Kentucky Industry Report Says Coal Mining Safety Much Improved

A new coal industry paper says mining has become much safer over the last three decades, but that improvements have been overshadowed by recent tragedies in Appalachia that have prompted calls for more regulation.

The report from the Kentucky Coal Association says fatalities and lost-time accidents have “dramatically decreased” since the 1980s, though federal fines against mine operators have spiked in recent years. A copy of the 23-page industry “white paper” was provided to The Associated Press and is being distributed to state and federal lawmakers.

The paper argues that increased enforcement activity by the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration has “raised allegations that coal industry safety compliance has declined over the years and more regulation is needed to improve safety. Those allegations are unfounded.”

Civil penalties issued by MSHA rose from $15.8 million in 2004 to $141 million in 2009, the paper says.

Recent mine disasters that made national headlines prompt “false characterizations” of the industry’s safety record, it says.

Fatalities at U.S. coal mines spiked to 48 in 2010, the highest yearly total since 55 died in 1992. More than half of those deaths, 29, occurred in an explosion at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia in April.

But deaths and lost-time accidents at mines have been on the decline, falling from an average of 94 deaths per year and an injury rate of 6.8 per 100 full-time workers in the 1980s to 32 annual deaths and an injury rate of 3.7 in the 2000s, the paper says.

MSHA said in a statement Wednesday the federal MINER Act passed in 2006 increased minimum penalties and established new fines for flagrant violators.

Federal officials reviewed the industry paper for the AP. MSHA said in the statement that critics called federal safety violation penalties “insufficient” after a string of deadly incidents in Appalachian mines in 2006, including the explosion that killed 13 workers at the Sago mine in West Virginia. MSHA responded by increasing its own penalty amounts for most violations in 2007, the statement said.

Bill Bissett, president of the Kentucky Coal Association, said the fines and stricter regulation are “knee-jerk reactions to current events.”

“After Sago there was a true rush to pass legislation rather than look for specific ways to make mines safer after that incident had been thoroughly investigated,” Bissett said. “No one wants another mine tragedy, but a change in law to show quick action will not necessarily make mines safer.”

Tony Oppegard, a mine safety lawyer in Kentucky, said the safety gains have been made over the objections of the coal industry.

“They’ve gone down fighting and screaming to the last breath every time there’s a safety law proposed,” Oppegard said.

The coal industry has responded to hikes in penalties by increasingly challenging government-issued violations, the report says.

In 2004, coal operators contested about six percent of the more than 62,000 violations that were assessed civil penalties. Four years later, operators contested nearly 24 percent of the nearly 106,000 violations, the paper says.

Bissett said the appeals are a “very fair response” considering the rise in violations.