Thursday, December 20, 2018

Injury rates jump at coal giant Murray's West Virginia mines, Richard Valdmanis, Valerie Volcovici


(Reuters) - Injury rates have more than doubled at five West Virginia coal mines acquired by Murray Energy Corp. in 2013, according to a Reuters review of federal data, as the firm sharply increased the amount of coal produced per manhour.












Although injuries and productivity rates rose over the same period, the causes of the increase in injuries remain unknown and could include a host of factors in the complex business of underground coal mining.
Murray - the nation’s largest underground coal mining company with about 6,000 employees producing more than 60 million tonnes of coal annually - bought the mines from rival CONSOL Energy. Those mines now account for more than half the firm’s production.
Murray controls six other mines - in Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, and Utah - and each has an injury rate below the national average, according to the data. The company has won numerous safety awards in recent years, including from the U.S. government’s National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health in 2015.
Davitt McAteer, a mine safety expert in West Virginia who had directed MSHA under former President Bill Clinton, said that many factors could have played into the increased injury rates at the Murray mines in West Virginia.
“Those particular mines are decades old, meaning miners are having to work deeper, more complicated coal seams, with aging equipment and infrastructure,” he said, adding that such conditions are more dangerous for workers.
www.DavittMcAteer.com Davitt McAteer & Associates

Who Is Caring For The Health And Safety Of Coal Miners?

Coal miner Doug Rutherford takes a break after his shift at a small mine on May 19, 2017 outside the city of Welch, West Virginia.
SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES
A multi-year investigation published by Frontline and NPR reached devastating conclusions about the outbreak of advanced black lung disease affecting Appalachia.
The report found that federal government regulators failed to respond to warning signs ahead of the outbreak. Regulators were “were urged to take specific and direct action to stop it.” But they didn’t.
From the story:
It’s an “epidemic” and “clearly one of the worst industrial medicine disasters that’s ever been described,” said Scott Laney, an epidemiologist at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
“We’re counting thousands of cases,” he said. “Thousands and thousands and thousands of black lung cases. Thousands of cases of the most severe form of black lung. And we’re not done counting yet.”
The reporters spoke to Danny Smith, who spent about 12 years underground in the mines. His father suffered from the same disease.
GUESTS
Charles Shortridge, Diagnosed with black lung disease, worked in the mines for over 25 years.
Howard Berkes, Correspondent – Investigations, NPR, @hberkes
Davitt McAteer, Former Assistant Secretary, Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), 1993-2000, retired attorney
Amy Harder, Reporter covering energy and climate, Axios; former reporter, The Wall Street Journal; @AmyAHarder
For more, visit https://the1a.org.
© 2018 WAMU 88.5 – American University Radio.
www.DavittMcAteer.com Davitt McAteer & Associates

Tuesday, December 18, 2018

An Epidemic Is Killing Thousands Of Coal Miners. Regulators Could Have Stopped It--NPR

An Epidemic Is Killing Thousands Of Coal Miners. Regulators Could Have Stopped It
www.DavittMcAteer.com Davitt McAteer & Associates

Thursday, December 13, 2018

Update: 3 missing found alive in Raleigh County, WV, mine--WV NEWS


CLEAR CREEK — Officials with the state Office of Miners’ Health, Safety & Training said Wednesday evening that three people who have been in a mine in Raleigh County since Sunday have been located.
Efforts were underway to get the people out of the mine, and transport them for medical treatment, according to a release from the state Department of Commerce.
Reports came in earlier Wednesday afternoon that progress had been made in rescue teams' advancements into the Rock House Powellton Mine in Clear Creek.
Rescuers who entered the mine through an entrance in Raleigh County — near which an ATV was found Sunday, kicking off the search — had progressed around 4,000 feet into the mine, according to another release. The teams had established a fresh air base and continued to explore the mine Wednesday.
However, teams had been unable to enter the mine through the main entrance located nearby in Boone County, according to the release. Crews on the surface continued to pump water out of and air into the mine Wednesday, but the water was still too deep to traverse.
An update from the department Wednesday morning said one team had been set to go into the Boone entrance and two teams for the Raleigh entrance.
READ THE FULL STORY HERE>>>
www.DavittMcAteer.com Davitt McAteer & Associates

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

What Might Have Prevented The Soma Mining Disaster? Davitt McAteer:NPR Interview Middle East, Turkey


Since the mine explosion in Soma, Turkey, May 2014, Davitt McAteer has been looking into what went wrong. He's the former head of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, and he addresses the tragedy.

