Mine Safety and Health Administration

Panel Blames Regulation Enforcement For Deadly West Virginia Mine Explosion

AP | JOHN RABY | Posted 03.24.2012

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration could have prevented or reduced the likelihood of an April 2010 explosion in so...

Official: Coal Mines Warning When Inspectors Show Up

AP | Posted 05.23.2012

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — The Mine Safety and Health Administration says coal companies are still illegally warning miners when federal inspectors ar...

Dave Jamieson

Lone Miner's Death Tells 'Story Of The Appalachian Coal Miner'

HuffingtonPost.com | Dave Jamieson | Posted 03.02.2012

Richard Coots, Jr. wasn’t killed in a massive explosion, and the accident that claimed him barely made a ripple of news beyond Eastern Kentucky. He ...

Dave Jamieson

Disgraced Senator Resurfaces Lobbying For Big Coal

HuffingtonPost.com | Dave Jamieson | Posted 12.22.2011

WASHINGTON -- Having left Congress after an embarrassing 2007 arrest, former Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) has quietly reemerged in Washington as a lobby...

7 Idaho Miners Safely Extracted From Underground Mine After Rock Burst

AP | NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS | Posted 02.13.2012

SPOKANE, Wash. — The federal government on Thursday temporarily shut down a mile-deep silver mine in Idaho that has been the site of three serio...

Matt Sledge

Coal-State Lawmakers Want To Ignore This Danger

HuffingtonPost.com | Matt Sledge | Posted 12.14.2011

Just days before the three-year anniversary of the devastating dike failure at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston Fossil Plant, the Environment...

Dave Jamieson

Profits Before Safety Cost 29 Miners Their Lives: Feds

HuffingtonPost.com | Dave Jamieson | Posted 12.06.2011

WASHINGTON -- Federal officials released a damning report Tuesday on the Upper Big Branch coal mining disaster, citing "corporate culture" at coal gia...

Dave Jamieson

How One Miner Took On Big Coal

HuffingtonPost.com | Dave Jamieson | Posted 11.14.2011

WHITESBURG, Ky. -- On a July morning four years ago, Charles Scott Howard left his home in the mountains of Southeastern Kentucky and drove his pickup...

Dave Jamieson

Feds Cite Chronic Safety Failures In Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster

HuffingtonPost.com | Dave Jamieson | Posted 08.29.2011

WASHINGTON -- The federal agency tasked with overseeing mine safety released on Wednesday its preliminary findings on the Upper Big Branch Mine disast...

Dave Jamieson

Whistleblowing Miner Fired

HuffingtonPost.com | Dave Jamieson | Posted 07.17.2011

WASHINGTON -- A Kentucky miner whose whistleblower case recently caught the attention of mine safety proponents on Capitol Hill was fired yesterday, h...

Is 'The Bar For Prosecution Too High' With Mine Safety?

AP | VICKI SMITH | Posted 05.25.2011

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Federal mine regulators need stronger laws to protect the nation's underground coal miners, particularly when it comes to pr...

Inspector General: Mine Safety Regulator's Failures Start At The Top

Ellen Smith | Posted 05.25.2011

Ellen Smith

The MSHA's failure to improve the safety standards of repeat offenders results from a systemic lack of focus and leadership that spans decades, according to a report released Wednesday by the Office of the Inspector General.

Mine Workers Tipped Off Before 'Surprise' Inspections, Federal Regulator Says

AP | SAM HANANEL | Posted 05.25.2011

WASHINGTON — Some mine companies are tipping off their underground workers before federal officials make surprise inspections, an illegal practi...

Green News Report: August 19, 2010 (Audio)

Brad Friedman and Desi Doyen | Posted 05.25.2011

Brad Friedman and Desi Doyen

TWITTER: @GreenNewsReport. The 'GNR' is also now available on your cell phone via Stitcher Radio's mobile app! IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: IN TODAY'S...

Footage Emerges of Dangerous Leaks That Got Miner Fired (VIDEO)

Ellen Smith | Posted 05.25.2011

Ellen Smith

A judge has ruled that a miner engaged in a "protected activity" under the Mine Act when he made a video tape of leaking mine seals, and showed the tape of the violation at a public hearing.

HuffPostTV: Dan Froomkin Talks Mine Safety On C-SPAN (VIDEO)

Huff TV | Posted 05.25.2011

Huff TV

HuffPost Senior Washington Correspondent Dan Froomkin appeared on C-SPAN on Friday to discuss coal mine safety and a recent National Press Club appear...

Government Gets Tough on Mine Safety Violators

Ellen Smith | Posted 05.25.2011

Ellen Smith

A small Kentucky operator, with the reputation as being one of Mine Safety and Health Administration's most recalcitrant civil penalty violators, was slapped in a criminal case with two years probation and a $25 fine.

How Many More Must Die?

Richard Trumka | Posted 05.25.2011

Richard Trumka

Here in the United States, you can get more jail time for harassing a burro on federal land than for killing a worker through workplace negligence. We must do more to ensure worker safety.

Mine Where Roof Fell Had 25 Falling Incidents In Last Year

Ellen Smith | Posted 05.25.2011

Ellen Smith

As of 1:15 p.m. on Thursday, two miners remain trapped in a major roof fall at Dotiki Mine in Hopkins County, Ky. The mine reported 25 roof fall incidents or "falling materials" in the past year.

Lies, Damned Lies and Employers

Leo W. Gerard | Posted 05.25.2011

Leo W. Gerard

Massey issued a statement asserting that a review of conditions in the Upper Big Branch mine uncovered no problems. All that could only mean one thing, right? Massey did nothing wrong and bears no responsibility.

Mine Safety Hearing: Massey CEO Don Blankenship Won't Appear Before Senate Committee

AP | SAM HANANEL | Posted 05.25.2011

WASHINGTON — The government will start going directly to federal court to shut down mines that make a habit of ignoring safety, the nation's top...

Unsafe Mines Will Be Closed, Top Regulator Tells Senate Committee

Posted 05.25.2011

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government will start going directly to federal court to shut down mines that make a habit of ignoring safety, the nation's top...

What's Safe Above Applies Below Lessons from Aviation to Mining

Christine Negroni | Posted 05.25.2011

Christine Negroni

The public fascination with aviation disasters keeps pressure on the F.A.A. to constantly refine an already high level of safety. That's clearly not the case in mine safety.

Mine Disaster Company Sues Mine Safety Regulator For Allegedly Violating Its Constitutional Rights

Wall Street Journal | KRIS MAHER | Posted 05.25.2011

Massey Energy Co. sued the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration and three of its officials Tuesday, arguing that the agency wouldn't approve ...

Surprise Coal Mine Inspections: Feds Target 57 'Problem' Mines

AP | TIM HUBER | Posted 05.25.2011

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Nearly 60 problem U.S. coal mines have been hit with surprise inspections aimed at preventing another explosion like the one...