Upper Big Branch miners worried about methane from old, haphazardly sealed shaft

An improperly sealed shaft passing through several old mines to the active mine may have contributed to the buildup of methane believed to have caused the explosion at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia earlier this month, The New York Times reports. "According to a longtime foreman at the mine, who provided previously undisclosed details of its operation, the shaft was never properly sealed to prevent the methane above from being sucked into Upper Big Branch," Dan Barry, Ian Urbina and Clifford Kraus report. In lieu of the proper seal "rags and garbage were used to create a poor man’s sealant," the foreman, who asked to remain nameless, told the Times.

"Every single day, the [methane] levels were double or triple what they were supposed to be," the foreman told the paper. The problem came to be a daily worry. "I have had guys come to me and cry," the foreman told the reporters. "Grown men cried — because they are scared." Still, the miners "did not dare question the company’s safety practices," the reporters write, because as Andrew Tyler, an electrician and former subcontractor at the mine, told them, "It was all about production." A young, fit contractor passed out, apparently from the high methane levels, while climbing a ladder near the improperly sealed shaft a few months ago. The foreman told the reporters the incident was never reported to federal regulators.

The Times visited an underground TECO Coal Corp. mine in Hazard, Ky., to offer a contrasting picture of what a properly regulated mine looks like. While some of their comparisons may not be apt, since the TECO operation mines bituminous coal with the room-and-pillar method, while the Massey mine takes metallurgical coal via the longwall method, TECO's handling of methane seems particularly relevant. "The mine has to be ventilated," Robert J. Zik, TECO's vice president for operations, told the reporters. "Otherwise, it will destroy the company. I don’t think TECO Coal could have an accident like Massey’s and survive." The mine's ventilation system is stronger than federal regulations require, and miners are trained four times a year under smoky conditions to use their portable breathing devices, well over the once-a-year requirement. (Read more)

Federal inspectors who visited Upper Big Branch early this year "said senior managers showed 'reckless disregard' for worker safety by telling a foreman to ignore a citation the mine had received for faulty ventilation," Steven Mufson of The Washington Post reports. Hand-written notes from one inspector provided to the Post by the Mine Safety and Health Administration show the president and vice president of Massey subsidiary Performance Coal told a foreman "not to worry about it" when he asked about a ventilation problem cited by inspectors three weeks earlier. (Read more)

UPDATE, April 24: Massey responded to the Times article.