Read the entire transcript here>>>www.DavittMcAteer.com Davitt McAteer & Associates

Davitt McAteer on Massey Report: Probe Finds Company Systemically Failed to Comply with Law 1 of 2

Davitt McAteer on Massey Report: Probe Finds Company Systemically Failed Comply with Law 1 of 2

DemocracyNow.org - In independent state probe in West Virginia reports that mining giant, Massey Energy, was responsible for the April 2010 explosion that killed 29 underground coal mining workers. In stark language, the report concludes: "The story of Upper Big Branch is a cautionary tale of hubris. A company that was a towering presence in the Appalachian coal fields operated its mines in a profoundly reckless manner, and 29 coal miners paid with their lives for the corporate risk taking." The probe was overseen by J. Davitt McAteer, a former top federal mine safety official. It echoes preliminary findings by federal investigators earlier this year that Massey repeatedly violated federal rules on ventilation and minimizing coal dust to reduce the risk of explosion, and rejects Massey's claim that a burst of gas from a hole in the mine floor was at fault. The report also notes Massey's strong political influence, which it uses "to attempt to control West Virginia's political system" and regulatory bodies. For more on the report, Democracy Now! interviews J. Davitt McAteer. Part 2 of the interview can be found here: http://youtu.be/z17FaqRSvhk To watch the entire interview, read the complete transcript, download the video/audio podcast, and for Democracy Now!'s news archive on coal mining and the consequences of burning coal for electricity, visit http://www.democracynow.org/2011/5/23
www.DavittMcAteer.com Davitt McAteer & Associates

Associated Press-Davitt McAteer: Expert: Mining Disasters Do Not Have to Happen


A mine safety expert who worked in the Clinton administration says the country needs to do more to ensure mine safety. J. Davitt McAteer says some mining companies contest safety issues, counting fines as a cost of business. (April 6)
www.DavittMcAteer.com Davitt McAteer & Associates

Morgan Arts Council- Davitt McAteer Interview


This Week in Morgan County, which is hosted by Russell Mokhiber, is a weekly interview series addressing issues affecting the citizens of Morgan County, West Virginia. Our guest this episode is Davitt McAteer, Author of Monongah, the Tragic Story of the 1907 Monongah Mine Disaster, the Worst Industrial Accident in US History. This program is a production of the Digital Media Center for Community Engagement. Copyright 2018 Morgan Arts Council. www.DavittMcAteer.com Davitt McAteer & Associates

Report: Massey Energy to Blame for West Virginia Mining Disaster, West Virginia Public Radio



Investigations into last year’s coal mine disaster in West Virginia that killed 29 people have found the mine owner squarely responsible. The former federal mine safety chief Davitt McAteer led the investigation into the worst American mining disaster in 40 years. Jessica Lilly, reporter for West Virginia Public Radio shares the on the community's reaction.
www.DavittMcAteer.com Davitt McAteer & Associates

Coal Fatalities Rise: Miner Deaths Increase Amid Low Coal Employment By: Becca Schimmel | Ohio Valley ReSource Posted on: Friday, September 1, 2017

Coal Fatalities Rise: Miner Deaths Increase Amid Low Coal Employment

A rash of fatal coal mining accidents in the Ohio Valley region pushed the nation’s total number of mining deaths to a level not seen since 2015, sparking concern among safety advocates.
Already this year 12 miners have died on the job in the U.S., compared to eight fatalities in all of 2016. Two miners were killed in Kentucky and six in West Virginia.
Mine safety experts say this spike in fatal accidents is troubling because it comes at a time when far fewer miners are working compared to recent years, and during a presidential administration pressing to rapidly increase coal production and roll back regulations.
At a rally last month in Huntington, West Virginia, President Trump returned to a favorite theme.
“I love our coal miners and they’re coming back strong,” Trump said.
Mining employment has increased slightly since Trump took office. But veteran mine safety advocate Davitt McAteer said he worries that a coal comeback brings risks for miners. McAteer led the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, or MSHA, during the Clinton administration, and has conducted investigations of mining disasters since then.
“You don’t want to bring them back and send miners to their deaths because you’re not paying attention to safety,” McAteer said. “I’m very much in favor of bringing the miners back. It’s a question of, are they brought back in a way that protects them?”
Last year was the safest in the country’s coal mining history, with eight fatalities. The 12 fatalities so far this year match the total from 2015, a year when there were nearly 25,000 more people employed by coal companies, according to MSHA data.












