Federal regulators did not maintain strict oversight for the past three decades over coal mines with a history of violations, according to a report from the Labor Department's inspector general.

The report said that the Mine Safety and Health Administration did not police mines adequately. Between 1990 and 2007, the agency did not place any mine on the list of habitual offenders even though some mines had hundreds of violations. Placing them on the list would result in more scrutiny.

The report, by Elliot Lewis, the Labor Department's assistant inspector general, found that MSHA was hampered by a lack of leadership that allowed industry, mine operators and miners' unions to stall rulemaking.

The agency took 13 years to finalize pattern-of-violation regulations and then did not set a violations threshold that would identify a mine with severe problems.

MSHA on Monday announced criteria that would determine stronger enforcement, including the number of violations that would lead to increased inspection of the mine. The agency is now looking for regulatory and legislative fixes (Kris Maher, Wall Street Journal, Sept. 30). -- GV