Back in January, three months before the massive explosion that killed 29 miners at a Massey Energy mine in West Virginia, a federal mine safety inspector got an up-close look at both the mine's flawed ventilation system -- and Massey's cavalier approach to a potentially deadly problem.
The inspector found that the Upper Big Branch Mine's airflow -- key to keeping deadly gases and coal dust from rising to explosive levels -- was going in the wrong direction. And everyone had simply been told not to worry about it.
The mine foreman asked the superintendent "and he was told not to worry about it," the inspector wrote in his official notebook.
Miners, who the inspector pulled aside to talk to privately, "informed me that they questioned management about this condition and they were told it was fine, not to worry about it."
The Charleston Gazette's award-winning mining beat reporter Ken Ward Jr. first reported about the inspector's notes late Tuesday, describing them as being among a "dribble" of documents that the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA, pronounced em-sha) is finally releasing to the public "as federal and state officials begin a long and complex effort to figure out what caused the worst U.S. coal-mining disaster in 40 years."
The violation the inspector described in his notes was fixed later that same day; the company was cited for "unwarrantable failure" to follow safety rules and fined a hefty $70,000.
But the inspector's notes -- a particularly valuable source of information that the government used to routinely make available on request -- weren't released to members of the public or to journalists until more than a week after the mine exploded. ...
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