Safety System Dysfunctional Before Mine Blast

Legally required water systems at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch coal mine in West Virginia were not functioning properly before the April 5 explosion that killed 29 mineworkers, according to multiple sources familiar with the disaster investigation.

Some mine safety experts believe that these safety systems might have helped prevent the explosion if they had been working as designed.

From All Things Considered

Fireball could have been prevented: Saturday on NPR

How The Blast Might Have Happened

Nine months after the Upper Big Branch coal mine explosion, investigators are homing in on possible causes. The following illustrations present some basic information about the area where the explosion is believed to have originated, along with possible causes. The illustrations (courtesy of NPR) are not to scale (click on image to enlarge).

Each of these dysfunctional systems funnel water to the longwall mining machine that investigators believe was the source of the deadly explosion. When they're functioning, the systems spray water (right) on the longwall's cutting tool, known as a shearer, and along the coal seam as the shearer cuts into it.

The sprayers help keep coal dust down so it won't clog the lungs of miners or float in the air. When coal dust is floating, it is highly explosive. The sprayers also help cool and extinguish sparks when the shearer cuts into hard rock. The shearer (below left - click on image to enlarge) also contains a water-based fire suppression system.

But on April 5, none of these safety systems were working properly, according to four people familiar with explosion evidence.

The malfunctioning systems include:

• The fire suppression system on the shearer. Sources say it didn't work. Massey Energy admits that one of two valves on the system was missing, and a hose was "manually plugged."
  

• A water-spraying arm or boom at the shearer was disconnected, according to sources. Massey says it was broken off.

• Sprayers on the shearer itself were missing or clogged. Some looked like they had had nails driven into them. Tests conducted on the shearer sprayer system before Christmas indicate little or no water sprayed the shearer as it cut into six inches of sandstone in the coal seam, and likely kicked off sparks and churned up coal dust.

With no effective water spray, any seepage of explosive methane gas could easily ignite and form what miners describe as small fireballs. Add floating coal dust and those fireballs are apt to trigger massive explosions.

"What typically happens with these ignitions is that water sprays on the miners can put these ignitions out," says Ellen Smith, (right) owner and editor of Mine Safety and Health News. "All the backup systems worked when something went wrong.

Smith has collected and reviewed federal reports of methane ignitions in underground coal mines.

"We know that there have been about 600 ignitions since 2000," Smith reports. "And they have not resulted in mines blowing up."

Consequences Of Weak Ventilation System

Smith points out that a mine's ventilation system also works to control coal dust and methane underground. The system manages airflow so that methane gas dissipates or is swept away. Good ventilation also helps control coal dust. Inadequate ventilation has been a persistent problem at Upper Big Branch.

"The water and everything, that would have helped," says Stanley "Goose" Stewart, a veteran coal miner at Upper Big Branch who once operated the longwall shearer. "But ventilation is the biggest factor in my mind."

A week before the blast, miner Gary Quarles told Stewart that the ventilation at the shearer was so weak and the coal dust so thick, he could barely see. Quarles died in the April 5 explosion. Stewart survived a smaller blast underground in 1997.

"When I saw the glow coming in from behind the wall down on the [tailgate], I took off as hard as I could toward the [headgate]," Stewart recalls. "I thought I was a dead man. I was engulfed in fear."

Finding What Ignited The Fireball

Two miners likely experienced something similar on April 5 at Upper Big Branch, according to NPR's sources and Massey Energy. The two men were working at the longwall shearer when methane gas seeped toward it. There's disagreement about the source of the methane. Massey has insisted that a nearby crack in the mine floor produced a sudden, unpredictable infusion of gas that could not be controlled. It's located just beyond the longwall at the tailgate of the machine.

Some of NPR's sources point to two additional cracks back toward the headgate of the longwall but close to the shearer. One is a newly discovered crack found between two of the floor-to-ceiling shields that protect the machine and the miners from falling rock as they work. These sources describe a scenario in which methane from that crack migrated to the tailgate, bypassed the shearer and its methane detectors, then turned back into the spinning and sparking shearer.

