FYI...

http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/content.detail/id/504389.html

Put bite in mine violations

Many coal miners may be wondering just how good a friend they have in Washington — specifically, at the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration. It has become painfully obvious that the agency simply is not doing its job.

Last year, MSHA officials were forced to confirm reports that the agency simply had not conducted inspections required by law at many coal mines.

Now, MSHA director Richard Stickler has admitted that the agency has failed to levy financial penalties against coal operators for violations of federal rules that may date back a decade. Fines have not been levied for hundreds of citations issued by MSHA inspectors.

“There is no doubt that there is a problem,” Stickler commented.

That may be the understatement of the year in terms of government failing to live up to its responsibilities.

Stickler still is relatively new in his post as assistant secretary of labor for mine safety. He was appointed in October 2006, after the position had been vacant for nearly two years. It appears that he is attempting to jump-start operations at the agency — though we wonder just how much success he is having.

Stickler admitted recently that penalties had not been assessed against coal companies for about 4,000 citations issued by his agency between January 2000 and July 2006. Some citations dating back as far as 1996 had not been followed up by penalties, he said.

Stickler seems determined to improve MSHA. Evidence of that can be seen in the agency’s record for 2007, during which it assessed $40.4 million in penalties against coal operators, compared to $20.2 million for the previous year. That seems to indicate that Stickler is attempting to get MSHA moving.

But the admission that MSHA too often has failed to put the bite of penalties behind its bark of citations is disturbing.

Coal miners do work that is dangerous in a variety of ways. They need all the protection they can get, and MSHA is supposed to be an important factor. Clearly, it did not serve that function fully for a number of years.

We encourage Stickler to continue prodding his subordinates to increase the agency’s effectiveness. One means of doing that might be to investigate MSHA’s failures in the past and hold those responsible accountable.