Energy reports that coal production from January to September last year was a nine-month record.
Peabody, the nation’s largest private coal company, made $426 million on sales of $3.8 billion during those nine months, according to USA Today, compared with the $260 million in sales it earned in 2005. Peabody is vigorously fighting a drive by its nonunion miners to win a voice at work with UMWA and the strong safety rights a UMWA contract requires.
As the demand for coal continues, so does the need for more miners. Meanwhile, many of the nation’s current coal miners are nearing retirement age. Those miners, says UMWA spokesman Phil Smith will be replaced by folks who don’t have a lot of experience underground.
Working underground in a coal mine is dangerous without experience, strong safety laws and tough enforcement of these laws by federal and state officials. And 2006 proved that.
http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/01/02/last-year%e2%80%99s-coal-mine-deaths-increase-210-percent-over-2005/
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