Source: Greenwire

A Colorado coal mine responsible for more than a quarter of all the coal produced in the state is also one of the state’s most dangerous mines, accounting for nearly a third of Colorado’s coal mining injuries last year and incurring more than $600,000 in fines for safety violations since January 2007.

The Foidel Creek Mine in Routt County was the site of 29 of the 88 coal-mining related injuries that occurred in 2009, according to data from the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety’s “Monthly Coal Detail Report.” The Foidel Creek mine has already been cited 79 times in the first quarter of this year.

The mine was also the only one in Colorado on the Mine Safety and Health Administration list of 57 problem mines — making it subject to a surprise inspection earlier this month after the Massey Energy Co. coal mine explosion in West Virginia killed 29 miners (Greenwire, April 6).

MSHA officials said last week that the surprise inspections were targeting “coal mines whose history of underground conditions indicated a significant number of violations and/or conditions that may include problems relating to methane accumulations, ventilation practices, rock dust applications and inadequate mine examinations” — conditions thought to contribute to the Massey plant explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in Montcoal, W.Va.

The Foidel Creek mine is the busiest mine in Colorado: More than 500 miners work there during any given month, while other Colorado mines report 400 employees or fewer each month.

Peabody Energy Corp.’s Twentymile Coal Co., which operates Foidel Creek, is working to improve its record, according to spokeswoman Beth Sutton. “Structural changes were initiated at Twentymile, including dedicating additional staff resources for safety and compliance training and accident prevention to improve results,” she said in a statement.

In the days following the surprise MSHA inspection on the weekend of April 17-18, Foidel Creek was hit with another 14 citations between April 19-21 (David O. Williams, Colorado Independent, April 27).