Dust Control – Soil Stabilization – Erosion Control

Archive for the ‘coal’ Category

The occupational overexposure to coal mine dust by coal miners continues to occur despite legally enforceable limits, U.S. health officials say.

Deaths occurring among younger persons from coal workers’ pneumoconiosis declined substantially from 1968-2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report released Wednesday says. Coal workers’ pneumoconiosis is the accumulation of coal dust in the lungs and the tissue’s reaction to its presence.

However, annual years of potential life before age 65 of coal workers’ pneumoconiosis have been increasing since 2002, and mean years of potential life before age 65 per decedent has been increasing since the early 1990s — meaning that workers die at younger age — the study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health finds.

The NIOSH study recommends hazard surveillance, workplace-specific interventions and strengthening of current coal workers’ pneumoconiosis prevention and elimination efforts to protect workers’ health.

At least seven peasant miners have died of black lung disease and hundreds more have been diagnosed with the illness after working in gold mines in northwest China’s Gansu Province, the local health authority said Wednesday.

At least 314 cases had been confirmed in Gulang County of Wuwei City, said Cui Kai, the county’s health bureau chief.

These included 252 cases from Heisongyi town, where six had died. “Twelve cases, including one death, were reported in Huangyangchuan town and another 11 people were diagnosed in Shibalibu Village,” said Cui.

All the victims worked at a gold mine in Subei County in the industrial city of Jiuquan, 1,000 kilometers from their impoverished hometown.

“We received reports of suspected black lung disease from the local government in Heisongyi town in April, and began a medical survey,” said Cui.

The result, however, was shocking. Most patients had struggled with the disease for years. Some could not afford any treatment and simply waited to die.

Chen Dejin, 50, relies on an oxygen bottle 24 hours a day. “The doctor said no medicine would work on him any more,” said his wife, Ji Xinghua.

Chen was diagnosed in 2005. “We have borrowed more than 60,000 yuan (8,824 U.S. dollars) to cover his medical bills,” said Ji.

Chen’s workmate and neighbor Yang Zifa died early last year at the age of 36, leaving behind 70,000 yuan debts. His wife and two sons live on a government benefit of 880 yuan a year.

Most victims blamed the disease on “ill luck,” though they knew it was a result of inadequate protection.

“We wore very thin face masks and ventilation was poor in the pit. At the end of the day’s work we had to clean our nostrils of calcareous dust,” said Shang Zhifa, who was a miner for six years before he was confined to bed with the disease.

Despite the dust, there was no water to wet the drills or bathe themselves.

“Water had to be carried from 200 kilometers away,” said Shang. “About 20 of us shared one small basin of water to wash our hands and faces.”

Gulang County, locked in the remote mountains, is one of the poorest counties in China.

In Heisongyi town, the net per capita annual income was only 1,500 yuan last year, according to Li Cunguo, secretary of the Heisongyi Town Committee of the Communist Party of China.

Poverty forced local peasants into mining, which promised a stable income despite the high risk.

No one had a labor contract. “I asked, but the boss insisted an oral agreement would do,” said Shang. “I wouldn’t have agreed to that had I known the consequences.”

Without a labor contract, it was difficult to claim compensation or refund of medical costs, said Xu Shucai, an official in charge of labor and social security with Gulang county government. “We will work with the local government in Jiuquan to find a solution.”

Meanwhile, he said the county government had promised an annual allowance of 718 yuan for each patient.

One miner owner has denied the work caused the illness and he blamed tobacco.

“Mining cannot cause black lung disease,” said Pan Zhanlin, a business tycoon who owns the Deyi Mining Co. in Jiuquan, where some of the patients had worked. “They had lung problems because they smoked too much.”

Black lung, or pneumoconiosis, is a chronic occupational disease by the prolonged breathing of mine dust. There is no specific treatment for the ailment, according to Chinese Medical Association.

The Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA) commemorated the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 (Mine Act), which instituted the strongest and most comprehensive occupational safety and health protections that had ever been enacted in the country.

The Mine Act was born out of a mining disaster that occurred in November 1968, when 78 miners died in an explosion at Consolidation Coal’s No. 9 mine in Farmington, W.Va. Members of the mining community, angered by the continuing toll being taken on the lives of miners, rallied together and called for sweeping changes. Widows of some of the fallen miners even traveled to Washington to testify before Congress.

“The Farmington disaster changed the course of history and transformed mine safety and health in this country,” said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. “In the end, those who perished led the way to legal reforms that spared the lives of the thousands of miners who would follow.”

