Page 8 - Mine Act News Today

>> and you cant end up in jail, but when you have a serious offense, when the ventilation is not working they can issue a withdrawal order. we saw that. theyve issued four withdrawal orders at this mine since january. msha has been using enforcement tools. as far as shutting the mine under a temporary bases, msha does not have that power. what theyve done is tried to shut down two mines recently because the mine operators havent paid civil penalties at all, but if -- but the mine operator has to...

York. ellen, are all violation created equally? >> absolutely not. i mean, thats the whole problem. its not a problem about the mine act, but its the way the mine act was written. you could get a violation for having a lid off of a garbage can or for a maintenance worker leaving rags around a piece of equipment and you can get a citation of violation for not adhering to the ventilation plan. that goes into a big pot so you have to sort out the individual violations. >> why is it done that way? t...