Down a Dark Tunnel
So often in this life we're confronted with tragedies that are not only predictable, but also preventable. The recent disasters, at the non-union Sago and Crandall Canyon coal mines, did not have to happen. In both cases mine owners put profits before the safety and well-being of their miners. What's worse, the Bush administration Mine Safety officials, paid by American taxpayers to regulate this dirty and dangerous job, have instead chosen to coach mine owners as to how they can evade safety rules. In union mines, the UMWA is at least able to insist that owners follow the law. In non-union mines, like Sago and Crandall Cranyon, flagrant and repeated violations of safety standards are rewarded by MSHA attempts to gently bring them "into compliance," through watering down enforcement and forgiving penalties.
All of the facts surrounding the disaster at Crandall Canyon are still not fully known, yet this report about Sago can give us a preview of some issues likely to emerge:
The UMWA cited several decisions made by mine management and the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration that set up the deadly conditions inside the Sago mine. One was MSHA's decision in the 1990's to allow substandard seals-including seals made from foam material called Omega Block-to be built instead of the "bulkhead seals" required by Congress in the 1977 Mine Act. The Omega Block seals installed in the Sago mine were completely inadequate to contain the forces of the blast.
The UMWA report also says that Sago mine management submitted and MSHA approved a ventilation plan just weeks before the explosion. The plan caused fresh air to course past the sealed area. This air was separated from the working section's fresh air supply by just one wall. When the explosion occurred, it blew out that wall, meaning contaminated air containing carbon monoxide and other toxic gases and smoke coming from the sealed area was blown directly onto the trapped miners, hampering their effort to escape and eventually killing all but one of them.
The UMWA also cited the use of the extremely rare practice of "second mining" at the Sago mine as a contributing factor to the extreme force of the explosion. A second seam of coal underneath the original seam was mined in the area that was eventually sealed, creating roof heights of up to 18 feet in some areas. This allowed greater than normal amounts of methane to build up in the sealed area, and also created a "piling" effect as the forces from the explosion were compressed as they traveled towards the seals. The extreme forces of the explosion completely obliterated nine of the ten Omega Block seals.
The report also points out that, despite a clear mandate from Congress dating back to 1969, MSHA failed to push for the development of enhanced two-way communications systems and tracking devices that could locate trapped miners underground. The report also faulted the safety agency for not following Congress' mandate to require operators to install safety chambers in mines, even though it has had the authority to do so since the passage of the 1969 Coal Act.
"The real problem here is that the will and intent of Congress when it passed the Coal Act in 1969 and the Mine Act in 1977 has been diluted, modified and subverted by MSHA and mine operators to the point where some practices and policies in place today offer miners little more protection than they had before those laws were passed," Roberts said.
The UMWA report makes dozens of findings and recommendations in mine safety areas, ranging from seals to ventilation, dealing with methane accumulation, the donning and use of self-contained self-rescuer (SCSR) oxygen packs, national mine rescue preparedness, and more.
"We look forward to discussing these recommendations with Congress and MSHA," said UMWA Secretary-Treasurer Daniel J. Kane. "We cannot afford to wait. The sooner we implement these recommendations, either as law or regulations, the more secure miners will be in the knowledge that their jobs are as safe as possible. As this report demonstrates, we've got a long way to go before we get to that point."
The UMWA report also says that Sago mine management submitted and MSHA approved a ventilation plan just weeks before the explosion. The plan caused fresh air to course past the sealed area. This air was separated from the working section's fresh air supply by just one wall. When the explosion occurred, it blew out that wall, meaning contaminated air containing carbon monoxide and other toxic gases and smoke coming from the sealed area was blown directly onto the trapped miners, hampering their effort to escape and eventually killing all but one of them.
The UMWA also cited the use of the extremely rare practice of "second mining" at the Sago mine as a contributing factor to the extreme force of the explosion. A second seam of coal underneath the original seam was mined in the area that was eventually sealed, creating roof heights of up to 18 feet in some areas. This allowed greater than normal amounts of methane to build up in the sealed area, and also created a "piling" effect as the forces from the explosion were compressed as they traveled towards the seals. The extreme forces of the explosion completely obliterated nine of the ten Omega Block seals.
The report also points out that, despite a clear mandate from Congress dating back to 1969, MSHA failed to push for the development of enhanced two-way communications systems and tracking devices that could locate trapped miners underground. The report also faulted the safety agency for not following Congress' mandate to require operators to install safety chambers in mines, even though it has had the authority to do so since the passage of the 1969 Coal Act.
"The real problem here is that the will and intent of Congress when it passed the Coal Act in 1969 and the Mine Act in 1977 has been diluted, modified and subverted by MSHA and mine operators to the point where some practices and policies in place today offer miners little more protection than they had before those laws were passed," Roberts said.
The UMWA report makes dozens of findings and recommendations in mine safety areas, ranging from seals to ventilation, dealing with methane accumulation, the donning and use of self-contained self-rescuer (SCSR) oxygen packs, national mine rescue preparedness, and more.
"We look forward to discussing these recommendations with Congress and MSHA," said UMWA Secretary-Treasurer Daniel J. Kane. "We cannot afford to wait. The sooner we implement these recommendations, either as law or regulations, the more secure miners will be in the knowledge that their jobs are as safe as possible. As this report demonstrates, we've got a long way to go before we get to that point."
Not many of us face the same sort of dangers that coalminers do on a daily basis. Yet most of us who work for a living are vulnerable in many ways. Unions have proven themselves the only reliable protection for workers' health, safety, and economic security. "United we bargain, divided we beg!" Unions can make a comeback in this country, but it's going to take a lot of hard work from all of us.
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