Tuesday, January 04, 2011
Massey Hearing Set For Pike County Mine
Freedom Energy plans to call three miners to testify about safety policies and procedures at a hearing set to begin Wednesday in an effort to persuade a federal judge not to order a Pike County mine closed. The hearing will focus on specific violations, general policies and overall safety culture at Freedom Energy's Sidney Coal Corp. mine. In October, the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration targeted the mine in its first attempt to use the courts to shut down the mine which is considered to be on a "pattern of violations." Testimony is scheduled to last three days, but attorneys for Massey Energy and the Department of Labor told the judge during a status hearing Tuesday that they were trying to reach an out-of-court settlement.
Terry Mike Jude, who now works as a ventilation specialist and inspector for MSHA, participated in mine rescue and recovery operations at the Massey Energy Aracoma Alma fire and participated in the rescue of two people at the Mammouth No. 15 mine. He was a safety official at Massey from December 2004 to October 2006.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 11:49 PM 
