Coal Age

AUG 2012

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1970-1979 immediate solutions to the problem of mak- ing underground and surface mines safer. The UMWA and the NCA both believed that research should remain with the BoM. By 1976, MESA was collecting more than $8.5 million in fines per year. That figure is up from $4.7 million in 1974 and $100,000 in 1970. *Coal Age, August 1977 Mine Safety: MESA Becomes MSHA The 1969 Coal Act was more comprehen- sive and more stringent than any previous federal legislation governing the mining industry. It included surface as well as underground coal mines within its scope, required two annual inspections of every surface coal mine and four at every under- ground coal mine, and dramatically increased federal enforcement powers in coal mines. The Coal Act also required monetary penalties for all violations, and established criminal penalties for knowing and willful violations. The safety standards for all coal mines were strengthened, and health standards were adopted. The Coal Act included specific procedures for the development of improved mandatory health and safety standards, and provided compensation for miners who were totally and permanently disabled by coal miner's pneumoconiosis or "black lung." In 1973, the Secretary of the Interior, through administrative action, created the Mining Enforcement and Safety Adminis- tration (MESA) as a new departmental agen- cy separate from the BoM. MESA assumed the safety and health enforcement functions formerly carried out by the BoM to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest between the enforcement of mine safety and health standards and the BoM's respon- sibilities for mineral resource development. In 1975, Coal Age reported that the two groups were feuding over coal mine safety research dollars. The outgoing MESA chief criticized BoM research for focusing too much on long-range projects rather than 134 www.coalage.com On the night of March 10, 1976, the Scotia mine suffered two explosions killing 26. Methane gas was believed to be the cause of the explosions. MESA had inspected the mine the evening before and cited the mine over ventilation, which it promptly correct- ed. The day of the explosion, a foreman called out that something was amiss with the ventilation and the explosion occurred shortly afterward. Scotia Coal, located in Cumberland, Ky., was a subsidiary of Blue Diamond Coal. The mine produced about 1.5 million tpy from three seams. The first explosion occurred at 1:15 p.m. killing 15 miners in the lowest seams, 1,600 ft dep. Nine miners were killed instantly. The other six managed to don self-rescuers and erect a barricade. Ultimately the barricade leaked and they suffocated when the respirators expired. Approximately 121 miners were underground at the time. A second explosion, March 11, took the lives of 11 more men, including three federal safety officials. They were part of a rescue team that entered the mine to reinforce the roof so that federal mine inspectors could begin their investigation. After months of investigation, MESA concluded a spark from a battery-operated locomotive triggered the first explosion. The second explosion was believed to be created when loosened roof rock struck steel machinery or possibly by exposed battery wires sheared during the first explosion. Congress passed the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977. The Mine Act amended the 1969 Coal Act in a number of significant ways, and consolidated all federal health and safety regulations of the mining industry, coal as well as non-coal mining, under a single statutory scheme. The Mine Act strengthened and expanded the rights of miners, and enhanced the protection of miners from retaliation for exercising such rights. Mining fatalities dropped sharply under the Mine Act from 272 in 1977 to 22 year-to-date (July 17, 2007). The Mine Act also transferred responsi- bility for carrying out its mandates from the Department of the Interior to the Department of Labor, and created the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) during March 1978. Additionally, the Mine 100th Anniversary Special Issue Act established the independent Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission to provide independent review of the major- ity of MSHA's enforcement actions. Surface Mining Fueled by the first Arab oil embargo of 1973, orders for draglines greater than 16-yd grew to 43 in 1973 from 16 in 1969, before sky- rocketing to 106 in 1974. Almost all of these machines (90%) were for the North American coal industry. Then the bubble bursts. Orders plunged to 17 in 1975. During the 1970s, more compact, power- ful electric and hydraulic shovels began to appear in the coalfields to strip and load overburden and coal directly into trucks. Limited to shallower depths of overburden than draglines, such loading shovels proved effective for preparing benches for draglines and for multiple-bench mining applications. Congress enacted the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA), to which regulate environmental aspects of surface and underground mining. It requires all mines on federal lands to sub- mit a mining and reclamation plan that could be approved as part of a larger permit to mine on those lands, and provides that in all cases mine operators must submit min- ing and reclamation plans for their opera- tions that satisfy the authorities that the mine will not endanger the environment. The regulatory program is adminis- tered by the federal Office of Surface Mining (OSM). In general, the regulations require separate removal and handling of all upper soil horizons capable of support- ing vegetation cover. Topsoil may be redistributed only after the backfilled area has been properly prepared. All disturbed areas must be returned to their approxi- mate original contours wherever possible. Spoil must be replaced to eliminate all highwalls, spoil piles and depressions. Final graded slopes may not exceed the pre-mining slopes, and the regulatory authority can require lesser slopes. Highwalls must be eliminated and graded to achieve permissible stability. Cut-and- fill terraces may be used only when approved by the regulating authority. Mountaintop-removal variances may be allowed if the activity includes the removal of an entire coal seam from the upper fraction of a mountain or hill and the resultant land- scape is a plateau. Such a landscape must be designed to meet a post-mining land use that will accommodate an industrial, commercial, agricultural, residential or public facility, including recreational facilities. August 2012

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