As coal mining increased, safety agency cut staff

Between 2002 and 2006, the number of coal-mining operations nationwide increased by 9 percent. At the same time, the number of federal inspectors was cut by 18 percent" by the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, writes Ken Ward Jr. of the Sunday Gazette-Mail in Charleston, W. Va.

"The result? Agency officials never conducted more than 150 required inspections at more than 100 underground mines across the coalfields, according to a government audit. MSHA officials not only missed required inspections, but they misled agency managers — and the public — about inspection completion rates."

As reported before on The Rural Blog, the worst problem was in southern West Virginia, "where 85 percent of the missed inspections occurred, according to an audit by the Labor Department’s inspector general," Ward writes. "In MSHA District 4, which covers southern West Virginia, the inspector general found missed inspections at 85 of 165 underground mines. . . . The staffing situation was worst in Southern West Virginia, where MSHA had just 0.44 inspectors per MMU," or mechanized mining unit. (Read more)