Deadly Mining Method Often Used (AP's Seth Borenstein Article That Had Mine's Owner So Upset Today)

Meadow Free Press (Idaho) ^ | August 6, 2007 | SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Write

[tgslTakoma]

WASHINGTON - The method of mining used at the Utah mine that collapsed Monday, trapping six miners, has a history of being disproportionately deadly, according to federal safety studies.

It is "the most dangerous type of mining there is," said Tony Oppegard, a former top federal and state of Kentucky mine safety official who is now a private attorney in Lexington, Ky., representing miners.

The reason the practice is used is that it pays off: The last bit of coal taken from pillars is pure profit, Oppegard said. Plus, if someone violates rules during pillar removal and there is a collapse, the evidence of rule violations are gone, he said.

Three of the nine roof fatalities in 2001 were from retreat mining, according to a 2003 NIOSH paper. Between 1992 and 2001, 100 miners died in roof collapses, 27 of them during retreat mining the study found.

"Pillar recovery continues to be one of the most hazardous activities in underground mining," the report said. A NIOSH study six years earlier found the same thing.

"The only support you had basically were five breaker posts; five posts would be between you and the roof falling in," O‘Dell said. "It‘s a pretty spooky way of mining."

"It‘s been done for the last 70 years and been very successful for those years," Hill said in a news conference. "It‘s something that the government approves and signs off on. Coal operators have been able to prove it‘s safe all along."

"It‘s thought to be very valuable, useful," Popovich said.

McAteer wrote a 2001 report for the state of West Virginia calling for tighter restrictions on the retreat mining process, saying one miner told him "We are always pushing the edge of safety; we are right up against it."

The deaths of four miners within 13 months in 2004 and 2005 prompted the Kentucky Office of Mine Safety and Licensing to do an independent study of the practice. The resulting report recommended better training in geological conditions, roof control and retreat mining plans.

Last month, federal regulators cited the operator of the southern West Virginia coal mine, Brooks Run Mining Co., for safety violations that resulted in the deaths of two workers in a roof fall. MSHA reported that the company ignored its roof control plan and inadequately trained workers on safe retreat mining practices.

___

Associated Press writers Jennifer Talhelm in Washington and Brock Vergakis in Utah contributed to this report.

[tgslTakoma]

At the press conference this morning, mine owner Robert E. Murray said this about the above article:

They know nothing about the natural disaster that occurred here. They know nothing about the damage in the mine, and the circumstances surrounding the trapped miners. I caution the media to very much question the veracity of these sources and their motivations. I particularly cite Mr. Seth Borenstein of the Associated Press for particularly bad reporting, and the Fox News network, on what has occurred here. Rather than utilizing the truthful statements that you heard here, Mr. Borenstein chose to use statements from Mrs. McAteer that were totally false and have nothing to do with or have any understanding of what's happened here. And this morning, Fox News network was at it also. I hope you report that.

Final note: The above Borenstein article is a sloppily shortened syndicated version of the full article, which can be found at the Washington Compost.

[SteveMcKing]

"The only support you had basically were five breaker posts; five posts would be between you and the roof falling in,"

Which describes nothing in physical or engineering terms.

Wow...... "FIVE". Got it.

[rellimpank]

--"mining" could be substituted for firearms or explosives in my tagline--

[Logophile]

The reason the practice is used is that it pays off: The last bit of coal taken from pillars is pure profit, Oppegard said. Plus, if someone violates rules during pillar removal and there is a collapse, the evidence of rule violations are gone, he said.

Pure profit? What is that supposed to mean? The coal still has to be removed, which costs time and money.

As stupid as that statement is, the part about rules violations is slanderous. I would challenge Oppegard to show how a mine collapse helps anyone, the mining company included.

Of course, one should keep in mind that Oppegard is "a private attorney in Lexington, Ky., representing miners." Trial lawyers are known for playing fast and loose with the truth.

[Westlander]

http://www.umwa.org/mining/ugmine.shtml

[doc1019]

Speculation is a wonderful thing. A speculation can be denied with ease, because it was, after all, speculation. Let’s see what pans out. Was it an earthquake that caused the problem or the problem that caused the earthquake?

[magslinger]

Actually you could end that tagline after the word “states” with perfect accuracy.

[StopGlobalWhining]

Did Murray knowingly hire illegal aliens to work in his mine so as to avoid paying a fair wage to American citizens?

Coal mining is not a job that Americans won't do. Ask the miners in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and all along the Apalachian/Smokey Mountain mining area if they are willing to work in the mines.

A lot of coal miners children and grandchildren have gone to college on the wages earned in the mines.

We don't need to allow illegal aliens to steal jobs that Americans are perfectly willing to do.

If illegal aliens were working in those mines, Murray deserves to pay big time.

If present trends continue, the world will be about four degrees colder for the global mean temperature in 1990, but eleven degrees colder by the year 2000. This is about twice what it would take to put us in an ice age.

