By VICKI SMITH
Associated Press

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - Coal operators across the country are changing the way they work, and mines are becoming safer, but the head of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration said Thursday there are still too many who "don't get it."

In a speech at the West Virginia Coal Association's annual mining symposium, MSHA chief Joe Main said his inspectors can't be in every mine at every shift, and companies need to take more responsibility for running coal safely. Those who don't, he warned, can expect to face tough penalties.

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.

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.

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.

West Virginia's coal industry is hoping federal coal regulators will have guidelines for approving more extended-face, or deep-cut, coal mining plans as soon as spring.

West Virginia Coal Association Vice President Chris Hamilton has been advocating the use of remotely operated continuous miners with a face operation as far away as 40 feet. Though most machinery is designed to operate at that distance, Hamilton said, approval for deeper cuts have not been approved often.

Hamilton said extended cuts are safer because they require fewer moves of the mining equipment.

"Extended cut mining also prevents upwards of 50 percent of equipment moves in an underground working section, which means not only the continuous miner, but the roof bolters, the scoop operators or the shuttle cars," Hamilton said. "It's aimed at reducing the exposure a lot of the miners have to these large machines being moved around from place to place in underground working conditions."