The two miners in the Alma No. 1 Mine were found too late. In the ensuing press conference, Governor Manchin promised three reforms:
1) Increase response time.
2) