Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 20, 1993 TAG: 9302200205
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS AND DOUGLAS PARDUE STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: NORTON LENGTH: Long
EX-MINER: GAS LEVEL TOO HIGH
A former employee at a Wise County coal mine that exploded Dec. 7, killing eight men, testified last month that mining had to be stopped earlier this year because of explosive levels of gas.Clearsy France of Clintwood, who had to quit mining in April after being injured by falling coal, says miners were worried that Southmountain Coal Co.'s No. 3 mine "was getting pretty hot," meaning there was a lot of explosive methane gas.
Before his injury, France, 40, operated a mining machine on the same early morning "hoot owl" shift as the miners who were killed. He said that on one occasion while he was mining he detected a 5 percent level of methane, which is in the explosive range.
"It buried the needle off" the methane detector, he said.
When he encountered the explosive methane, he said, he pulled the mining machine back and fellow miners hurriedly directed fresh-air ventilation to the mining area in an effort to dilute and clear out the methane. After the methane cleared, they resumed mining.
France was one of 31 miners and mine officials interviewed by federal and state investigators trying to determine what caused Virginia's worst mine disaster in three decades at the small nonunion mine near Norton. Copies of their testimony were made public Thursday.
France's testimony contradicted that of other mine officials and employees who said they had never found dangerous levels of methane in the mine. Federal and state mine inspectors also have said they never discovered explosive levels of methane in the mine.
Asked Friday why others had testified that methane had not been a problem in the mine, France said, "They must be company men." They were not telling the truth, he said.
One of the main focuses of the investigation is on how methane built up so rapidly in a mine that had previously been listed by the state as nongassy.
Questioning indicated that investigators suspect that roof falls or rising water may have choked off ventilation tunnels that were supposed to carry methane from a mined-out area. The whereabouts of ventilation-control curtains missing from the mine after the blast also have puzzled mine safety officials.
Although smoking by miners has not been ruled as the source of the spark that caused the explosion, investigators grilled Southmountain miners and mine officials to determine if miners were smoking in the mine, a practice that is strictly forbidden.
Three of the dead miners were found to have cigarettes, cigarette butts and lighters on and around them.
Virtually every miner and mine official questioned by investigators said they knew of no one who smoked or carried cigarettes into the mine. However, Kenneth Brooks, a maintenance foreman who conducted some of the pat-downs for cigarettes, invoked the Fifth Amendment when asked by investigators if he had ever seen any one smoke in the mine.
The Virginia House of Delegates attempted to put teeth in the prohibitions against smoking Friday by giving final approval to bills that would make it illegal - punishable by fines and jail time - for anyone to smoke or possess smoking materials in a underground coal mine. The bills also make it illegal for anyone to intentionally tamper with methane monitoring equipment in underground coal mines. The bills have been sent to Gov. Douglas Wilder.
Investigators also tried to determined who was in charge of the mine. Questioning indicated that Ridley Elkins of Clintwood - who had earlier been identified only as a "consultant" to mine owner Jack Davis of Coeburn - was, in fact, the man who ran the mine.
Mine managers testified they took day-to-day orders from Elkins. At one time, Elkins had been listed on federal and state records as Southmountain's general manager and the mine's operator.
But in 1991, when state mine reclamation officials threatened to revoke Southmountain's permit because of past environmental violations by companies with which Elkins had been associated, Elkins and Davis convinced a state hearing examiner that the records were wrong and that Elkins' true role was that of a $240,000-a-year consultant.
Donnie Short, Southmountain's general superintendent, testified that on the morning of the explosion someone asked Elkins who was in charge at the mine and Elkins pointed to Short.
Short, who testified he had been assigned to another of Davis' mines and had not been at Southmountain in six months, said he didn't dispute his boss. "He signs my checks, so I'm pretty well going to do what he says," Short told investigators.
France, the injured miner who said methane was a problem in the mine, said his health insurance had been canceled under orders from Elkins on Nov. 1.
Investigators also tried to determine the role of Virginia Iron, Coal and Coke Co., a subsidiary of Roanoke's ANR Coal Co., in operational decisions made at the mine. VIC, as the company is known, controlled the coal reserves that were being mined by Southmountain.
Freddie Deatherage, the mine's superintendent, testified that a VIC official had wanted a certain block of coal mined. Questioning indicated that mining of that coal may have been important to the mine's ventilation system.
Joe Main, chief of safety for the United Mine Workers union, said he was not surprised that questioning had focused on the condition of the mine's ventilation system.
And he was not surprised that investigators were asking about missing ventilation curtains, Main said. There has been a trend in small mines for miners not to take the time to install the curtains that are needed to ventilate the working area of a mine, he said.
Main had not had a chance to review the transcripts but said he had not expected the interviews to produce many facts because the mine's employees were questioned in the presence of company officials.
Keywords:
FATALITY
Memo: ***CORRECTION***