Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

West Virginia State News

Discussion

March 23, 2012

Panel faults MSHA enforcement prior to explosion

Associated Press

CHARLESTON (AP) — A team of experts says the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration could have prevented or reduced the likelihood of an April 2010 explosion in southern West Virginia that killed 29 miners.

The team was appointed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health a month after the April 2010 explosion to examine MSHA’s internal review of its actions at the Upper Big Branch mine. The explosion there was the worst U.S. coal mining disaster in 40 years.

The report says if MSHA had done timely enforcement of laws and regulations prior to the explosion, “it would have lessened the chances of — and possibly could have prevented” the explosion.

An MSHA spokeswoman didn’t immediately comment on the report, first reported by The Charleston Gazette (http://bit.ly/GKNpUz).

Text Only
West Virginia State News
Virginia State News

AP Video
Conn. Commuter Trains Collide; 60 Go to Hospital Coffee Run Leads to Hatchet Hitchhiker Arrest Fmr. IRS Head Insists No Politics in Targeting CDC: Fecal Bacteria Common in Swimming Pools $1 Million in Jewels Stolen at Cannes Film Fest NM Mom Chases Down Child Abductor Raw: Crash Sends Car Into Fla. Pool Raw: Obama Sits Down With Elementary Kids Raw: Bear Falls From Tampa Tree Ousted IRS Chief: Errors Not Caused by Politics Terror Suspect Due in Court in Idaho Friday Raw: Driver Ejected From Truck, Over Bridge Could Tobacco Be the Next Biofuel? Wash. State Releases Draft Rules for Legal Pot Dying Man's Blinks Lead to Murder Conviction Officials: Texas Tornado Likely Had 200 Mph Wind Brothers Arrested in NOLA Parade Shooting Raw: School Bus Crash Injures Five Children Quick Response Saved Baby on Phila. Train Tracks One Million Evacuated As Cyclone Hits Bangladesh
Sister Newspapers' News