Other sources say it's impossible to determine the precise source of methane. They note that Upper Big Branch is such a gassy mine that methane seeps from the coal face and the mined-out area known as the gob.

Even if methane suddenly rushed out of a crack, that's a predictable event, says Smith of Mine Safety and Health News.

"These huge inundations from gas seams have occurred in this mine and in other mines," Smith notes, referring to federal records that also track these incidents. "And when the ventilation systems were working, you did not have an explosion."

On April 5, the two miners at the longwall shearer most likely witnessed the formation of a small fireball, sources say, as methane reached the shearer and its sparks. If the ventilation was poor, they would have known that floating coal dust would soon explode. So they ran.

Investigators know they ran because they either shut down the longwall machine themselves or phoned the machine's operator at the tailgate. In any case, power and water were cut, and 60 seconds later, the mine erupted. The two men were found about a third of the way up the longwall face along with two other miners. They were gone in an instant, as were 25 others as much as two miles away underground.

Evaluating The Water Sprayers

The new revelations show that the mine had "conditions that created a circumstance that allowed an explosion to happen, which never should have happened," says Mark Moreland, an attorney whose law firm is officially designated as a miners' representative in the disaster investigation. Moreland's firm also represents the families of two Upper Big Branch victims in wrongful-death suits filed against Massey Energy.

"This operation was not operated according to law and was, in fact, if all these circumstances are true, operating in an illegal fashion," Moreland contends.

To continue reading article click here.

Source:
NPR, "Safety System Dysfunctional Before Mine Blast", by Howard Berkes, accessed January 16, 2011

CEO Of Mining Giant Massey Steps Down

The controversial CEO of coal mining giant Massey Energy says he's retiring at the end of the month.

Don Blankenship (left) and his company managed the Upper Big Branch coal mine in West Virginia where 29 miners died in an explosion in April.

His departure as CEO is effective immediately; he retires fully from the company at the end of the month. The announcement came in a statement issued by the company's Board of Directors. Blankenship is quoted in that statement as saying it is time to move on. No other explanation for the move was given. Effective Friday December 3rd, Massey will be replaced by Massey President Baxter F. Phillips Jr.


"But there could be other reasons," NPR's Howard Berkes told All Things Considered co-host Robert Siegel. "One hint may be in the fact that the statement was not issued by Blankenship himself but by the company's board of directors.

"He chaired that board but there have been unconfirmed reports that he and the board clashed over the board's possible sale of the company."

Badge Humphries (right), a South Carolina lawyer who represents several shareholder groups in a lawsuit against Blankenship and the rest of the Massey board, hailed the decision. "This is a huge victory for what we've been trying to accomplish," he said.

The lawsuit alleges that Blankenship and the Massey board devalued the company's shares by allegedly failing to operate its mines safely and in violation of a settlement of an earlier lawsuit.

Humphries believes Blankenship's reported resistance to a possible sale of Massey Energy prompted his sudden departure. "It doesn't take much imagination to believe he was forced out," Humphries adds.

Blankenship did release a statement later Friday saying he was ready to leave Massey.

“After almost three decades at Massey it is time for me to move on. Baxter and I have worked together for 28 years and he will provide the company great executive leadership. Most of all, I want to thank the Members of Massey Energy whose hard work supports not only their own families, but also contributes greatly to the entire community of Central Appalachia," Blankenship said.

The press release says Blankenship has helped Massey grow from 3,662 employees in 2000 to more than 7,300 today. Also under Blankenship, the company's market capitalization rose from about $758 million in 2000 to about $5 billion today, according to the release.

Blankenship is scheduled to testify in two weeks in the joint state and federal investigation of the Upper Big Branch mine disaster. His company is also under scrutiny in a federal criminal investigation.