Kenneth E.F. Watt on air pollution and global cooling, Earth Day (1970)

From great site for gw wacko quotes: http://www.pushback.com/environment/EcoFreakQuotes.html

[kcvl]

J. Davitt McAteer, former Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health under President Clinton

[kcvl]

In sharp contrast, the public interest attorney/lobbyist, and Clinton Administration head of MSHA, J. Davitt McAteer, grabbed the attention of the Senate Committee, and likely the press, by continuing his 30-year career of anti-industry and anti-Republican Administration statements.

Mr. J. Davitt McAteer, the Clinton Administration Assistant Secretary of Labor for MSHA who was recently appointed by West Virginia’s Governor to conduct a state investigation of Sago, took “center stage” by bringing a personal tracking device and a communication device to the hearing, which he declared effective and available, and asserted could have made a difference in saving lives at Sago. He responded to questions from Senators that the individual tracking device costs $17-20 per person and that the communication system cost about $100,000 for an entire mine.

Mr. McAteer also responded to questions from Senator Byrd regarding what can be done about “habitual violators” of the law, stating that the pattern of violations closure provisions of the Mine Act had limited use “in the last five years.” No one reminded him that it also had limited use in his eight years running MSHA and that the safety record of the industry had improved since he left office.

McAteer representing West Virginia, will provide him a daily forum to further criticize the industry and President Bush, and seek prosecution of company officials, an agenda he pursued when he ran MSHA.

http://tinyurl.com/2sqvc3

[kcvl]

He (J. Davitt McAteer) worked alongside advocate Ralph Nader
on efforts to enact the landmark 1969 Fed-
eral Coal Mine Health and Safety Acts.
During the 1970s, Davitt led the safety
and health programs of the United Mine
Workers and founded the Occupational
Safety and Health Law Center.

Currently Davitt is director of the
University’s Coal Impoundment Project,
which identifies and develops ways of sta-
bilizing or removing coal impoundments
throughout Appalachia.

[kcvl]

1996, J. Davitt McAteer, Acting Solicitor of Labor

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1877085/posts

It’s been reported that three of the guys are from Mexico.
(CNN)
The mine owner has gone CYA from what I saw (FOX),,,

Mite be one of those “hell-to-pay” moments when the truth comes out...

[1rudeboy]

Were illegal aliens involved here, or are you simply Borensteining?

[chopperman]

It’s more profitable because you do not have to permanently support the roof. Production interrupting Roof Bolting machines are not needed in the section when retreating. The operators, however, are away from the unsupported roof because they are operating the machine by remote control. The biggest problem is when the roof is of high quality and it just does not collapse until after you have removed a lot of pillars. When it finally collapses, the rush of air can blow you over.

[flaglady47]

Yeah, I immediately thought this guy is hiring illegal aliens as miners. First, because the few pics they showed on TV of the miner’s families were of Latinos. Second, as happened on TV with the last mine disaster, all of the relatives there were being interviewed left and right by all the TV stations. They were not shy about appearing and speaking with reporters.

Note that none of the five miners’ families in this current accident wants to be interviewed, and the mine owner was emphasizing that the MSM should not invade the privacy of the miners’ families. Gee, I wonder why? No speaka da Engish, perhaps? Not legal citizens of the U.S., perhaps? The mine owners don’t want to get in further trouble, perhaps? I smell a south of the border rat here.

And finally, these are jobs Americans want to do. Just another example of how illegals are making inroads into our work forces in good American jobs that plenty of our own citizens are willing to do. You’d think the miners union would figure this out and start squawking about it. Maybe they are, don’t know. None of these illegals come to our country to do menial labor forever. They start out picking fruit and veggies, and then the first opportunity that comes along for a better more high paying job, they take it, and displace U.S. citizens who would work in these jobs, at the same time. This is not a good thing.

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

Yeah, I immediately thought this guy is hiring illegal aliens as miners. First, because the few pics they showed on TV of the miner’s families were of Latinos. Second, as happened on TV with the last mine disaster, all of the relatives there were being interviewed left and right by all the TV stations. They were not shy about appearing and speaking with reporters. Note that none of the five miners’ families in this current accident wants to be interviewed, and the mine owner was emphasizing that the MSM should not invade the privacy of the miners’ families. Gee, I wonder why? No speaka da Engish, perhaps? Not legal citizens of the U.S., perhaps? The mine owners don’t want to get in further trouble, perhaps? I smell a south of the border rat here. And finally, these are jobs Americans want to do. Just another example of how illegals are making inroads into our work forces in good American jobs that plenty of our own citizens are willing to do. You’d think the miners union would figure this out and start squawking about it. Maybe they are, don’t know. None of these illegals come to our country to do menial labor forever. They start out picking fruit and veggies, and then the first opportunity that comes along for a better more high paying job, they take it, and displace U.S. citizens who would work in these jobs, at the same time. This is not a good thing. Hopefully This Post Will Be Seen...

[AlmaKing]

I see that more seismic activity is being reported tonight that has set back rescue efforts:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070808/ap_on_re_us/utah_mine_collapse_106;_ylt=AniFyYkSgzboU6sEj5ww7okE1vAI

[tgslTakoma]

Wow, thanks for adding all that info about Borenstein’s unbiasd source.

[nicmarlo]

I think you’re right.....we shall see.