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Utah coal mine cited for explosive hazards
By: PAUL FOY - Associated Press | ∞
SALT LAKE CITY -- The government announced $420,300 in fines Thursday after finding "flagrant" safety violations at a Utah coal mine.
Federal regulators said they assessed the fines against Andalex Resources Inc. for accumulations of coal dust and hydraulic oil on equipment at the Aberdeen coal mine in 2006 and 2007.
The government said dust and oil made the mine vulnerable to fire and explosion near Price in Carbon County.
The Mine Safety and Health Administration said Andalex is controlled by Bob Murray, chief of Murray Energy Corp. The company is co-owner of the Crandall Canyon mine, where nine people died during two cave-ins in August.
Murray Energy did not respond to requests for comment.
"Mine operators that repeatedly violate mine-safety standards must be held accountable for their actions," MSHA chief Richard Stickler said in a statement.
According to MSHA inspection records, an excess of hydraulic oil, fine coal particles and explosive dust covered a conveyer belt, hoses, electric conduits and tram motors at the Aberdeen mine.
The agency said they were "flagrant" violations, which are defined as "reckless or repeated" failures to fix a problem that could cause death or injury.
The conditions at Aberdeen, combined with methane emissions and an ignition source, could "blow the whole mine up, so the violations are significant," said Bob Ferriter, a former MSHA engineer who teaches safety at the Colorado School of Mines.
"It's like being at the wrong end of a shotgun. It blows up everything. You don't want to be there," he said.
MSHA released a spreadsheet showing the fines against Andalex were the highest levied in Utah for safety violations. One of the fines in the case, $220,000, was the maximum amount allowed.
Federal inspectors said they had repeatedly warned about the conditions at Aberdeen, which were "obvious to anyone concerned with safety."
One inspector characterized the violations as "aggravated" and "constituting more than ordinary negligence." It took 18 men working around the clock to correct the problems.
Murray Energy closed the Aberdeen mine for several weeks last summer as engineers tested its ability to withstand seismic shocks that plagued the Crandall Canyon mine near Huntington. The Aberdeen mine, 7 miles north of Price, remains in operation.
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