Randolph McGraw, an attorney in Beckley, W.Va., who represents the families of six of the victims of the Upper Big Branch tragedy, said the move was "a long time coming."

Blankenship's sudden retirement "in no way ends his responsibility for the Upper Big Branch mine disaster," he said. "I certainly hope that his retirement is not an acceptable end for the government entities looking into the disaster."

Meanwhile, the Massey board confirmed that it is considering a sale of the company.

The board recently affirmed a departure package for Blankenship worth about $10 million. In nearly three decades at Massey Energy, Blankenship became known for obsessive focus on coal production and bitter criticism of federal regulation.

The United Mine Workers of America in a statement welcomed Blankenship's resignation, adding his departure "brings to a close a long and difficult chapter in the history of the coal industry."

Source:
NPR, "CEO Of Mining Giant Massey Steps Down", accessed December 5, 2010
Metro News, "Massey Leader to Step Down", accessed December 5, 2010

MSHA: Massey Energy Cited For Impeding West Virginia Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster Investigation

Massey Energy has been slapped with a federal citation, accusing the mining giant of blocking the investigation into the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster, the deadliest U.S. coal mine explosion since 1970.

The Mine Safety and Health Administration said Tuesday that it cited the Richmond, Va.-based coal company on Nov. 10. The citation says a Massey employee refused to provide water for a pressure test on sprayers on the Upper Big Branch mine's main mining machine.

The longwall shearer sprays water to help control coal dust and sparks.

Twenty-nine miners were killed and two seriously injured when a powerful explosion tore through the underground mine some 50 miles south of Charleston on April 5. The blast is the subject of criminal and civil investigations.

Massey fired back at MSHA with this statement: "Sadly, certain MSHA officials wish to avoid any resolution of the issue and have engaged in a campaign of media leaks and misinformation to exacerbate the conflict." The company goes on to say running water through the machinery might actually destroy evidence.

Massey General counsel and Vice President Shane Harvey (below right with Don Blankenship) says the Richmond, Va.-based coal company strongly disagrees with the citation issued Nov. 10. Harvey says Massey isn't refusing to cooperate with the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Harvey says the company wants more time to examine a key area before complying by supplying water to the area where the MSHA wants to test sprayers on mining equipment.

MSHA said Wednesday it has given Massey until Friday to resolve the situation. The company had been ordered to abate the violation by Wednesday.

Also on Wednesday, the chief executive of Massey Energy Company, told investors that natural gas, not methane, caused the explosion last spring that killed 29 miners.

During a speech at an investor conference, Massey CEO Don Blankenship (left) said company investigators have discovered the mine was inundated with natural gas when the explosion occurred.

Natural gas is more volatile than methane.

Such a finding would bolster Massey's contention that the explosion was caused by a huge quantity of gas unexpectedly overwhelming various safeguards.

Source:
Huffington Post, "MSHA: Massey Energy Cited For Impeding West Virginia Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster Investigation", accessed November 19, 2010
MSNBC News, "Feds cite Massey Energy for impeding W.Va. probe", accessed November 19, 2010
Yahoo News, "Feds cite Massey Energy for impeding W.Va. probe", accessed November 19, 2010
The State Journal, "Feds Cite Massey Energy in Upper Big Branch Probe", accessed November 19, 2010
WSET, "Massey disputes citation for impeding probe", accessed November 19, 2010
The Examiner, "MSHA cites Massey Energy for impeding their UBB investigation", accessed November 19, 2010
West Virginia Public Broadcasting, "Massey blames natural gas for Upper Big Branch blast", accessed November 19, 2010

Labor Dept. Asks Court To Close Massey Mine In Ky.

The Labor Department took an unprecedented step against a Kentucky coal mine Wednesday, asking that a federal judge shut it down immediately to protect the lives of those who work there.

