Mining death reported in West Virginia

There aren’t many details yet available from authorities, but West Virginia suffered its third coal-mining death of the year this morning.

A miner — not yet identified — was killed in a hoist car accident at Newtown Energy’s Eagle Mine in Kanawha County Boone County, according to Jama Jarrett, spokeswoman for the West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training. A second miner was also injured, but there was no immediate word on his condition.  Two other miners were also injured, one with minor shoulder and facial injuries and the other with minor head injuries, Jarrett said.

This is the 14th coal-mining death nationwide so far in 2009. It is the first since former United Mine Workers safety director Joe Main was confirmed last week as President Obama’s assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health.

Taking a quick look, the Eagle Mine is an underground operation that listed more than 200 workers and about 600,000 tons of production through the first three quarters of 2009, according to the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Since opening in 2000, the Eagle Mine has consistently recorded an injury rate far worse than the national average — as much as three times higher — according to MSHA’s data. Last year, the operation was among those warned by MSHA to clean up its act or face tougher enforcement action for a “pattern of violations.”



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