MSHA: Ill. underground coal mine imperils workers; operators ‘disregard’ violations

MSHA: Ill. coal mine imperils workers

ST. LOUIS — Federal regulators claim an Illinois coal mine is continuing to put workers in danger despite more than $230,000 in proposed fines since late 2008, prompting a panel that decides disputed violations to hasten its review of the underground mine.

The Labor Department’s Mine Safety and Health Administration said Monday it has been granted an expedited hearing by the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission on claims that conditions at Big Ridge Inc.’s Willow Lake mine near Equality, Ill., demand it.

MSHA said its 12 citations of “significant and substantial” violations involving Big Ridge’s 450-worker operation in December 2008 and January 2009 include the operator’s failure to provide adequate protection from mine collapses and prevent excessive accumulations of combustible materials.

Big Ridge’s on-shift checks for hazardous conditions and upkeep of equipment to federal standards have been insufficient, MSHA said.

Scott Allen, an MSHA spokesman in Chicago, said no on-the-job deaths have resulted from the mine’s operations during the time period in question. But the agency believes it had little recourse in seeking a hurried hearing on the citations mired in appeals by Big Ridge and its corporate parent, St. Louis-based Peabody Energy Corp.

Peabody — among the world’s biggest coal producers — insisted it aggressively has taken “a continuous stem-to-stern review of all processes to identify improvement opportunities” at its Willow Lake mine. Peabody also said MSHA’s citations at Willow Lake have slid 17 percent so far this year, and “significant citations have declined 26 percent from the prior year.” Every citation at any Peabody site “has been immediately addressed and resolved to MSHA’s satisfaction prior to work re-commencing,” the company said in a written statement.

U.S. mining operations have faced increased scrutiny from MSHA since an April 5 explosion that killed 29 men and injured two at a mine in West Virginia.

The alleged violations at Big Ridge, MSHA claims, resulted from the mine’s “reckless disregard of or indifference to its safety and health responsibilities, intentional misconduct or a serious lack of reasonable care.”

MSHA’s actions come as the agency tries to crack down on mines with a history of racking up citations for serious violations following an explosion that killed 29 men at Massey Energy Co.’s Upper Big Branch in West Virginia. The blast is the nation’s worst coal mine disaster in 40 years.

“Mining companies have an obligation to do all they can to protect their workers. Those who ignore safety and health practices continue to put their workers in harm’s way,” MSHA chief Joe Main said in a statement announcing his agency’s stepped-up action against Big Ridge.

Peabody said MSHA’s comments Monday were “inflammatory, unfounded and confrontational.”

“It is ironic that we routinely ask for such hearings to discuss long-standing and legitimate challenges where we believe basic differences exist,” Peabody said. “However, in this instance MSHA’s response seems based more on building publicity than resolutions.”

Allen said the commission’s hearing on the matter could come as early as next week.

Willow Lake, which opened in 2002, produced 3.4 million tons of the black ore last year, according to MSHA’s website. The mine and its adjacent site — where the coal is cleaned for shipment, often to Midwest utilities — runs two shifts a day seven days a week throughout the year, according to Peabody’s website.