The Labor Department’s Mine Safety and Health Administration filed this lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Pikeville, Ky., over the repeated safety violations MSHA inspectors have discovered at Massey Energy subsidiary Freedom Energy Mining Co.’s Mine No. 1 in Pike County.

In filing for a preliminary injunction in U.S. District Court, the government cites persistently dangerous conditions in Massey Energy's Freedom Mine No. 1 in Pike County. The action, which is the toughest enforcement action available to federal regulators, would shut down the mine until safety hazards are addressed and Massey Energy demonstrates it can operate the mine safely.

The Freedom Mine employs about 130 miners and was cited for safety violations more than 700 times this year alone.

The move is viewed by mine safety experts as one response to the deadly explosion in April at Massey's Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia (at right). Twenty-nine mine workers died in that tragedy, which has triggered civil and criminal investigations.

For 33 years, the agency has had the authority to take mining companies to federal court when they have serious and persistent safety violations. But this "injunctive relief" section of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act has not been invoked until now.

Section 108(a)(2) of that law authorizes the Labor Department to seek restraining orders, preliminary or permanent injunctions and other federal court orders when a mining company "is engaged in a pattern of violation" that "constitutes a continuing hazard to the health or safety of miners."

The non-union Freedom Energy Mine No. 1 "has a high risk level for a fatal accident...on any given day" writes James Poynter, an assistant district manager at the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), in a document filed in federal court on Wednesday.

"MSHA continues to find serious and threatening conditions at this mine," Poynter adds, even after federal officials met multiple times with Freedom Energy managers about conditions at the mine. The most recent meeting cited took place in July.

"MSHA has used all the tools available to it in the regulatory scheme in an attempt to bring this operator into compliance," Poynter concludes.

In a statement, Massey Energy says Freedom "has struggled to comply with newer MSHA standards" because it's an older and larger mine. But, the statement adds, "Massey does not believe the mine is unsafe."

CEO Don Blankenship (left) personally provided a safety briefing to the day shift at Freedom on Oct. 29, when all of the company's underground coal mines stopped production and focused on safety.

Earlier that week, Blankenship spoke generically about older and larger mines like Freedom that generate more safety violations.

"They're getting those violations not because we feel like the mine is more dangerous or because we're not trying real hard but there's so much area" underground, Blankenship said. Some, he continued, have millions of square feet and conveyor belts miles long, "and if you want to find [safety violations] you can pretty much find that in a mine of that size." (Right: carts conveying coal back out of the mine)

"The bigger, older mines are much more difficult to avoid violations," Blankenship said. He suggested some may have to be closed.

In its statement today, Massey said closing Freedom is now a possibility.

"Due to the mine's age and size, the Company is considering idling the mine until it can ensure that the mine will meet current MSHA standards," the statement said. And, if that happens, it continued, "every effort will be made to reassign the miners to nearby locations."

But in its request for a court-ordered shutdown, the Labor Department asks the court to force Massey to pay Freedom miners while the mine is closed for safety improvements.

Freedom Energy Mine No. 1 (left on map) had a federal safety violations rate in 2009 that precisely matches the national average. But so far this year, Freedom's actual number of violations exceeds its total for all of last year.

The injury rate at the mine last year is close to half the national rate for 2009, according to an NPR analysis of federal mine safety data. That same data indicates that no deaths have occurred at Freedom since 1995, the first year fatality data is reported on MSHA's website.

Still, "the risk of harm to miners is much worse at Freedom than it is at other comparable mines," MSHA's Poynter contends.

And Labor Department Solicitor Patricia Smith (right) notes Massey has admitted under-reporting injuries by more than 30 percent, "so the fact that it has an average injury rate may not actually reflect reality."

Court Supervision

In its federal court complaint, the Labor Department seeks a preliminary injunction placing the mine under court supervision and shutting it down until safety hazards are addressed and Massey Energy demonstrates it can operate the mine safely.

