The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Today's Front Page

April 30, 2010

Upper Big Branch mine remains unsafe for investigators

By Mannix Porterfield Register-Herald Reporter

BECKLEY — Federal safety inspectors remain blocked from entering the ill-fated Upper Big Branch coal mine in Raleigh County by risky gas levels and a possible fire in their quest for clues that hopefully will tell them what triggered an April 5 explosion that left 29 workers dead.

Morever, there have been signals that a fire, or some type of heating, is present inside the sprawling complex at Montcoal.

Amy Louviere, public relations specialist for the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, says the heat is evidenced by the continued presence of acetylene and ethylene.

So far, the mine’s owner, Massey Energy, has pumped some 7 million cubic feet of nitrogen into the mine in an effort to douse the fire or bring the heat under control, she said.

“Although the concentration of the gases has decreased somewhat, it’s not enough to allow entry into the mine,” Louviere said.

Even so, this doesn’t mean the agency has been idle with regard to Upper Big Branch, she said.

“The investigation is under way,” Louviere said. “Just not the underground portion. There’s still much for the team to do.”

One aspect doesn’t require team members to go inside the mine — the collection of facts through various interviews, she pointed out.

In another development, United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts called on Labor Secretary Hilda Solis to conduct “a free and open hearing” on the disaster, since this would give MSHA subpoena power to require testimony by witnesses.

“There is no doubt in my mind that some people who can provide critical information in this investigation are going to have to be compelled to do so,” Roberts said.

The UMWA leader said grieving families shouldn’t have to wait a year or more to get a report on the investigation.

A similar request was made last week by attorneys Mark and Rachel Moreland, who filed the first lawsuit against Massey, a wrongful death suit on behalf of Marlene Griffith, whose husband, William, was killed in the explosion.

Regulators tentatively believe a concentration of volatile methane gas was touched off by an unknown ignition source, causing the worst American mining disaster in nearly four decades.

Within the past few days, Massey Energy and MSHA have engaged in a war of words over safety issues at the mine leading up to the explosion.

But as efforts to formally launch the investigation, the two met at mid-week in an attempt to consider the next possible move.

“In the meantime, the investigative team is reviewing mine records and putting together its list of individuals to interview,” Louviere said.

No one has been able to speculate on just when regulators can go inside the huge mine, operated by a Massey subsidiary, Performance Coal Co., and begin probing its vast interior in efforts to learn the cause of the explosion.

Toxic gas concentrations posed a problem in the immediate aftermath of the blast, blocking rescue teams from entering the mine to search for four miners who, at that time, were unaccounted for. The coal owner bored holes in an attempt to lower the nitrogen levels and increase the concentration of oxygen.

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