MSHA criticized for W.Va. blast probe lead

WASHINGTON, April 14 (UPI) -- The U.S. mine safety agency's point man to investigate last week's deadly mine explosion in West Virginia drew criticism for his work in a previous inquiry.

Former regulators and industry experts said the Mine Safety and Health Administration should have selected someone else to investigate the April 5 accident in West Virginia that killed 29 miners, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

MSHA did not comment on selecting Norman Page to run the investigation of the accident at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch mine.

An internal review by MSHA, obtained by the Post, criticized its inspection process after a coal mine explosion in Kentucky killed five people in 2006, saying safety violations weren't corrected before the blast because of flawed inspection practices "coupled with weak supervisory, managerial and headquarters oversight." Page was the MSHA district manager who oversaw inspections at the Kentucky mine.

"Does it concern me that a district manager who was involved in a previous devastating accident where multiple problems were not picked up by MSHA is running the investigation? Absolutely, that is troublesome," Ellen Smith, owner and managing editor of Mine Safety and Health News, an industry newsletter, told the Post.

West Virginia also is conducting an investigation.

Meanwhile, two key shareholders called on Massey Energy's board of directors to get rid of the company's chairman, Don L. Blankenship, the Post said.

"Massey's cavalier attitude toward risk and callous disregard for the safety of its employees has exacted a horrible cost on dozens of hard-working miners and their loved ones," New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, a trustee for one of the state's pension funds, said in a statement. "This tragedy was a failure both of risk management and effective board oversight. Blankenship must step down and make room for more responsible leadership at Massey."