Appalachian coalfield paper marks anniversary of Utah mine disaster, likens safety agency to FEMA

The Mountain Eagle in Whitesburg, Ky., has long held to the fire the feet of the coal industry and those responsible for regulating it. Today, the weekly newspaper marked the first anniversary of the Crandall Canyon mine disaster in Utah – which killed six miners and three rescuers (including a federal mine inspector) and severely injured six others – with a blistering editorial. Here are excerpts:

"Here in Eastern Kentucky, we’re a long way from Utah, but any mine disaster feels close to home. ... Nine men died because of one man’sinsistence on pulling more coal out of a mountain than the mountain could safely yield. The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration does some things badly, but one thing it does well is investigate tragedies after the fact. MSHA has a long tradition of issuing reports that are models of thoroughness and objectivity. The report issued by the agency on July 24 is in that tradition. In painstaking detail, it pins the blame for the disaster on fatally flawed engineering and a company determined to pull more coal than even its deficient plan called for. Moreover, MSHA does not absolve itself of blame. ... MSHA shouldn’t have signed off on Murray’s mining plan in the first place."

The editorial says the report that policymakers need to read is the one by two independent investigators hired by the Department of Labor. "Their wide-ranging review makes it clear that the years 2001-2008 have been bad ones for an agency which – like FEMA – has life-and-death responsibilities and should be assured of commensurate resources. The report depicts an agency hobbled by lax management, especially but not exclusively at the district level; reduced staffing at a time when coal production has been climbing and inspection activities should have been keeping pace; and a misguided strategy to getaround staffing problems by emphasizing “compliance assistance”and “special emphasis activities” instead of law enforcement. Reading the report, you can’t help connecting the dots between what happened in Washington, starting in 2001, and the tragedy in Utah six years later. Bush’s budgeteers had no more qualms about underfunding MSHA than about gutting FEMA. The results were similar."

Those results included loss of veteran employees, a decline in morale, and "little help and much hindrance" to underpaid, often inexperiened inspectors who wanted to enforce the law, the editorial says, arguing that just like the mine was “destined to fail,” so is MSHA. "It’s time for a reality check." To read the independent report, click here. For the editorial, click here.