Senate Democrats are pushing the Trump administration to explain whether staffing cuts and lagging inspections fueled an underground coal mine disaster in West Virginia last year that left one person dead.
Virginia Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine asked Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health Wayne Palmer in a letter on Wednesday why his agency didn’t deploy sensitive equipment used to find trapped miners after the Rolling Thunder mine unexpectedly filled with water. A 42-year-old section foreman was found dead after the waters receded following a six-day search.
Warner and Kaine called on Palmer to list what inspections, violations and enforcement the agency conducted leading up to the incident, and whether the agency’s handling of the disaster was affected by staffing shortages and a reported dip in inspections at problem mines.
“We are alarmed that staffing shortages may have begun to affect the agency’s ability to conduct inspections to prevent future disasters, enforce critical safety regulations, and respond timely and appropriately to emergencies like the one at Rolling Thunder Mine,” they wrote.