Court documents and state and federal records obtained by NPR cite persistent safety violations involving accumulations of flammable and explosive coal and coal dust, the threat of rock falls, ventilation or air flow in the mine, hazardous electrical equipment, spotting and recording dangers and emergency evacuation procedures.

MSHA already has the authority to shut down all or parts of mines for serious safety violations but mining resumes as soon as immediate problems are addressed.

Fines are also levied by MSHA but mining companies routinely appeal fines and it can take years for those appeals to be resolved. Right now, more than 18,000 citations and fines are waiting for administrative court action.

"What I think has happened over many, many years is that there's a growing frustration with the citation, abatement, penalty process where the mine operators continue to violate the same standards and there is no permanent fix to serious problems," says Ed Clair, MSHA's former top lawyer, who spent more than two decades at the agency.

History Of Safety Violations

Like the Upper Big Branch Massey mine in West Virginia (right below), the Freedom Mine has a history of serious and repeated safety violations. Two hundred of its federal citations this year are classified as "serious and substantial," according to MSHA records, and 50 are listed as an "unwarrantable failure" to comply with mine safety law.

"Unwarrantable failure means you knew there was a violation and didn’t fix it or you should have known…because it was open and obvious and you didn’t fix it," says Tony Oppegard, a former mine safety prosecutor and regulator who represents coal miners in lawsuits against mining companies.

"This is a troubled mine," Oppegard adds. "And it's long past time that that (injunctive relief) section of the law (is) used."

MSHA records show that the biggest repeated problem at Freedom is failure to clean up or neutralize loose coal and coal dust, which can feed and accelerate fires and explosions. (Left: coal dust explosion)

Freedom is also a "gassy" mine — 1 million to 2 million cubic feet of methane gas naturally seeps in every day, according to MSHA records. Methane is highly explosive at certain concentrations so the daily presence of such large quantities of the gas increases the potential for explosions.

Mines are required to remove excessive coal and coal dust and spray the mine with crushed limestone or "rock dust" to diminish the possibility of ignition. But documents filed in federal court cite numerous incidents involving loose coal and coal dust at the Freedom Mine.

Safety inspections and reports compiled by MSHA and Kentucky's Office of Mine Safety and Licensing cite repeated violations involving rock falls. An MSHA inspector noted 117 such violations in the last two years. Poynter writes in his court declaration that two miners would have been killed in one of six rock falls since August if a power outage hadn't kept them away. (Coal miners work an underground mine)

Rock falls at Freedom can be massive. State and federal accident reports describe one 250 feet long, 18 feet wide and 9 feet thick.

Ventilation is also listed as a persistent problem. Proper ventilation sweeps away explosive and toxic gases. But federal inspectors found dead or little airflow at times and air flowing in the wrong direction.

"This is the mine that we believe is one accident away from possible tragedy," says Labor Department Solicitor Smith.

A 'Wake-Up Call'

Former MSHA solicitor Ed Clair says the agency has resisted going to court in the past because it had other options that seemed to work. He says mine deaths were declining until 2006.

Clair also sees risk in putting mine safety regulation in the hands of a federal judge. That puts the resolution of safety problems in a judge's control, Clair suggests, and leaves the regulators on the sidelines.

A judge may also have this question: If this mine is so dangerous, why did it take the Labor Department this long to go to court? It's been almost five months, after all, since Stricklin cited the Freedom Mine as the test case.

A judge's rejection of the case is the biggest risk, Clair says, "And that could establish a very adverse precedent for using this provision and perhaps somehow otherwise circumscribe the agency's enforcement authority."

But with 56 coal miners dead in five disasters since 2006, Clair sees the wisdom in breaking precedent.

Mine safety expert Celeste Monforton (left) believes the most recent tragedy has a lot to do with the Labor Department's action now.

"The Upper Big Branch mine disaster was the harshest wake-up call imaginable," Monforton says. "I'm not sure the moment would have come if not for the 29 lives lost."

