Mine shelters could go national
CHARLESTON, W.Va. --A tentative deal worked out by West Virginia and federal regulators may open the door for airtight rescue chambers in underground coal mines.
The agreement focuses on conflicting state and federal requirements. West Virginia regulations require rescue chambers capable of sustaining miners for at least two days. A recent federal Mine Safety and Health Administration edict ignores rescue chambers, but mandates four days of emergency air supplies in the 600 or so underground coal mines across the country. More than 160 of those mines are located in West Virginia.
Moreover, MSHA demanded emergency air plans within 30 days of its March 8 order while West Virginia operators have until April 15 to submit rescue chamber plans to the state Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training.
Both rules came during a flurry of new mining laws issued after 12 miners died in the Sago Mine accident in January 2006 and two other high-profile accidents that killed seven more West Virginia and Kentucky coal miners. Sago was owned by International Coal Group Inc.
The resolution that state safety chief Ron Wooten says has been worked out may well apply to all mines, which could meet MSHA's rule by installing West Virginia-approved rescue chambers. And manufacturers say their shelters should meet both, making them marketable across the country.
State officials hope to approve several rescue chambers by March 9, in time for mines to include state-approved shelters in plans submitted to MSHA. As a result, MSHA has been observing the state's approval process.
"If the state can come up with a plan that provides for a 48-hour shelter and contingency arrangements to drill a borehole, then that plan would be acceptable," MSHA spokeswoman Amy Louviere said in an e-mail.
Manufacturers seeking state approval say they can provide 100 hours of breathable air, which would meet MSHA's standard.
Phil Smith, spokesman for the United Mine Workers, said MSHA should have required rescue chambers decades ago.
"Frankly, we believe had they been in the mines when they were supposed to be, certainly the men at Sago would be alive today," Smith said. "MSHA has had that authority to require coal mines to do this since 1969 and they haven't."
Certainly the deal would cover West Virginia mines, which would be required to install one shelter in each of the approximately 250 working sections, but some manufacturers say interest in underground shelters goes beyond the Mountain State.
Taylorville, Ill.-based Jack Kennedy Metal Products and Buildings Inc., for instance, has orders from Western and Midwestern mines already, but none from West Virginia, Chief Executive Bill Kennedy said. "We have prototypes that have been all over the country, and we are building chambers now."
Kennedy's steel chambers provide 100 hours of life support -- everything from fresh air to toilets, as well as diversions such as playing cards.
Allentown, Pa.-based ChemBio Shelter Inc. has been receiving orders from outside West Virginia for the chemicals used in its inflatable rescue chambers to generate oxygen and remove carbon-dioxide. Installing that equipment allows mines to meet MSHA's new standard without paying for a full shelter, Chief Executive Ed Roscioli said. "As soon as this thing gets certified, I believe we're going to get a rush of orders."
But Rory Paton-Ash, president of Atlanta-based shelter maker Strata Products Inc., disagrees. While he's sold shelters to a zinc mine in Tennessee, a tunnel contractor and several hard-rock mines in Mexico, Paton-Ash expects most U.S. coal mines to stick to erecting their own barricades.
That's likely to be the case in Kentucky, where the low height of many coal seams makes shelters impractical.
While the National Mining Association doesn't oppose shelters, it dislikes mandating them, spokesman Luke Popovich said in an e-mail.
"This again underscores the need to base safety improvements on the assessment of risk that is presented by each individual mine," he said, "not attempt to proscribe a one-size-fits-all standard."
