Published: November 06, 2009 04:41 pm      

Safer mines — 11/07/09

Inspectors needed to enforce 2007 law finally being hired

More than two years after enacting a law requiring more coal mine inspections, the state finally is getting the additional inspectors needed to enforce that law. Previously, the state’s continuing revenue woes had made it impossible for the state to hire the additional inspectors.

On Tuesday, Gov. Steve Beshear approved an additional 15 new mine inspectors plus 19 new mine permit reviewers, with 16 being permanent positions and three being temporary.

Following the deaths of 16 coal miners in Kentucky coal mines in 2006, the 2007 General Assembly approved a law doubling the number of required inspections. We praised the new law. Since nearly every single mining accident in Kentucky was the result of existing safety regulations being ignored, it was clear that what Kentucky most needed was not more regulations but more effective enforcement of existing ones. More frequent mine inspections clearly were needed.

While funding for additional mine inspectors was included in the two-year budget approved by the 2008 General Assembly, the nationwide recession caused state revenue to take a nosedive and forced the General Assembly to trim millions of dollars in spending from that budget. Since the mining inspectors had yet to be hired, it was easy to cut funding for them from the budget. Of course, those cuts also made it impossible for the state to fully implement the 2007 law requiring the additional mine inspections.

The new mine inspectors will be paid for with revenue generated by Kentucky’s severance tax on coal. New assessments on coal mining permit applications, plus a federal match, are expected to raise enough money to cover the cost of adding new permit reviewers, Beshear said.

Since the 2007 law was not being enforced, the 2009 General Assembly tried to change it. A measure considered by legislators would have reduced the number of inspections performed by the Kentucky Office of Mine Safety and Licensing. Fortunately, the measure failed.

“It’s excellent news,” mine safety advocate Tony Oppegard said of the decision to hire the additional inspectors. “It’s the safest day of the year for coal miners when inspectors are present. The more days inspectors are present on the job, the more likely it is that they’re going to observe safety problems and less likely that miners will be killed or injured.”

He’s right, of course. Any law is only as effective as its enforcement, and for the first time, Kentucky is getting the manpower it needs to help assure mine safety regulations are not being ignored.