“Like many others working in the mining industry 40 years ago, I remember the significant changes that passage of the Mine Act would make possible in the coming years,” said Joseph A. Main, assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health. “Over time, we have witnessed considerable improvements in mine safety and health, as well as in the lives of miners and their families – all brought about by this landmark legislation.”

The Mine Act increased enforcement powers at mines, mandated four complete inspections of underground coal mines and two complete inspections of surface mines annually, and established mandatory fines for all violations and criminal penalties for certain violations. It also established safety standards aimed at curbing mine accidents such as roof falls, mine fires and explosions, as well as haulage, electrical and other accidents. It designated limits on unhealthy coal mine dust and, for the first time, provided government benefits for miners disabled by black lung disease.

MSHA plans to further commemorate the 40th anniversary in March, when the new legislation went into effect.

Asarco officials told Rancho Resort residents Friday that an analysis of tailings from their community and a nearby tailings dam showed the dust is not much different from soil samples taken nearby and contain no dangerous levels of metals.

That didn’t seem to satisfy many among the 150 people who attended a meeting that included Asarco and several environmental agencies and experts.

University of Arizona Soil Water and Environmental Science professor Raina M. Maier tried to reassure residents that the dust that blew into their yards and homes is not dangerous based on tahe results of a laboratory analysis that Asarco handed out at the meeting. However, Maier did say the small size of the minute dust particles represent a health problem when inhaled..

Read the rest of this entry »

A coal truck driver killed in an October accident was driving an overloaded truck with a defective Jake brake switch, according to a federal report.

The driver, Darrell T. Seiber, 48, of Anderson County’s Devonia community also hadn’t received required miner training and wasn’t wearing a seat belt, the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration report states.

Five citations were issued against National Coal Corp. of Knoxville and four citations were leveled against Cox Trucking of Wartburg in connection with the wreck.

Seiber was a recently hired contract driver with Cox Trucking.

Civil fines to be levied against the two firms haven’t been set yet, an administration spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Seiber died when his Mack truck overturned on a steep grade of a mine haul road. A Tennessee Highway Patrol report stated he had been driving too fast for road conditions.

According to the probe, “the contractor and mine operator failed to assure that defects affecting safety were corrected before the truck was put in service.”

The incident marked the first fatal accident on any coal mine property in Tennessee since 2004. It also prompted the Tuesday filing of a wrongful death lawsuit in Anderson County against National Coal Corp.

Seiber’s widow and 22-year-old son are plaintiffs in the complaint, which seeks $10 million in punitive damages and a $7 million compensatory judgment.

According to the lawsuit, the truck was overloaded, a contributing factor that constitutes “severe recklessness,” the complaint alleges.

There aren’t standards in its federal codes to cite a mine operator for overloaded trucks, Mine Safety and Health Administration spokeswoman Amy Louviere said.

According to both the investigation and lawsuit, the truck was missing a Jake brake switch. Without that switch, the brake wouldn’t engage when the accelerator pedal was released, according to the federal probe.

Both the trucking firm and National Coal were cited because Seiber, who was employed in mid-September, hadn’t received “initial miner training,” according to the investigation report.

Dan Roling, president and CEO of National Coal, had no comment Wednesday. Efforts to contact Cox Trucking for comment were unsuccessful.

The anticipated $100 million it will cost each year to reduce coal dust on shipments of Wyoming coal out of the Powder River Basin is causing friction between the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. and some public utilities.

BNSF, as well as the Union Pacific Railroad, have spent hundreds of millions of dollars already to reduce coal dust since a 2005 derailment was blamed on coal dust accumulation on the tracks.

But industry officials say additional coal dust suppression measures may be required, costing millions more.

Possible solutions include covering cars, applying a latex coating, or filling cars with less coal.

American Public Power Association estimates whatever method is chosen will add $100 million annually to the cost of shipping coal out of the Powder River Basin.

Suited up with green hard hats, safety vests and protective goggles, five members of the Green Valley Community Coordinating Council’s Environmental Committee headed to Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold’s Sierrita operation to see how the mine controls tailings dust.

Chief Environmental Engineer Sherry Burt-Kested, Environmental Manager Chad Fretz and Regional Community Affairs Manager Richard Ducote explained how their impoundment crew works to minimize dust from the mining process.

There is special attention to the 3,500 acres of the mine’s Mill Tailings Impoundment, which is surrounded by about eight miles of berm. Tailings are a by-product of the mining process. The berm refers to residue and rock piled around the edge of the impoundment to help reduce dust.

Fretz said blue-green algae is a native binder for desert soil. First tried on the tailings impoundment in 2003, when added to water in the impoundment area, it helps to minimize dust. He said Freeport McMoRan recycles 30 percent of its water at the mine.

