Page 4 - Methane Levels News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Ground around coal seams. if there's a certain amount of methane gas in the air, between 5% and 15%, it's very, very explosive. so if you're mining coal, it's really, really, really important that you take measures to get methane gas away from what you're doing. to keep the levels of methane gas inside the mine at very, very low levels. because otherwise, naturally, methane builds up, explosions can happen very easily, and people can very easily be killed. in montcoal, virginia, this week, 25 miners died. another four are still unaccounted for after an explosion at the upper big branch mine. t...

And others saying miners were evacuated three times from the upper big branch mine because of dangerously high methane levels. a 22-year-old electrician who worked in the mine as a subcontractor went on record saying, quote, no one will say this who works at that mine, but everyone knows it has been dangerous for years. specifically, according to that subcontractor, workers had regularly been told to work 12 hour shifts when eight hours is the industry standard. he said live wires were left exposed and accumulation of coal dust and methane was routinely ignored. this from reuters, jimmy platte...

Were worried about unsafe methane levels at the mine. massey had millions of fines in the past few years, including the wrong-way air flow issue three months ago. the foreman saying he knew about the situation for three weeks. ceo don blankenship in a memo saying to place production ahead of safety, quoting, if any of you have been asked to do anything other than run coal, i.e. build overcast, construction jobs, ignore them and run coal. this memo is necessary only because we seem to not understand that coal pays the bills. what kind of construction jobs would need to be done deep within a coa...

Explosions. according to the associated press earlier this year, federal inspectors found the air flow had been reversed on a fresh air system that was meant to bring clean air to miners in an emergency. the ap reports the mine foreman told investigators he'd known about the problem for weeks without addressing it. one federal mine safety official told bloomberg today, massey has a history of violating safety regulations especially of the sins of ventilation methane and coal dust that can cause this kind of tragedy. and two miners who spoke on the condition of anonymity said miners had been ev...

In montcoal, west virginia, this week, 25 miners died. another four are still unaccounted for after an explosion at the upper big branch mine. the cause of that explosion is still being investigated but the prime suspect is a buildup of methane gas. rescuers were ordered out of the mine early yesterday morning, even though there are still four people missing, because, they said, of dangerously high methane levels. they have begun drilling holes in the mine to vent out the gas, but state and federal officials said this afternoon that gas levels, including carbon monoxide and hydrogen as well as...