Mine-disaster probe centers on methane monitors

UPDATES, Aug. 10: "This weekend's testing of two methane monitors from the Upper Big Branch coal mine in West Virginia has not detected any evidence of tampering," Howard Berkes of National Public Radio reports. "A source familiar with this weekend's testing says there was no evidence found that the monitors had been tampered with or disabled just before the massive explosion in April. That assessment was confirmed by Ronald Wooten, director of the West Virginia Office of Miners' Health Safety and Training, who has been briefed about the testing." (Read more)

"Methane monitors worn by miners registered a sudden surge in potentially explosive gas — from 0 percent to 5 percent — in the minutes around the April explosion ... the company said Monday. The company said the high methane reading indicated that an inundation of methane caused the explosion and remained elevated afterward," Kris Maher reports for The Wall Street Journal. "The latest evidence is consistent with Massey's theory that a sudden inundation of methane gas, possibly through a crack in the mine floor, could have initiated the explosion. Such cracks can develop during mining, which causes geologic shifts, especially in heavily mined areas."

The investigation into the April explosion that killed 29 miners at Massey Energy's mine in Montcoal, W.Va., is focusing on "alleged maintenance lapses of critical safety devices that monitor explosive gas levels, including one that was secured by a plastic zip tie," The Wall Street Journal reports. "Since 2008, Massey's Upper Big Branch Mine was cited at least 17 times by federal mine inspectors for failing to keep methane monitors in proper working condition," Kris Maher writes for the Journal.  A representative of the Mine Safety and Health Administration said the agency "is concerned any time a mine is cited for improperly working methane monitors—even one citation is too many."

The U.S. attorney in Charleston is looking into alleged maintenance lapses and reported tampering with methane monitors that shut down mining equipment if methane levels get too high, Maher writes. Federal officials confirmed that two methane monitors taken from near the area where the explosion occurred were scheduled to be tested Saturday to examine their working condition. "Some alarm somewhere should have gone off, and we have no record of that," Ron Wooten, director of the West Virginia Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training, who is leading the state's investigation into the accident, told Maher of the methane levels in the mine prior to the explosion.

Massey said it has "no evidence of bridging out of methane monitors" as alleged in news reports. "The company noted that shortly before the explosion, three foremen conducted examinations and reported zero or nearly zero methane, but that high levels of methane were found hours after the accident," Maher writes. "Federal and state officials say the explosion itself could have caused the high levels of methane recorded afterward." (Read more)