That has mine safety experts like McAteer concerned. They point to a few factors that could be contributing to a rise in mining deaths: an increase in inexperienced miners, a possible turn away from strict safety enforcement, and a leadership void in the nation’s top mine safety agency.

Safety Vacancy

McAteer noted that for the first seven months of the Trump administration there was no one in the position he once held at MSHA.
“For that position to go vacant says we’re not paying attention to this. And in fact conditions like we’re seeing in West Virginia and across the country, of increased fatalities, come about when we’re not paying attention,” McAteer said.
President Trump appointed Congressional aide and White House advisor Wayne Palmer acting secretary of MSHA on August 22, until a permanent appointment is made. The United Mine Workers of America said in a statement that Palmer has no experience in mining or health and safety.
On September 2, the White House announced the president’s intent to appoint a West Virginia coal company executive to the top MSHA post. David Zatezalo was a top executive at Rhino Resources, which operates mines in West Virginia and Kentucky.The  company was the focus of MSHA scrutiny following what regulators called a pattern of violations and a miner’s death at one mine and allegations of interference in mine inspections at another.
Although the agency lacks a leader, it has announced a new approach to safety: what’s called a “compliance assistance” program. An agency data analysis showed that inexperienced miners were more likely to be injured or killed. Seven of the fatalities this year have involved miners who had one year or less experience at the mine where they died.

in response, MSHA said in June it would “encourage mine operators to participate and share information” about new miners on the job.
That raises a red flag for Kentucky lawyer and mine safety advocate Tony Oppegard.
“Every time there is this de-emphasis on enforcement and an emphasis on ‘compliance assistance’ the fatality rate always goes up,” Oppegard said.


Compliance assistance

Oppegard said the main job for MSHA and its inspectors is to enforce the laws and regulations at mines, and the majority of coal mining deaths are caused by violations of safety regulations.
“You know, it’s hard to pinpoint anytime why there are fatalities, but almost every coal mining fatality is preventable. There are very few that you can truly call a fluke,” Oppegard said.
Lexington, KY, attorney and safety advocate Tony Oppegard. (Courtesy Tony Oppegard)
Lexington, KY, attorney and safety advocate Tony Oppegard. (Courtesy Tony Oppegard)
Oppegard said compliance assistance was the approach MSHA tried during the George W. Bush administration, with mixed results. That eight-year period saw some improvements in safety. But the era was also marked by numerous mine disasters, including the Sago disaster in West Virginia and the Darby explosion in Kentucky, which together took 17 lives.
The UMWA also expressed skepticism about the assistance approach.
“The UMWA is not and never has been in favor of so-called ‘compliance assistance’ programs, and this one is no different,” UMWA President Cecil Roberts wrote. Roberts said MSHA is giving mine operators leeway to select who can participate in the program, something he warned will undermine effectiveness of safety training. And he complained that the MSHA change came without notice to the union.
“Despite our 127-year history of dealing with mine safety issues and developing solutions to those issues, MSHA failed to reach out to us at all with respect to developing this program.
An MSHA spokesperson declined an interview request for this story. There are indications that the agency is continuing with some Obama-era initiatives intended to increase enforcement and inspections.
For example, as of July, MSHA was still using a targeted enforcement program established in 2010 in the wake of the mining disaster at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia. Those “impact inspections” focus on mines that merit increased agency attention and enforcement and included inspections in Kentucky and West Virginia this year.
Work safety researcher Celeste Monforton. (Courtesy Celeste Monforton)
Work safety researcher Celeste Monforton. (Courtesy Celeste Monforton)
Celeste Monforton is a former MSHA official and occupational health researcher at George Washington University and Texas State University. She said the balance between strict enforcement and assistance by the agency will vary with different administrations.
“You know one administration, a Democratic administration, is interested in enforcement and wants to do enforcement. And a Republican administration wants to do compliance assistance,” she said. “But in reality my experience has been that administrations do both.”
Monforton said compliance assistance is an important part of what regulators do. However, it should not take the place of the mine inspections required by the law.
“What we want to avoid and what we need to pay attention to is if compliance assistance is supplanting enforcement,” Monforton said.
Monforton added that while any death is one too many, the longer statistical trend still shows improved safety over the years.

