Feds say miner killed at troubled Peabody operation in Illinois

Miner killed at troubled Peabody operation in Ill.

EQUALITY, Ill. — A miner has been killed in an equipment accident at a troubled Peabody Energy mine in southern Illinois, federal regulators said Friday.

The victim was struck by a piece of heavy underground equipment at Peabody Energy’s Willow Lake mine in southern Illinois, said Amy Louviere, a spokeswoman for the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration. The victim was identified only as a section foreman.

The mine has been closed while MSHA and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources investigate the accident.

St. Louis-based Peabody called the death “unacceptable” and expressed sympathy to the victim’s family and friends. A spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment.

MSHA considers Willow Lake a problem mine. In June, the agency was granted an expedited hearing before the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission. MSHA had fined Peabody subsidiary Big Ridge Inc. $230,000 for violations found at the mine since late 2008. A dozen of the citations were “significant and substantial,” meaning MSHA believed they could cause serious injury or death.

Problems at the mine include a failure to provide adequate protection from cave-ins and excessive accumulations of combustible materials, according to MSHA. Coal dust is considered highly dangerous as a fuel for fires underground mines and because it can magnify the power of methane gas explosions.

Peabody — among the world’s biggest coal producers — insisted last month it had reviewed all processes at Willow Lake and that citations were down 17 percent this year.

Willow Lake is a large underground mine by U.S. standards. MSHA records show it employs about 450 people and produces about 3.4 million tons of coal annually. Illinois Basin coal typically is sold to electric utilities in the United States, particularly those equipped to remove sulfur.

The death is the 41st in what is turning into a bloody year in the nation’s coal mines. Most of the victims died in an explosion that killed 29 men April 5 at Richmond, Va.-based Massey Energy Co.’s Upper Big Branch mine in southern West Virginia. The blast was the nation’s worst coal industry disaster in 40 years and is the subject of civil and criminal investigations.

Willow Lake was one of 57 coal mines targeted in a surprise inspection blitz of problem operations following the Upper Big Branch disaster.

Safety reforms adopted after a series of deadly accidents in 2006 had been credited with improving safety in the industry. Fatalities fell to 18 in 2009, from 29 in 2008.