Cities and towns beset by natural disasters or catastrophic events immediately turn to their community’s first responders to coordinate and execute rescue and recovery efforts.
The practice is no different when a calamity occurs in an underground mine.
The failure of a mine rescue mission on Sunday in northern Russia left six rescue workers and 26 miners dead. The miners had been trapped underground by a cave-in caused by methane explosions and fires.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has announced the availability of $1 million for training or training materials to support mine rescue or mine emergency preparedness in underground mines.
Backers of H.B. 2566, a measure which is advancing through the West Virginia State Senate and House of Delegates, say it would make the state’s mining industry more competitive.
A recent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that a Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) district manager has broad discretion to disapprove a mine operator’s proposed ventilation plan for an underground coal mine, and may do so as long as the decision is not arbitrary and capricious.
