Trouble at Alliance

Federal mine regulators have cited the Dotiki Mine for not doing enough to prevent the underground roof fall that killed two miners on April 28.

Mine owner Alliance Resources Partners L.P. took issue with the citation, noting that the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration's investigation report declared that the accident came without warning.

The MSHA report, released Friday, also declared that the mine was obeying its federally approved roof control plan at the time of the accident.

Nonetheless, MSHA cited Dotiki because "(t)he roof was not adequately supported or otherwise controlled to protect persons from hazards related to falls of the roof."

An earlier state investigation resulted in a similar ruling.

The roof collapse killed miners miners Justin Travis, 27, of Dixon and Michael Carter, 28, of Hanson. Travis was a continuous mining machine operator with more than three years of mining experience; Carter, a continuous mining machine helper, had two years of experience.

Federal investigators concluded that the roof fall occurred shortly after the mining machine cut coal from a seam approximately 900 feet beneath the surface of the ground. Unknown to the miners, the shale in that portion of mine roof had been weakened by natural fractures or faults, resulting in hidden slickensides or "slips" in the roof.

Even though the roof immediately above Travis and Carter's heads had been reinforced with long bolts, the removal of coal nearby and the presence of the overhead slips resulted in the collapse of what MSHA called a "massive" section of roof -- up to 76 feet long, 19 feet wide and as much as 10 feet thick.

"The absence of any sign of 'slips' in the immediate roof gave no warning for the need to install supplemental or additional support," MSHA concluded in its report.

The coal company applauded the findings of the federal investigation but objected to being cited for a violation of mine safety law.

"The MSHA investigation confirms the factual findings of our own internal investigation -- this roof fall was an unpredictable accident involving unforeseeable geological conditions," Kenny Murray, vice president of operations at Webster County Coal (the Alliance subsidiary that operates Dotiki), said in a statement.

"At no time during its investigation did MSHA indicate that this accident was preventable or that Webster County Coal was in any way negligent," Murray continued. "To the contrary, the MSHA report specifically acknowledges" that the approved roof control plan was being followed and that there was no signs of slips in the roof before the accident.

"Furthermore, in its citation MSHA specifically found that Webster County Coal was not negligent. In light of these facts, we strongly believe the citation issued today by MSHA is not justified," he said.

MSHA's Office of Assessment will fine the company sometime later, according to spokeswoman Amy Louviere.

Alliance, meanwhile, can appeal the agency's citation.

"The company always has an opportunity to request a conference with the district (MSHA) manager," Louviere said in an e-mail message. "If the matter can't be resolved, the company can take the case before an administrative law judge with the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission."

In July, the state issued a notice of non-compliance to Webster County Coal related to the April 28 roof fall, saying the company was in violation of Kentucky law that require companies to have a roof control plan that adequately provides protection to miners from falls of the mine's roof or ribs.

The company said at the time that "the accident was the result of unpredictable and unforeseeable geologic conditions that were highly unusual at the Dotiki mine."

A slickenside, as cited in the MSHA report, is an indication of a crack or fault line in rock, according to Kentucky State Geologist Jim Cobb, director of the Kentucky Geological Survey.

"It's a polished surface along a fracture" caused by friction when the two sides have "moved past one another," Cobb said.

MSHA's Louviere noted that "the slickensides were not evidenced until the roof fell. You had to look up over the fallen material to the newly exposed roof approximately 10 to 12 feet to see the slickenside. That is what made it unusual. Generally, the slickenside would be visible in the mine roof."

Dotiki, one of nine mining complexes operated by Alliance, employs more than 400 miners. It produced 4.2 million tons of coal last year, according to the company.

The mine has operated since 1966. Before the April roof fall, three miners had died in separate accidents: An electrocution in 1984, an underground tram accident in 1988 and an above-ground dozer accident in 1995.

Although the mine had been cited for violations at various times, the MSHA investigation reported that Dotiki's safety record, by at least one measure, was better than the industry average last year.

The mine experienced 3.68 injuries for every 200,000 hours worked in 2009, compared with the national average of 4.16 for underground mines.