Saturday, August 21, 2010
Attempt At Reducing Citations Backlog
KENTUCKY...
Federal regulators say they're going to try meeting with mine operators accused of breaking health and safety rules earlier in the appeals process in hopes of reducing a backlog of 89,000 citations.
The pilot program announced Friday by the Mine Safety and Health Administration starts Aug. 31 and runs through November in three of the agency's districts. The agency says it chose offices that cover coal companies in Pennsylvania and Kentucky and metal and non-metal mines in Alabama to test the approach.
MSHA says it has been meeting with mine operators after they've been fined and contested citations. The pilot program will move those meetings to before penalties are assessed and operators have contested citations.
Congress recently appropriated $22 million to address the backlog.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 5:58 PM 
