Coal Age

AUG 2012

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1960-1969 Safety Gains Marred by Massive Fire and Explosion in 1968, Leading to Sweeping Federal Legislation Safety-wise, gains were made through- out the decade, specifically as a fleet of highly productive machines were increasingly deployed. Roof-bolting was keeping American miners safer, and, by 1961, more than 60% of production was mined under bolted roof. Fatalities in the mid-1960s were averaging at under 300 per year, falling to a total of 240 in 1964. However, 24 of those fatalities occurred in anthracite mines. Producing less than 18 million tons, anthracite's incident fac- tor was more than three times higher than bituminous producers where fatali- ty rates per short ton had fallen to .45, down from .55 the year before. However, fatalities increased in 1965 by 15 to 255 total and 247 in bituminous, though rates per ton rose only slightly to .49. By the middle of the decade, fatalities had continued to fall, particularly in bituminous. Even as production climbed again in 1967, the number of fatalities dropped to 208 from 227 in 1966, or 8.4%. Roof falls, which accounted for 52.8% of the underground fatalities, again were the No. 1 killer. Safety training was becoming more common and one com- pany was already holding weekly one- hour safety sessions at which selected safety topics were discussed. With safety improving throughout the decade, few were prepared for the news later that year. In November 1968, an explosion and fire at the Consol No. 9 mine in Farmington, W.Va., trapped inside and killed 78 miners. The disaster made national headlines and placed the environmentally controversial industry back in the public eye. Days of billowing smoke emanating from the mine and repeated rescue attempts made for com- pelling television coverage. The atten- tion led to hearings in Washington and the call, in particular by Interior Secretary Mark Udall, for greater safety rules. With 305 lives snuffed out that year, federal and state governments clamored for strict changes in mine safe- ty—with no let up in continued curbs on pollution, emissions and strip mining. Roughly a year after the disaster, Congress passed the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969. The com- prehensive mine safety legislation, much more strict than any that preceded it, established the groundwork for the cur- 118 www.coalage.com rent Mine Safety and Health Adminis- tration. Included in the "Coal Act's" lan- guage were provisions addressing silicosis (black lung), and other miner's health issues, as well as operational safe- ty concerns. Combined with new envi- ronmental regulations, by the end of the 1960s, producers were dealing with a blizzard of legislation even as the power industry continued to turn to coal to gen- erate more electricity. Battle of the Buckets: As Stripping Machines Grow in Size, Calls for Reclamation Laws Grow Louder The cartoonish massive stripping machine depicted dwarfing a coal train on the April 1960 cover of the magazine heralded the continuation of the battle of the buckets. Throughout the late 1950s, several producers seemed to be vying to commission and deploy ever larger draglines. The latest titanic Bucyrus-Erie shovel, to become the largest land vehi- cle yet constructed, was destined for one of Peabody Coal's western Kentucky strip mines. A second one was built to follow it and in April 1961, a third Peabody dragline, this time a 85 cu yd Marion Power Shovel, was in the process of being constructed. Throughout the Midwest and later the southwest, advances in stripping tech- nologies enabled producers to deploy ever larger units into a variety of applica- tions. Not all, of course, were giants and *Coal Age, February 1966 100th Anniversary Special Issue August 2012

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