State Changes

McAteer said West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice is uniquely positioned to help. The Governor has been involved in the coal mining industry for about 24 years.
“So he is in a specifically opportune position to be able to make that turn-around, whereas others who might not have the background don’t have that kind of industry contact and he’s in a position to make that happen,” McAtteer said.
One of the mine fatalities this year happened in a coal mine owned by Justice’s family. And MSHA has issued citations for safety violations. The Governor did not respond to requests
for comment.

Some changes at the state level have drawn criticism from safety advocates. A new law this year disbanded a Kentucky mining board responsible for reviewing training and safety regulations for coal miners.
Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet Communications Director John Mura said the mining board was abolished in order to avoid duplication of effort and to save money. He said its duties are still carried out by another body.
Legislators in Kentucky and West Virginia considered, but later turned down, bills that would have reduced the amount of state mine inspections.
Stand down for safety

McAteer said the current increase in fatalities is reason for the mining industry to stop production temporarily in order to re-evaluate safety procedures.
“By having a stand down, where you for hours or for a day stopped production and you say, ‘Let’s take a look at this, because we don’t want to lose any more miners,” McAteer said. “We know how to mine safely and we need to be addressing if there are problems that crop up.”

McAteer said a renewed focus on safety is especially important if the Trump administration aims to fulfill its pledge to ramp up coal production.

www.DavittMcAteer.com Davitt McAteer & Associates

Feds didn't do enough to stop Upper Big Branch disaster, lawsuit says By Kate Mishkin Staff writer Apr 5, 2018

Feds didn't do enough to stop Upper Big Branch disaster, lawsuit says By Kate Mishkin April 5 2018



The Mine Safety and Health Administration didn’t do enough to stop the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster, a lawsuit filed by one of the miners’ widows says.
Carolyn Diana Davis filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court’s Southern District of West Virginia, in Beckley, under the Federal Tort Claims Act on Thursday, the eighth anniversary of the explosion that killed 29 miners at the Upper Big Branch Mine, in Raleigh County. Her husband, Charles Timothy Davis, worked at UBB, then operated by Performance Coal Co., a subsidiary of Massey Energy Co. His was one of the four bodies found by a rescue crew in the headgate entry to the longwall.
The lawsuit, in which the United States is a defendant, says MSHA didn’t do its job as a watchdog agency to prevent the disaster at UBB and was negligent in its enforcement of safety measures at the mine.
“The Plaintiff reasonably relied upon the United States to undertake its inspections and enforcement actions in a competent and non-negligent manner, and that reliance ultimately contributed to the wrongful death of Mr. Davis,” the lawsuit states.
Davis’ lawyers emphasized that the lawsuit doesn’t side with Don Blankenship, former Massey Energy CEO, who has repeatedly insisted that federal regulators — not he nor his former company — are at fault for the disaster. Blankenship spent a year in federal prison for conspiring to violate mine safety laws, and is now running for a U.S. Senate seat in West Virginia.
“Lest there be any doubt, this lawsuit in no way supports Don Blankenship’s ‘theory’ regarding the ‘real cause’ of the UBB explosion,” Bruce Stanley, Davis’s attorney, said in a statement.
Amy Louviere, an MSHA spokeswoman, would not comment on the lawsuit.
The explosion at UBB happened around 3 p.m. April 5, 2010, during a shift change, when a spark ignited a pocket of methane, causing massive explosions in the mine. Federal investigators say an accumulation of coal dust exacerbated the explosion, which blasted through more than 2 miles of mine workings.
The lawsuit cites reports from the Governor’s Independent Investigation Panel, selected by then-Gov. Joe Manchin, which said MSHA knew about UBB’s faulty ventilation system and ignored warning signs.
The panel, led by former MSHA head J. Davitt McAteer, found four specific flaws: UBB’s history of methane-related events; 40 revisions to the mine’s ventilation plan drafted by UBB management and given to MSHA; the agency’s inability to collect rock dust samples; and its “inability to connect the dots of the many potentially catastrophic failures taking place at the mine — especially the mine operator’s failure to properly ventilate the mine, to control methane, to apply sufficient amounts of rock dust,” the report states.
A federal Independent Panel Assessment also reported that MSHA didn’t adequately inspect the mine or take enough action at UBB. By better understanding its own policies, MSHA could’ve possibly stopped the disaster, the panel concluded.
“The IPA concluded that MSHA failed to adequately perform its duties at UBB, and that this failure had a causal relationship to the explosion,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit argues that the violations of federal mine safety regulations “were not only a breach of the United States’ duties to the Plaintiff, but were violations of federal laws, regulations and/or policies mandating the manner in which MSHA personnel were required to administer the provisions of the Mine Act.”
“This lawsuit is based upon the simple fact that, from the Aracoma mine fire in 2006 until the UBB disaster in 2010, MSHA knew in painstaking detail how Don Blankenship ran his longwall operations, and despite that knowledge, allowed a completely predictable result — the massive explosion that laid 29 miners in their graves,” Stanley said. “But if Don Blankenship truly does possess real evidence that implicates MSHA in the explosion, then he needs to ‘do the right thing’ and get off the campaign trail and get back in the courtroom.”
Reach Kate Mishkin at kate.mishkin@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4843 or follow @katemishkin on Twitter.
www.DavittMcAteer.com Davitt McAteer & Associates

