Mine Union’s Report on the Sago Disaster Contradicts Earlier Findings (NYT) 12 men killed

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/us/16sago.html?_r=2&ref=us&oref=slogin&oref=slogin


Among the 12 men killed at the Sago Mine were four from Barbour County, W.Va. They were buried together in Philippi, the county seat.

By DANIEL HEYMAN
Published: March 16, 2007

CHARLESTON, W.Va., March 15 — Sparks generated inside the Sago Mine by friction between falling rocks, or between the rocks and metal roof supports, were the likely cause of the methane gas explosion early last year that killed one miner and led to the asphyxiation of 11 others whom the blast trapped, a report by the United Mine Workers of America maintains.

The report, issued by the union Thursday, runs counter to the findings of three other investigations — two by the state and one by the mine’s owner — all of which concluded that a lightning strike was either the cause of the explosion or the likely cause.

The owner, the International Coal Group, is being sued by families of those killed, and some of the plaintiffs have suggested that the company is clinging to its finding as a way of advancing an “act of God” defense. In a phone interview Wednesday ahead of the union report’s release, the U.M.W. president, Cecil E. Roberts, discussed its conclusions and said of the alternative, “I believe the company pursued this early on because it was their best defense in litigation.”

The company dismissed the new finding. “The U.M.W.A.’s report is nothing more than political grandstanding,” the chief executive, Bennett K. Hatfield, said in a statement. “The report is wholly unreliable as an investigatory finding and is designed solely to further the union’s political and organizing agenda.”

The International Coal Group’s investigation, concluded a year ago, determined that “an unusually large lightning strike of roughly three times the normal strength was measured near Sago” at the time of the explosion, on Jan. 2, 2006. The lightning touched off the blast, which was fueled by methane that had naturally accumulated in an abandoned, recently sealed section of the mine, the company’s investigators found.

The two state reports, from the West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health Safety and Training and from Gov. Joe Manchin III, agreed that lightning was the most likely cause, although the governors’ investigators said friction from a rock fall could not be ruled out. And the miners office report noted, “How the electricity from lightning entered the sealed-off area is still under investigation.”

In the interview on Wednesday, Mr. Roberts said, “They still can’t prove how lightning got into the mine,” and pointed out that the bolt had struck two miles from the site of the explosion.

FULL story at link.

[shortcake]

1. It's hard to get people interested in this.

Along the same lines. Wouldn't you thing a WV congressman would be demanding this?


Congressman demands action on mine refuge chambers

By James R. Carroll
[e-mail]
The Courier-Journal



WASHINGTON — Federal regulators must immediately require the installation of "refuge chambers" for miners in the nation's coal mines, a top House Democrat said yesterday.

In a letter to Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, Rep. George Miller of California urged that the action be taken now because West Virginia has approved five different refuge chambers for use in that state's mines.

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070317/NEWS01/703170452/1008/NEWS01