News of the Day: Deaths at West Virginia Mine Raise Issues About Safety

Following the tragic accident at the Upper Big Branch mine, the New York Times reports that deaths at West Virginia mine raise issues about safety.

Rescue workers began the precarious task Tuesday of removing explosive methane gas from the coal mine where at least 25 miners died the day before. The mine owner’s dismal safety record, along with several recent evacuations of the mine, left federal officials and miners suggesting that Monday’s explosion might have been preventable.

In the past two months, miners had been evacuated three times from the Upper Big Branch because of dangerously high methane levels, according to two miners who asked for anonymity for fear of losing their jobs. Representative Nick J. Rahall II, a Democrat whose district includes the mine, said he had received similar reports from miners about recent evacuations at the mine, which as recently as last month was fined at least three times for ventilation problems, according to federal records.

The exact cause of this blast is unknown and will be investigated only after the rescue effort is complete.

Rep. George Miller, the chair of the House Education and Labor Committee, and U.S. Rep. Lynn Woolsey, the chair of the Workforce Protections Subcommittee said, “Working with the Department of Labor and the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, we intend to look into this tragedy and convene hearings at the appropriate time. However, the only job that matters right now is the job of reaching trapped miners while limiting, as much as possible, the risk to those brave rescuers.”