Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 19, 1991 TAG: 9104190533
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The ruling follows findings of widespread tampering with samples submitted to the government in a program designed to protect miners from black-lung disease.
Labor Secretary Lynn Martin said the cassettes can be available throughout the coal industry in a short time.
To further improve monitoring, Bill Tattersall, assistant secretary for mine safety and health, is to conduct a study that will consider expansion of miners' roles in the sampling program. The study is to be completed by late summer.
The department has issued 4,710 citations to 847 coal mines for tampering with the samples. Sixty coal company workers who did the sampling have been forbidden to do any more sampling, and civil penalties against the mine operators are expected to total $7 million.
Companies that have been charged include the four largest coal producers in Virginia: the Pittston Co.; Westmoreland Coal Co.; Island Creek Coal Co., a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum; and Consolidation Coal Co., a subsidiary of DuPont.
At Island Creek Coal Co.'s Pocahontas No. 3 mine in Buchanan County, 57 samples showed evidence of tampering, the government said. That was by far the greatest evidence of tampering at a single mine in the state.
Among coal-producing states, Virginia had the third-largest number of violations, the Labor Department said. Of the mines where tampering was thought to have occurred, 144 were in Virginia, compared with 301 in Kentucky and 243 in West Virginia.
The citations resulted from a 20-month investigation that began after a Mine Safety and Health Administration employee noticed visible damage to sampling equipment. During the investigation, the agency checked roughly 120,000 dust samples submitted by 2,000 mines.
Martin said the government intends to propose a civil penalty of $1,000 for each of the violations cited and plans to pursue criminal investigations where there is evidence of tampering.
Tattersall said the department is continuing its investigation by looking at "certain operator samples" that show zero or trace amounts of coal dust to determine whether the samples were collected in proper areas.
Coal mine operators must take a series of samples of airborne respirable dust six times yearly in each area where coal is being mined. The samples are submitted to the mine safety administration, which weighs the samples to determine compliance. The dust-sample capsules also are checked for visual signs of tampering.
After a federal grand jury probe earlier this year, Peabody Coal Co. of St. Louis, the nation's largest coal producer, pleaded guilty to tampering and was fined $500,000.
by CNB