THE FATAL MINE EXPLOSION IN WEST VIRGINIA COULD HAVE BEEN PREVENTED

Massey Energy Co. could have prevented the West Virginia mine explosion that killed 29 workers last year and the company failed to disclose some hazards in reports it provided to government inspectors, federal safety officials said Wednesday.
The U.S. Labor Department's top lawyer, said not recording hazards where required was a potential criminal violation of the Mine Act and they have notified the U.S. attorney of that.
The Justice Department's probe of the accident is continuing, it said recently. Its investigation has so far resulted in a criminal indictment against the former head of safety at the Upper Big Branch mine for allegedly attempting to destroy evidence. He has pleaded not guilty.
The April 2010 explosion at Massey's Upper Big Branch mine in Montcoal, W.Va., was the worst U.S. coal-mining disaster in 40 years. It resulted in several wrongful death lawsuits against Massey and led to the resignation of the company's chief executive and the sale of Massey.
At a briefing Wednesday in Beaver, W.Va., a coal administrator for mine safety and health at the Mine Safety and Health Administration, said they found there to be two sets of books kept by Massey.
Onshift reports, written by Massey miners, are for recording any hazardous conditions and gas levels at mines. These reports, co-signed by mine management, are shown to government inspectors. The others were production reports detailing coal output and any reasons for production delays, including safety issues, also written by Massey employees. MSHA didn't say if the two sets of reports were written by the same workers.
Three examples were citied in which on shift reports didn't include hazards noted in production reports. One production report noted hazards such as low air flow that didn't appear in an onshift report shown to government inspectors.
Federal law requires a mine employee to conduct an on-shift examination in each area where miners are working at least once a shift to check for hazardous conditions, test for methane and oxygen and determine if airflow is adequate. All hazards are required to be included in onshift reports for government inspectors.
Federal investigators concluded that the explosion occurred because broken water sprays on a cutting machine failed to put out an initial spark that ignited methane gas and triggered a coal-dust explosion. A gas detector that should have tested for potentially explosive methane hadn't been turned on since March 18, 2010, more than two weeks before the explosion.
A crack in the mine's floor that Massey had identified as the source of the inundation of methane was too shallow and not connected to a potential gas source below. Moreover, gas readings before the accident and just after it showed methane levels far lower than would have been expected with an inundation.
Alpha bought Massey this month for $7.1 billion. An Alpha spokesman said Alpha is hearing this information from MSHA at the same time everyone else is, and they will look at this claim [regarding the two sets of records] as well as all information that's available to them as they conduct their own review into what took place at Massey's Upper Big Branch mine in April 2010. He also said Alpha's review is in its early stages and that the company is starting to assemble specialists. The full MSHA report, when it's made available, will be part of what their team will closely review.
Massey completed a 102-page report, which was released by after the company was sold, saying the explosion was caused by an inundation of natural gas, a naturally occurring event beyond its control.
Massey's report said water sprays functioned adequately. This report didn't address book-keeping practices.
Alpha previously criticized the release of the Massey probe report, calling it unauthorized.
An independent report released in May by the top mine regulator in the Clinton administration, found Massey operated the mine in a profoundly reckless manner and was largely to blame for an explosion. At the time, Massey said it disagreed with his conclusion that the explosion was fueled by coal dust, and said they believed the explosion was caused by a massive inundation of methane-rich natural gas.
MSHA and Massey officials have clashed repeatedly since the accident over various reports regarding levels of highly explosive methane gas and combustible coal dust within the mine. Nongovernment safety experts said the government's findings, which put most responsibility for the accident on mine management, could have a bearing on wrongful-death lawsuits stemming from the blast.
A Beckley, W.Va., lawyer representing two families, who filed wrongful-death lawsuits, said about five such suits have been settled and more than 10 were still pending.