Teams investigating the explosion that killed 29 men at the Upper Big Branch mine have found no evidence of a huge floor crack that Massey Energy claims could have suddenly flooded the mine with explosive methane gas, federal mine safety officials said Wednesday.
Investigators have found evidence of "floor heaving" and several small cracks, some 6 inches deep and 8 inches wide, "but we've not seen any massive crack that's 150 feet long underneath the shearing machine," said Kevin Stricklin, coal administrator for the Mine Safety and Health Administration.
Massey has suggested a large crack under the coal-cutting machine could have allowed methane to surge into the mine just before the April 5 explosion, noting it experienced similar inundations in 2003 and 2004 without any injuries. State mine safety officials, however, have said a preliminary review of data does not indicate a sudden rush of methane.
The Virginia-based coal company posted five black-and-white photographs on its website Wednesday afternoon. The images of heaped-up earth are difficult to interpret but purport to show a 42-inch crack and "potential pressure dome" on the mine floor.
Massey General Counsel Shane Harvey said the crack should be fully examined, "along with other potential sources in the mine," as the investigation continues.
Massey did not otherwise comment on MSHA's revelation, offered during a 90-minute briefing in which MSHA director Joe Main said it's still too soon to know what caused the worst U.S. mining disaster in decades.
MSHA has learned the explosion set off a fire that burned coal in several locations more than 1,000 feet apart, but officials would not speculate on what that might mean about the force or source of the blast. Nor did they offer any timetable for when they might reach a conclusion, except to say it would be after a series of public hearings that are not yet scheduled.
"We're going to scour the earth to determine what happened in the Upper Big Branch mine," Main said, "and we're going to leave no stone unturned."
Teams of underground investigators have explored and mapped more than half the mine, but Stricklin said they have yet to reach a deep, debris-strewn spot where nine men died. That area is currently blocked by waist-high water that runs downhill toward the coal face, and it must be pumped out first. Stricklin said that could begin in a week or so.
But the investigation is well under way, with more than 166 witness interviews conducted so far. MSHA and state officials will begin issuing subpoenas to Massey management in about a month, Stricklin said.
"We want to interview all of them," he said.
Those managers will likely include two executives with Massey's Performance Coal Co. who were found inside the Montcoal mine after the blast, as MSHA was seizing control. Stricklin said he ordered the managers, whom he did not name, to be removed for their own safety and noted it's not unusual to find people inside a mine after an accident.
"Everybody that can tries to do something to help rescue the miners," he said.
However, those people are typically trained in mine rescue and working under breathing apparatus, equipment that was vital with the deadly concentrations of gas flowing inside Upper Big Branch.
Massey said it has been cooperating with the investigation but has not yet received executive subpoenas. It also said the two people underground were trying to rescue miners. One worked for Performance Coal, the company said in an e-mail. The other worked for Massey Coal Services and is trained and certified in mine rescue.
Main said the underground investigation involves eight mapping teams and 10 rock-dusting teams that are methodically scraping the walls for samples that could show whether the mine was adequately coated to prevent explosions. The 1,803 samples collected so far will also indicate how much coal burned off after the blast, he said.
Also working underground are four electrical teams, three photography teams, a geology team, an evidence-collection team and a directional-forces team. About 250 pieces of physical evidence have been collected already, Main said, and that number will grow.
Among the key pieces of evidence recovered are eight methane detectors, four of which have been downloaded to recover electronic data.
Neither Main nor Stricklin would say what the evidence has yielded so far, saying further testing is necessary.
Stricklin has said methane monitors on the longwall mining machine were not electronically tampered with and were in working order at the time of the blast. But he stood by his assertion that they could have been altered in other ways, such as covering a sensor with a plastic bag.
Investigators also remain unable to explain why the longwall machine was shut off about 90 seconds before the blast. The accident occurred during a shift change, so the shutdown could have been deliberate or accidental. The only people who know were killed in the blast.
Two remote control devices can operate the machine, but Stricklin said so far, only one has been recovered. It was found near the face with the bodies of six miners, about 500 feet from the cutting machine — beyond the range of the device.
___
Online:
Massey Energy: http://masseyubb.com/
