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CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Federal regulators said Wednesday the nation's coal mines have made huge strides in safety, pointing to a dramatic reduction in the number of accidents and injuries in the nation's single largest district in southern West Virginia.
But Mine Safety and Health Administration coal administrator Kevin Stricklin said there's still a lot of work to be done, and said his agency will continue cracking down on operators with a history of safety violations.
"We're trying to pick on the bad guys," he said at theWest Virginia Coal Association's annual mining symposium in Charleston.
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CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - The lawyer for the only person convicted so far in the Upper Big Branch mine disaster predicts the Mine Safety and Health Administration will increasingly pursue criminal prosecutions.
At a Charleston mining symposium, attorney Bill Wilmoth said three bills in Congress all call for stiffer penalties.
He urged operators to involve lawyers early and often when there's word of an investigation, and to consider whether the company and employees need separate representation.
He says they should also consider whether to cooperate with investigators and turn over requested documents. He says that's what got his client, former security chief Hughie Elbert Stover, in trouble.
Stover was convicted last fall of lying to investigators and trying to destroy records after the explosion that killed 29 miners in West Virginia. He's awaiting sentencing.
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CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Coal operators should be more cautious about talking to government mine safety investigators to avoid being ensnared in increased criminal prosecutions in the wake of the Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster, according to the lawyer who defended a former Massey Energy security director convicted of lying in the disaster probe.
Former U.S. Attorney Bill Wilmoth told mining industry officials they should more strongly consider asserting their Fifth Amendment rights when called to answer questions by the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration's investigation teams.
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U.S. Department of Labor
To the Mining Community:
Mine Safety and Health Administration 1100 Wilson Boulevard Arlington, Virginia 22209-3939
Thirty seven miners died in work-related accidents at the nation's mines in 2011. There were 21 coal mining and 16 metal/nonmetal mining fatalities last year, compared with 48 and 23, respectively, in 2010, making 2011 the year with the second-lowest number of mining deaths since statistics were first recorded in 1910.
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Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin and Sen. Joe Manchin will serve as keynote speakers on Thursday and Friday respectively. Federal Miner Health and Safety Administration Director Joe Main will also address the event on Thursday. A full schedule of events is attached to this release.
The Mountaineer Guardian Awards for excellence in safety will be presented at lunch on Thursday and the Reclamation Awards will be announced at lunch on Friday.
The event has rapidly grown to become one of the major events on the annual events schedule in West Virginia. More than 800 people have pre-registered this year.
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