Massey's narrative of mine blast supported
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Methane monitors on the longwall section of the Upper Big Branch coal mine were functioning normally before an explosion tore through the mine, state and federal investigators revealed Monday.
The April 5 blast killed 29 coal miners and has sparked state and federal mining safety probes as well as an ongoing criminal investigation into both the cause of the explosion and any potential safety violations at the mine.
Mine owner Massey Energy declared the findings to be proof that no one had tampered with the monitors. State and federal investigators pointed out, though, that monitors in two other areas of the mine, along the 22 Headgate and 22 Tailgate, have not yet been retrieved because of flooding in those sections.
Still, the finding fits Massey's narrative of the blast -- that a sudden burst of methane came through a crack in the floor, overwhelming the safety protections, and was somehow ignited. The April 5 explosion in Montcal, W.Va., killed 29, the deadliest mine disaster in 40 years.
Investigators have focused their attention on possible tampering with the monitors since an electrician reported that he had been ordered to disable a faulty monitor in order to keep a continuous mining machine running. The incident occurred in another part of Upper Big Branch weeks before the explosion.
If a methane monitor detects more than 1 percent of the flammable gas in the air, it automatically shuts down the mining machine to prevent a spark from igniting an explosion. The two monitors recovered from the longwall section were tested Saturday at the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration's technical support center in Triadelphia, W.Va.
The tests showed that the monitors were functioning and had not triggered a shutdown of the machine in the six days before the explosion.
Massey, which has insisted that disabling monitors was not a widespread trend or policy, announced the finding in a news release Monday claiming the new revelations prove that the monitors were not tampered with.
First Published August 10, 2010 12:00 am