Never forget the sacrifice 50 years ago, at Farmington's No. 9, The Fairmont News,John Dahlia Nov 14, 2018

Never forget the sacrifice 50 years ago, at Farmington's No. 9, The Fairmont News, John Dahlia  Nov 14, 2018

Most folks in and around Greater Fairmont still remember the horrific day, 50 years ago on Nov. 20, 1968 when the mammoth No. 9 mine in Farmington exploded, killing 78, 19 of whom are still entombed in the mine to this day.
Those who remember, say the explosion was large enough to be felt down U.S. Route 250 in Fairmont, almost 12 miles away. At the time, 99 miners were inside. Over the course of the next few hours after the explosion, 21 miners were able to escape the mine, but 78 were trapped. All who were unable to escape perished; the bodies of 19 of the dead were never recovered.
Today, one of those who remembers the mine explosion all too well is Joe Megna. At the time, as John Mark Shaver reported, Menga was only 15 years old and it was the last time he saw his father alive.

“It was my dad’s last shift of work,” Menga said. “He was retiring, and we were opening up a gas station in Worthington… My dad was talking about the Farmington No. 9 mine and how gassy it was and how they’re not taking care of it. He was going to get out. He took me to my friend’s house that night and he let us out and I told him, ‘Just don’t go to work. It’s your last shift. We’ll all go trout fishing.’ He said, ‘No. I owe them that much.’”
Although Menga’s father’s safety light was recovered by rescue teams, Emilio’s body was never found.
Those memories and so many more from other orphaned sons and daughters and the widowed wives have been woven into the rough, literal fabric in the lives of West Virginia coal miners. But as horrible as it was and to many, continues to be, the accident served as the catalyst for several new laws that were passed to protect miners.
Del. Mike Caputo, D-Marion, the fiery vice president of the United Mine Workers of America, District 31, told John Mark Shaver that although the disaster in Farmington wasn’t the worst ever recorded, it was the first to be shown on the evening news around the nation. For the very first time, people outside the Mountain State watched and wept with all of us.
“It made people say, ‘Wow. Do coal miners really have to work in those conditions,’” Caputo said. “To see those soon-to-be orphans waiting outside of the mines for news of their loved ones, it brought a whole new light to coal mining across this country.”
One month after the Farmington disaster, the U.S. Department of the Interior held a conference on mine safety. Stewart Udall’s opening speech specifically referenced Farmington and concluded, “Let me assure you, the people of this country no longer will accept the disgraceful health and safety record that has characterized this major industry.”
As a result of the Farmington disaster, the United States Congress passed the 1969 Coal Mine Safety and Health Act which strengthened safety standards, increased federal mine inspections and gave coal miners specific safety and health rights. In November of 1968 Davitt McAteer conducted a study of West Virginia mines after the Farmington disaster.
In 1990, the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration’s investigation into the accident concluded in part that the ventilation in the mine “was inadequate overall, and most probably non-existent in some areas.”
We can never forget the sacrifice those brave men paid with their lives on that chilly late November morning, 50 years ago.
We urge those interested, to attend the Farmington Mine Memorial service on Sunday, Nov. 18 beginning at 1 p.m.
CWV Media Business Editor John Dahlia can be reached at 304-276-1801 or by email at jdahlia@ncwvmedia.com.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE>>>
www.DavittMcAteer.com Davitt McAteer & Associates

