Evidence suggests criminal negligence by Mincorp and its subsidiaries—PBS Coals, Rox-Coal, Quecreek Mining, and Musser Engineering. Tax records in the Somerset County office and other materials available to the public, which the bosses were supposed to check, indicated that mining at the adjacent Saxman mine went on until at least 1963, two years beyond what some maps showed, thus bringing the water-flooded cavity the nine miners unknowingly tapped into hundreds of feet closer than what the company plans alleged.
While echoing an earlier Pennsylvania state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) report, which contended the main culprit for the disaster was “bad maps,” MSHA issued citations against the mine owners, operators, and an engineering firm for negligence. PBS Coals, Black Wolf Coal, and Musser Engineering were found liable of failing to provide accurate, certified abandoned mine maps. The state agency’s report had not held these companies responsible.
Fines could range from $60 to $60,000, according to U.S. deputy secretary of labor David Lauriski, who heads MSHA.
The report also criticized state procedures for issuing mining permits.
Lauriski said the citations were based on findings that those involved “did not take additional steps to confirm or address the potential hazard, such as drilling to determine the extent of mining, or dewatering the abandoned works.” The report also stated that if the company had properly dated and cross-checked maps in its possession against production records, a picture of the true extent of mining at Saxman would have been clear.
Nevertheless, Lauriski defended the bosses with the formal assertion that investigators found no indication that the companies involved knowingly violated federal regulations.
The MSHA report dismissed many of the arguments raised by most of the trapped miners and others pointing to the bosses’ disregard for the lives of the workers.
Among them was testimony made public by a state Inspector General’s report released in early August. That document revealed that a Pennsylvania Deep Mine Safety engineer reported that PBS representatives had shown him a more accurate map of the abandoned mine, but refused to file a copy of it with the state and consistently ignored his warnings. Lauriski said that although the Inspector General’s report said that engineer Tom McKnight’s statements appeared credible, MSHA could find nothing to back them up.
Joe Main, United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) national health and safety director, expressed concern that the Inspector General’s report was getting short shrift. Earlier, Main had commented on this report, saying: “It gives all the appearance of being a smoking gun document. The public was not told there were such maps available. And here we’re given information that it existed, that they talked about it and they asked for a copy of it, and that it was known by a state agency and the coal company before this ever happened.”
Howard Messer, attorney for six of the trapped miners who have filed suit against Mincorp, said of the Inspector General’s report: “This shows they had the map and it depicted the Saxman mine workings…. It’s now time to produce the map. Where is it? And are there others we don’t know about?”
Among the other issues set aside by the MSHA report were:
State and federal grand juries are still investigating the accident. The MSHA report leaves open the possibility of altering its findings based on the outcome of these investigations.
Front page (for this issue) |
Home |
Text-version home