Published: January 09, 2009 10:19 pm      

Safety board digs into coal-mining issues

The seven-member Board of Coal Mine Safety met for the first time this week in Harrisburg and put transportation on its agenda.

The board is seeking to clarify whether underground vehicles used to transport miners out in an emergency could be put to other uses – such as ferrying supplies – at other times, or if that would that pose an undue risk to miners.

The state board was created in the wake of the 2002 Quecreek mining accident in Somerset County and the 2006 Sago mine disaster in West Virginia.

The board was established to put in place regulations that keep up with changes in mine-safety technology.

Among its members are James Sabella of Northern Cambria and Frank Reidelbach of Ebensburg, both from the United Mine Workers of America, and a representative from Rosebud Mining Co., which operates mines in Cambria and Indiana counties.

Sabella wants the transit vehicles to stay where the miners are working, not simply be “readily available.”

“I’ve seen too many people killed,” he said. “I’ve seen too many people injured.”

The board must have at least five votes to clarify the rule, said Sabella, who is retired from Barnes and Tucker Coal Co.

Otherwise, any changes would have to come from the state Legislature.

The board has three representatives each from companies and the union, and the seventh is from the state Department of Environmental Protection.

“It’s a good thing because you have people from the industry who run things, and you have labor there,” Sabella said.

DEP Acting Secretary John Hanger said, “The department did not have the authority to write new regulations.

“Under the new law, we now have that authority.”

Sabella would like to see the board’s authority beefed up even more. He said a similar board in West Virginia is much stronger.

Wednesday’s opening meeting was primarily a get-to-know-you session.

“Our mission is to make mines safer, simple as that,” said Ronald Bowersox of Armstrong County, a member representing the union.

The board will meet as needed, at least a couple of times a year.

Bowersox said the next meeting is Jan. 14 at the DEP office in Uniontown.