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>> and you can't 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. they've 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 they've done is tried to shut down two mines recently because the mine operators haven't paid civil penalties at all, but if -- but the mine operator has to have a chance to correct the violation and, yes, they can keep working. that is the way the min...

National average is 2%. according to the mine safety and health administration within the last 15 months, two types of violations came up again and again, coal dust accumulation and inadequate ventilation, conditions that could lead to a massive explosion. the massey company declined to respond to cnn's questions about its safety violations. instead, directing us to a statement it issued after the explosion. quote, our top priority is the safety of our miners and the well-being of their families. within its questionable safety record, you may wonder why this mine was still in operation. federa...

This mine was even operating. >> the reason it was operating is all of the people who were very knowledgeable, whether it be at the federal government, the state government or massey had concluded that the mine was safe to operate and these violations and the efforts on the ventilation are efforts to improve it. >> but the man in charge of keeping america's coal mines and coal miners safe, kevin struckland doesn't see much room for argument. >> is it your sense, kevin, that this is a mine that needed to clean up its act? >> well, we think all mines need to clean up their act, but the number of...

Are going to live here, you will probably end up working in the mine. >> shepard: the danger a fact of life for folks like him and all of them. james rosen continues our team fox coverage from washington. tell us more about the safety record of this particular company, james. >> well, you know, shep, it's not just poor safety compliance. it's also poor government enforcement that is plaguing mining in america. massey claims its rate fell to all time low and safety record last year was stronger than the industry average. nevertheless, this particular mine has seen three previous fatalities sinc...

You're asking if i had the ability to shut a mine down based on what i find and the answer to that is no. once a mine operator corrects the condition and makes it safe again, i can't allow, or i can't allow my inspector to say you keep that mine shut down. when the condition is corrected, they're allowed to go back to mining. >> kevin, how would you characterize the record of this mine? >> i haven't looked at it as closely as i think a lot of other folks have. we've been dealing with the rescue operation. i've heard the number of 458 violations that have been issued. that's probably on the hig...