“We anticipate winds, watch the weather, have appropriate staff to tend to tailings and we hear from the ADEQ (Arizona Department of Environmental Quality),” Fretz said.

But even the best plans can face challenges.

Freeport-McMoRan last year paid a $105,000 fine to the state for air-quality violations involving dust coming from the mine in 2006 and 2008.

About 600 homes in Green Valley were affected by the tailings dust in 2006, and an investigation found Freeport-McMoRan had failed to document or act to avoid future problems. The company paid more than $150,000 to help residents clean their homes in 2006.

Today, Freeport-McMoRan staff works around the clock and additional staff will be called to aid the regular impoundment crew of eight when weather conditions forecast problematic winds. Fretz said employees will be pulled off a job to help with dust control as needed. They maintain areas of wet surfaces and look for hot spots of dust within the mine’s 27-square-mile area.

To help spray water faster Freeport McMoRan has purchased Snowcats, large tractor-like vehicles that can spread water 20 feet in each direction.

Burt-Kested said she is constantly looking at new ways to minimize dust.

Along with workers keeping the speed of trucks down to help minimize dust, she touted the expertise of employees who watch for hot spots of dust and work to mitigate it.

More than blue-green algae, Snowcats dispersing water over wide areas and employees keeping an eagle eye out for hot spots, the mine has a Terra-Gator vehicle that disperses seeds so vegetation can grow. It’s another way to reduce dust.

Freeport-McMoRan also has about 100 head of cattle that provide fertilizer to help vegetation grow.

Asarco is promising to modify its tailings-dam construction practices to reduce the odds that dust will blow off its Mission Mine property into neighboring homes in Sahuarita.

The Tucson-based multinational company also is disputing most of Pima County’s allegations of violations stemming from two major dust storms late last year in which mine tailings landed in Sahuarita homes and gardens. The dust storms stirred neighbors’ concerns that the tailings damaged their homes and threatened their health.

Those violations, alleged by the county in December, could prompt hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, the maximum allowable under state law, County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry has said. Now the county Department of Environmental Quality will review Asarco’s statement – submitted Wednesday to meet a county deadline – to determine if fines are warranted and, if so, how large they should be.

While Asarco has acknowledged that the tailings dust blocked visibility by more than county standards allow, it said that contrary to the county’s allegations, it did take reasonable precautions to prevent the dust from leaving its property. The county’s allegations failed to account for the high winds blowing on Nov. 12 and Dec. 22 when the violations occurred, the company said.

Late Wednesday, Ursula Kramer, the county DEQ director, said her staff still believes the violations cited in the notices to Asarco were valid.

Read the rest of this entry »

Under scrutiny since the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) released its 2006 Combustible Dust Hazard Study, General Industry Housekeeping provision 1910.22 has been taken to task by OSHA. The amendment comes as a result of employers’ misinterpretation of housekeeping standards already included in the provision.

In a hearing before the Senate Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety, OSHA assistant secretary Edwin G. Foulke Jr. said the provision will “state more explicitly what has always been true–that the standard applies to accumulations of dust that contribute to an explosion hazard. This clarification of language in the provision will eliminate any doubt that employers are obligated to prevent combustible dust from accumulating in their workplaces.”

Although OSHA’s General Industry Housekeeping provision 1910.22 does not specifically address housekeeping and fugitive dust, other OSHA standards do and suggest that operations “eliminate the use of compressed air jets to clean accumulated dust from equipment or clothing, and substitute a vacuum-cleaning system.”

However, there is a noted lack of regulation regarding the handling of fugitive dust for general industry, including food, rubbers, metal, pharmaceuticals, plastics, paint and synthetic organic chemicals.

Vacuum Cleaning = First Defense Against Dust

In nearly all industries, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) recommends vacuum cleaning as the preferred first defense method of controlling fugitive dust. NFPA 654 states “vigorous sweeping or blowing down with steam or compressed air produces dust clouds.” Despite NFPA and OSHA recommendations, many companies still use air compressors and brooms to clean surrounding equipment, and areas of dust and debris. This may be due to the misconception about industrial vacuum cleaners and sheer oversight when reviewing production processes. The problem with using brooms and air compressors is that they just blow the dust around, resulting in small particles that settle onto elevated surfaces.
Read the rest of this entry »

Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean condemned the killing of an activist opposed to a Canadian mine during the last day of a state visit to Mexico while protesters chanted "Canada, get out."

About 50 supporters of Mariano Abarca Roblero were kept about 200 metres from a Mayan women’s collective where Jean visited the colonial town of San Cristobal de Las Casas, about five hours from the mine’s location.

"We find it deplorable, inexcusable," Jean said in a statement Wednesday.

Read the rest of this entry »