Experts differ on cause of Upper Big Branch mine explosion
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J. Davitt McAteer, former MSHA head, led an independent panel that said coal dust played a major role in the explosion.
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BEAVER, W.Va. --"We're sure we're right," declared Kevin Stricklin, who led a team of veteran investigators to dissect the causes of the Upper Big Branch mine disaster, on Wednesday.
"There can be no doubt, based upon objective analysis of the data," states a report prepared by experienced explosion investigation consultants hired by Massey Energy that comes to diametrically opposed conclusions.
With equal certitude, the veteran team led by the head of coal mine safety for the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration and the veteran team working for Massey have come to strikingly different conclusions about the most deadly mine disaster in four decades, setting up a possible high-stakes court battle that will pit expert against expert in arguing whether the company could have prevented the explosion.
Massey and MSHA were foes long before the April 5, 2010, blast that killed 29 men, and the acrimony only escalated afterward, with the two sides sparring over everything from who got to collect evidence underground to the size of a crack in the mine floor.
The most critical question, though, involves explosive coal dust. MSHA concluded that the explosion was fueled by coal dust that should have been neutralized by the century-old technique of liberally spreading crushed limestone, known as rock dust, which renders coal dust inert. Massey concluded that coal dust played no role in the explosion, which was caused by a massive, freak gas inundation that it could not have prevented.
In one sense, the government already has won: Massey Energy is no more, after its acquisition by another Virginia-based coal giant, Alpha Natural Resources. Don Blankenship, Massey's belligerent CEO, was forced out by the company's board to make way for the sale.
The Upper Big Branch mine's extensive history of running afoul of safety inspectors -- the federal government ordered more partial shutdowns of work there than at any other coal mine in the country in 2009 -- weighs against Massey's credibility in claiming the mine's underground conditions were compliant with the law at the time of the accident.
First Published July 4, 2011 12:02 am
