US Government Awaiting Sago Mine Report Before Changing Rules
The U.S. government won’t recommend changes in the way coal companies deal with electrical storms until its own report on the Sago Mine disaster in West Virginia is done.
Mine Safety and Health Administration director Richard Stickler said Thursday he hopes that report will be finished during the first quarter of 2007. But Stickler also said he won’t rush the investigation because he wants definitive answers, not theories.
He said the MSHA is trying to determine if lightning played a part in the deadly January blast, and if so, how it happened.
A state report given to families earlier this week ruled out all possible causes except lightning. But investigators also said they could not determine the route the current took into the sealed-off, underground section.
