In light of two recent deaths at West Virginia mines - the Bronzite Mine in Mingo County and the Mountaineer II mine in Logan County - U.S. Rep. Nick J. Rahall (D-WV) today released a letter sent to Richard Stickler, Assistant Secretary of the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), calling on the agency to investigate its lack of quarterly inspections at those mines and to act to ensure that all mines receive their legally required full inspections.

The text of the letter follows:

September 18, 2007

The Honorable Richard Stickler
Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health
U.S. Department of Labor
1100 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, Virginia 22209

Dear Mr. Stickler:

Today, and now for the second time in just two weeks, the coal miners I represent are learning that a death has occurred in a West Virginia mine which the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) failed to properly inspect.

Immediately after a September 5th fatality at the Bronzite Mine in Mingo County, it was revealed that MSHA had not conducted a single quarterly inspection this year. MSHA has yet to explain to the coal mining community why that lapse was allowed to occur. Now, this past Sunday, a miner died at the Mountaineer II Mine in Logan County, and, once again, we are learning about similar failures by MSHA to conduct proper inspections. If the media can conduct a fairly simple review of MSHA's website and learn that the agency is not completing quarterly inspections, certainly MSHA can do the same and can act on that information to correct these lapses.

I want to know, and certainly I hope that MSHA would like to know, exactly why the agency is failing to conduct the inspections required by law. I am compelled to ask how many mines in West Virginia have not received the quarterly inspections required, and to ask what MSHA is doing to ensure that its district managers and inspectors are actually going into the mines and conducting regular and thorough safety checks.

Conducting inspections is MSHA's most fundamental responsibility, and I cannot fathom what the agency is doing if it is not fulfilling this basic duty. I ask that you investigate this matter as soon as possible and provide me with answers to these questions, before another tragedy occurs and MSHA is further shamed by its inability to carry out its mission to ensure the health and safety of our nation's miners.

Sincerely yours,

Nick J. Rahall, II