State shuts down 'unsafe' Schuylkill County coal mine
DEP says probe into October death revealed a number of
violations.
By Chris Parker Of The Morning Call
Pennsylvania on Friday shut down a Schuylkill County
coal mine where an explosion killed a worker last
fall, saying the company had showed ''a disregard for
the safety and well-being of the miners and their
families.''
Regulators acted after learning R&D Coal Co. misled
them on details of an earlier blast at its Tremont
Township shaft, according to the state Department of
Environmental Protection.
New information from former mine workers revealed
methane gas, not an air line as the company reported,
caused a 2004 explosion that injured four miners at
R&D Coal's Buck Mountain Slope Mine, DEP spokesman Tom
Rathbun said. Methane gas also caused the Oct. 23,
2006, blast that killed miner Dale Reightler.
''Based on information we had been given at the time,
we were led to believe [the 2004 accident] was an
explosion of an air line,'' Rathbun said. ''Now we're
saying it was methane.'' But DEP would not be more
specific.
The similarity led DEP to revoke R&D Coal's mining
permit, he said. The mine has been sealed, and the
company must fill it.
Mine owner David Himmelberger said Friday he ''had no
idea'' what he will do and referred questions to his
attorney, Adele Abrams of Beltsville, Md. Abrams did
not immediately return a call seeking comment.
After the former miners came forward, regulators found
the 2004 accident ''was very similar to the 2006
explosion and that circumstances of the [first]
accident had been misrepresented by mine management,' '
said Jay Scott Roberts, DEP's deputy secretary for
mineral resources management.
In the Dec. 1, 2004, blast, flying debris and coal
injured four miners, two seriously. The state closed
the mine six days later but let it reopen Dec. 20,
2004, while authorities investigated.
DEP and the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration
concluded ''a pressurized 2-inch aluminum air and
water pipe had exploded because the hydraulic valve
pressure gauge was inaccurate,' ' a DEP spokesman said.
The operators had to install safety connectors on air
lines in the work areas and move the lines away from
electrical and water conduits.
The Oct. 23, 2006, explosion killed Reightler, 43, of
Frailey Township, a miner since his teens. It was the
only fatality in a Pennsylvania underground mine in
2006. Reightler's widow, Dorothy, could not be reached
for comment Friday.
DEP said its investigation of the October blast showed
the company let uncertified miners blast rock or coal
and that the mine foreman failed to conduct a proper
pre-shift examination of the mine. Also in December,
DEP filed 23 citations against R&D. The U.S.
Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health
Administration filed 10 citations.
According to officials at both agencies, R&D was
working to correct the violations, and in late
December filed plans with DEP for continued mining.
''As long as the investigation was continuing,
everyone operated under the assumption that certain
things needed to be corrected before we considered
allowing them to reopen,'' Rathbun said. ''But the
investigation revealed that the mine can't be operated
safely.''
R&D must immediately place barriers over openings and
backfill them so no one can get in, then regrade the
surface and revegetate it and raze any buildings,
Rathbun said. Someone else could apply for a permit to
mine that site, he added.
''This action closes that specific mine,'' Rathbun
said. ''They still have a mining license. But that has
to be renewed every five years. It might be up for
renewal this year.''
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