Labor Secretary: Time to replace federal mine safety agency’s process for ID’ing trouble spots
By APWednesday, June 23, 2010
Labor Secretary faults mine scrutiny process
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis says her department needs to scrap and replace its process for identifying the nation’s most dangerous mines.
Solis said in a statement on Wednesday the process is “badly broken.”
The Labor Department inspector general’s office questions why federal mine regulators between 2007 and 2009 removed 21 mines from the screening process meant to flag those showing a “pattern of violations” of safety and health rules.
The process fell under scrutiny following an April 5 explosion at the Upper Big Branch coal mine in West Virginia killed 29 men. A computer error had allowed the mine to evade the screening process.
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