The first hearing in the Freedom Mine case is expected in the next several weeks in a federal court in eastern Kentucky.

Labor Asks Courts to close Massey mine in KY

Source:
NPR, "Labor Dept. Asks Court To Close Massey Mine In Ky.", accessed November 5, 2010
Coal Geology, "Freedom Energy Mine cannot be trusted to follow basic safety rules: MSHA", accessed November 5, 2010
West Virginia Gazette, "MSHA seeks court order to close Massey mine in Ky.", accessed November 5, 2010
Reuters, "Regulators allege Massey Kentucky safety violations", accessed November 5, 2010

Senator Robert Byrd Rips Into Mining Industry for Putting Coal Above People

Late last year, as Democrats were considering climate change bills and the Obama administration was mulling new regulations to rein in mountaintop removal coal mining, Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), a longtime defender of the coal industry and the jobs it creates in Appalachia, shocked observers in Washington and West Virginia alike when he called on the coal industry to embrace the changes happening around them.

“West Virginians can choose to anticipate change and adapt to it, or resist and be overrun by it,” he wrote at the time.

On Wednesday, May 5, 2010, the 92-year-old Sen. Robert C. Byrd called for a reconsideration of West Virginia's relationship with coal mining, saying the industry cannot be allowed to dominate the state's politics while causing needless deaths and environmental damage.

"Coal brings much needed jobs and revenue to our economy," the West Virginia Democrat wrote in a new commentary. "But the industry has a larger footprint, including inherent responsibilities that must be acknowledged by the industry."

Byrd issued the piece in response to the nation's worst coal-mining disaster in 40 years, the April 5 explosion that killed 29 miners at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch Mine in Raleigh County.

"As we seek to understand how and why the Upper Big Branch disaster occurred, we might also re-examine conventional wisdom about the future of the coal industry in our state," Byrd said.

“The monolithic power of industry should never dominate our politics to the detriment of local communities,” he wrote in an op-ed featured in the local press.

He was referring not only to the practice of mountaintop removal, but the absence of concern for miner safety that’s been the focus of great interest since 29 miners were killed in Montcoal, W.Va., exactly a month ago.

Byrd goes so far as to threaten irresponsible companies with extinction, and he states that the coal industry "must respect the miner and his family."
A single miner’s life is certainly worth the expense and effort required to enhance safety. West Virginia has some of the highest quality coal in the world, and mining it should be considered a privilege, not a right.

Any company that establishes a pattern of negligence resulting in injuries and death should be replaced by a company that conducts business more responsibly. No doubt many energy companies are keen for a chance to produce West Virginia coal.

The target here, of course, is Massey Energy — for reasons that become clearer each day. Not only does the Virginia-based coal giant own the mine where last month’s Montcoal blast occurred, but more and more Massey employees, both active and former, are coming forward with horror stories about the safety policies of the company.

But there’s more. Byrd then takes on the industry over mountaintop removal, a practice in which companies blast the tops off of mountains to reach the coal seams inside. In the process, the excess soil, rock and other debris are pushed into adjacent valleys, many of which contain the headwater streams for larger bodies of water below.

“The industry of coal must also respect the land that yields the coal, as well as the people who live on the land,” Byrd wrote. “If the process of mining destroys nearby wells and foundations, if blasting and digging and relocating streams unearths harmful elements and releases them into the environment causing illness and death, that process should be halted and the resulting hazards to the community abated.”

Byrd ended his remarks by saying, "The old chestnut that 'coal is West Virginia's greatest natural resource' deserves revision. I believe that our people are West Virginia's most valuable resource. We must demand to be treated as such."

Source:
Washington Independent,"Byrd Rips Into Mining Industry for Putting Coal Above People", accessed May 5, 2010
The Charleston Gazette, "Byrd calls for re-examination of state's relationship with coal", by Ken Ward, Jr. accessed May 5,2010