Monday, November 26, 2018

How A 1968 Disaster In A Coal Mine Changed The Industry By MOLLY BORN • NOV 23, 2018 WV Public Broadcasting

Originally published on November 23, 2018 4:05 pm
Fifty years ago this week, 78 men were killed when a coal mine exploded in West Virginia. The Farmington Mine Disaster devastated a small town and ushered in new health and safety laws nationwide.
George Butt was in the first grade in November 1968 when his father put in his two weeks' notice at the No. 9 mine. Harold Wayne Butt had worked as a coal miner but planned to switch careers, to become a postmaster.
"They came and got me out of class and told me I had to go home," George Butt said. "Ended up finding out the tragedy when I got there."
Of the 99 miners underground that day, only 21 were able to escape. At a memorial service this week to honor the dead, George Butt's voice broke as he spoke of his father, who was 42 years old when when a series of explosions stemming from a buildup of methane gas tore through the mine.
"There's not a day that goes by," he said, trailing off. "Sorry. Yeah, it's tough. November's a very hard month."
The mine disaster drew national attention to the small town roughly 100 miles south of Pittsburgh, said Bonnie Stewart, a journalist and professor at California State University Fullerton. Her 2012 book, No.9: The 1968 Farmington Coal Mine Disaster, chronicles the explosions and their aftermath.
"It was on the nightly news. People across the world could see what had happened and what a tragedy like that looked like," said Stewart, formerly a professor at West Virginia University.
New regulations
Early the next year, 40,000 West Virginia coal miners staged a wildcat strike to demand better health benefits and raise awareness about black lung disease. In Washington, widows of the late miners testified before Congress, which ultimately passed the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969.
"It was the beginning of a real federal oversight for the health and safety of the people who go underground," Stewart said.
Under the new law, mines were subject to more federal inspections, fines for safety violations and criminal penalties for the most egregious ones. Miners disabled by black lung could receive benefits.
"By their deaths," Stewart wrote in her book, "the 78 coal miners prevented thousands of underground miners from a similar fate."
Davitt McAteer, a mine safety expert who went on to work for the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration under President Clinton, grew up in nearby Fairmont, W.Va. A law student at West Virginia University in November 1968, McAteer called safety advocate Ralph Nader to ask how they might help push together for tougher health and safety standards. Nader's staff, McAteer said, helped to write the landmark 1969 law.
"It was pivotal for this industry, for the health and safety movement around the country. You saw other industries copy what the mine industry was doing in terms of education, in terms of research, in terms of regulations," McAteer said.
An annual memorial service
In Farmington, hundreds attended this year's memorial service, including West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin. Manchin grew up in Farmington and lost an uncle in the mine disaster, one of many such disasters in the state's history. The No. 9 mine alone had a history of serious safety violations, and a 1954 explosion there killed 16 men.
"It's awful when you have so many tragedies that have to happen before necessary changes are made. But the miners have paid. They've paid with their sweat and their blood," Manchin said.
Nonetheless, George Butt said he still feels "bitter." His family and others are suing the mine company all these years later. Murray Energy now owns Consolidation Coal, and company attorneys have argued the Farmington families should have filed the lawsuit within two years of the disaster. Most families reached a $10,000 settlement with the coal company shortly after the explosion.
But the families say it wasn't until 2014 that they uncovered new evidence to support the latest suit: A head electrician turned off an alarm on a ventilation fan used to rid the mine of deadly methane gas. If the alarm had sounded, power to the mine would have been shut off. A 1990 federal report revealed that a build-up of methane gas caused by poor ventilation contributed to the explosion.
In 2015, a retired federal mine inspector, Larry Layne, wrote in a sworn affidavit that a mine electrician named Leonard Sacchetti told him in 1970 that Sacchetti helped the mine's head electrician, Alex Kovarbasich, disable the alarm.
Layne wrote the memo in 1970, but said in the affidavit that Sacchetti asked him not to use his name. Bonnie Stewart first uncovered Layne's memo in 2008 while researching her book, and she learned that the then-district manager for the U.S. Bureau of Mines ordered the memo to be filed away. Stewart found it at the U.S. Department of Labor mine library in Beckley, W.Va.
