Mine-safety chief 'cautiously optimistic' that 'impact inspections' are finally having an impact

The nation's top mine-safety official, Assistant Labor Secretary Joe Main, said today that he is "cautiously optimistic" that most coal operators are "getting the message" and improving safety in response to special inspections the Mine Safety and Health Administration began after last year's major coal-mine disaster in West Virginia.

MSHA has issued more than 5,000 citations in the "impact inspections" since April 2010, or well over 300 per month, but last month's total was only 222. MSHA said in a news release that some mines are still chronic violators. The special inspections target mines with "poor compliance history or particular compliance concerns," the agency said.

It gave two specific examples from last month, one a cement mine in California and the other a coal mine in East Tennessee, which had also been inspected in March. After commandeering the surface telephones at S & H Mining in Anderson County "to prevent advance notification," inspectors issued seven orders and 24 citations, "nearly half of them designated as significant and substantial," said the release, which also linked to a spreadsheet of last month's inspections.