Massey Mine Investigation: First Visit To West Virginia Mine Aborted Due To Gas

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The underground search for clues to the nation's worst coal mining disaster in 40 years started Wednesday as two teams began exploring the West Virginia mine where 29 men died in an explosion in April.

The four-member exploratory teams are trying to determine if it's safe for government investigators to begin working underground at Massey Energy Co.'s Upper Big Branch mine. The April 5 explosion is the subject of separate civil and criminal investigations.

Massey called the re-entry an important step to finding out what happened at Upper Big Branch.

Critics from organized labor to members of Congress have questioned Massey's safety record, and the Richmond, Va.-based company has consistently rebutted charges that it puts profits ahead of safety.

Federal and state regulators are eager to begin looking for clues to what caused the April 5 explosion. No one had entered the sprawling southern West Virginia mine since rescuers removed the last of the dead in April.

Wednesday's re-entry was not without problems.

The teams made it about 1,000 feet into the mine before turning back about 10:45 a.m., federal Mine Safety and Health Administration spokeswoman Amy Louviere said. The teams of government and Massey employees retreated after about an hour underground because handheld meters registered potentially elevated levels of toxic carbon monoxide and explosive methane gas.

They went underground again several hours later after analysis of samples collected during the first visit showed the mine was safe to re-enter, Massey said.

High levels of carbon monoxide can indicate the presence of a mine fire, but Louviere said the source of the gas is not known.

The aim of the initial visit is to explore the mine and collect air samples. MSHA wants a borehole drilled to improve ventilation before investigators attempt to reach the area where the men killed in the blast were working. Louviere expects the borehole to be finished by Thursday.

Comments

[Billy Jack]

03:45 PM on 06/02/2010

So apparently the mine is so dangerous the inspectors won't go in

[WindySailor]

02:59 PM on 06/02/2010

The headline could have read "Safety Inspection Abandoned Due To Unsafe Conditions".

[mixpiklix]

02:41 PM on 06/02/2010

And they made those men work in that mine under those condition or they were fired how sad

[OhgReaTone]

12:14 PM on 06/02/2010

President Obama must show more leadership. The key word in that sentence is 'show.' There is no doubt that Obama is a calculated calm problem solver - and we like that - - but we want to see some emotional empathy for the pain we suffer. .........

http://thefiresidepost.com/2010/06/02/the-cold-blooded-calculated-leadership-o-president-obama/

[kgb999]

12:57 PM on 06/02/2010

I'd be happy if he could just solve some of these problems BEFORE they blow up. He can keep the empathy.

[nomadrdw]

03:23 PM on 06/02/2010

how exactly would you have him solve problems before they happen. the regulations that allowed all of these disasters were neutralized by the last administration, and any true changes have been blocked by the dogma of the right.

[Chapmanp2]

10:59 AM on 06/02/2010

Nothing like a fresh crime scene huh???
FIRST FRICKEN VISIT!!! We need to investigate the investigation...
That's the level it has come to. What a joke...

[TXfemmom]

11:19 AM on 06/02/2010

It has been sealed and unable for anyone to enter because of the conditions. They will find the same thing which they would have found two months ago. That is that Massey was CRIMINALLY negligent on safety issues.

[magibrotherhood]

12:02 PM on 06/02/2010

yes...but will the AG lift a finger to indict them ?....doubt it.

[kgb999]

12:59 PM on 06/02/2010

A mine just blew up and killed 29 people. It's still filled with the explosive gas ... that just killed 29 people. Would YOU go into that thing?

[OleProfessor]

10:46 AM on 06/02/2010

Notice how quickly these men and the crimes that killed them are being forgotten, there are 16,000 stalled outstanding violations in America's underground mines, it's a disgrace, death traps hell holes and nothing's changed!

The Mine Safety Agency is as corrupt as the MMS for the most part!

[SortiepieU]

02:16 PM on 06/02/2010

I agree with you, but forgotten on with the Massy Mines...they are the only ones that have forgotten...

[getoffmedz]

10:26 AM on 06/02/2010

Why is Massey dragging it's feet making the mine safe to investigate?

Something to hide?

[Kevin Atlanta]

08:36 AM on 06/02/2010

Bring Blankenship and the Board of Directors of Massey up on charges of murder... 29 counts for Blankenship and one each for the members of the Board of Directors. As long as Blankenship and his precious US Chamber of Commerce are allowed to continue this human rights violation and murder of labor then they are ultimately responsible. The Supreme Court in Citizens United decision made clear that these privileged few have more rights to free speech than we. With more rights comes more responsibility and this is one occasion in which there is no doubt of the responsibility of the Corporate Fascists who murdered 29 men...

[quidam56]

08:21 AM on 06/02/2010

Despite what the big coal industry says, coal isn't clean, green, safe and good for the environment, big coal is turning us into 3rd world Appalachia. http://www.wisecountyissues.com/?p=138