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Thursday, April 28, 2011

Delinquent penalties for mine-safety violations remain a problem for the industry and the feds

Coal and other mining companies delinquent in paying penalties are a problem for the Mine Safety and Health Administration and the Treasury Department. MSHA had "16,438 penalty cases with $56 million in unpaid, delinquent penalties on Feb. 25, 2011 by operators, contractors and individuals," Mine Safety and Health News reports.

This one-day snapshot does not include the most recent payments or delinquencies because MSHA "may have a one month to six week 'lag time' for entering payments into the system," the newsletter reports. But the snapshot "does show a pattern of delinquent payments for some of the biggest companies operating in the U.S." On Feb. 25, Consol Energy, Massey Energy, James C. Justice II, Arch Coal, LaFarge, Yukon Nevada Gold Corp., Cemex SA and one controller with both coal and metal/nonmetal mines had more than $200,000 in delinquent penalties.

In an effort "to make it easier for agencies to collect civil penalties, in 2000 the Treasury introduced the Debt Collection Act that uses letters, phone calls, private collection agencies and the Internal Revenue Service to collect delinquent penalties, but it is still unclear how the government can force companies to pay delinquent penalties. The Mine Safety and Health News authors believe the Robert C. Byrd Mine and Workplace Safety and Health Act, rejected in Congress last year but reintroduced in the Senate this year, "would force operators to pay in a timely manner. . . because after 180 days, MSHA would have the authority to withdraw miners from the mine with the delinquency until a payment plan is in place."

Mine Safety and Health News is a subscription-only newsletter, but it has made this part of its current edition available for free. For its detailed, comprehensive report, click here.

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