"It was my understanding," Layne wrote in 2015, "that Consolidated Coal Company directed Alex Kovarbasich to disconnect the [alarm] before the November 20, 1968 explosion."
Timothy Bailey, an attorney for the families, said it wasn't the memo, but the discovery that the company played a role that became his "smoking gun."
"It's the information that a member of management was involved that gave the information necessary to file the suit, and we filed the suit within two years of learning that information," he said.
But a judge threw out the lawsuit last year. The families have appealed, and earlier this year, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals asked the West Virginia Supreme Court to weigh in on the statute of limitations.
Copyright 2018 West Virginia Public Broadcasting. To see more, visit West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Fifty years ago this week, 78 men were killed when a coal mine exploded in West Virginia. The Farmington Mine disaster devastated a small town and ushered in new health and safety laws nationwide. As part of our series on landmark events from 1968, Molly Born of West Virginia Public Broadcasting reports.
MOLLY BORN, BYLINE: George Butt was in the first grade in November 1968 when his father put in his two weeks' notice at the No. 9 mine. Harold Wayne Butt had worked as a coal miner but planned to switch careers to become a postmaster.
GEORGE BUTT: And they came and got me out of class and told me I had to go home and ended up finding out the tragedy when I got there.
BORN: George Butt and his family attended a memorial service this week. They were honoring those who died when a series of explosions stemming from a buildup of methane gas tore through the coal mine 50 years ago.
BUTT: There's not a day that goes by - sorry - yeah, it's tough. November is a very hard month.
BORN: Harold Butt was 42 years old when he died. Of the 99 miners underground that day, only 21 were able to escape. Bonnie Stewart is a journalist and a college professor who wrote a book about the disaster. She says it drew national attention.
BONNIE STEWART: It was on the nightly news. People across the world could see what had happened and what a tragedy like that looked like.
BORN: After the disaster, 40,000 West Virginia coal miners staged a wildcat strike to demand better health benefits and raise awareness about black lung disease. And in Washington, widows of the late miners testified before Congress, which ultimately passed the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act.
STEWART: It was the beginning of a real federal oversight for the health and safety of the people who go underground.
BORN: Under the new law, mines were subject to more federal inspections, fines for safety violations and criminal penalties for the most egregious violations. Miners disabled by black lung could receive benefits. Davitt McAteer is a mine safety expert who grew up in a nearby town.
DAVITT MCATEER: It was pivotal for this industry and for the health and safety movement around the country. You saw other industries copy what the mine industry was doing in terms of education, in terms of research, in terms of regulations.
JOE MANCHIN: And that must be our commitment to never forget. I love you all. I'm so thankful to be here.
(APPLAUSE)
BORN: In Farmington, hundreds attended this year's memorial service earlier this week, including West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, who grew up there. He lost an uncle in the mine disaster, one of many in the state's history.
MANCHIN: It's awful when you have so many tragedies that have to happen before necessary changes are made. But the miners have paid. They've paid with their sweat and their blood.
BORN: Nonetheless, George Butt says he's still bitter. His family and others are suing the mine company all these years later. Murray Energy now owns Consolidation Coal. The company's attorneys have argued the Farmington families should have filed the lawsuit within two years of the disaster. But it wasn't until 2014 that they uncovered new evidence. They say the mine's head electrician turned off an alarm on a fan used to rid the mine of deadly methane gas. If the alarm had sounded, power to the mine would have shut off. Tim Bailey is an attorney for the families.
TIM BAILEY: It's the information that a member of management was involved that gave the information necessary to file the suit. And we filed the suit within two years of learning that information.
BORN: A judge threw out the lawsuit last year. The families have appealed. For NPR News, I'm Molly Born in Mannington, W.Va.
(SOUNDBITE OF MBO MENTHO'S "SEA MIST") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

www.DavittMcAteer.com Davitt McAteer & Associates
Farmington Mine Disaster, Energy and Environment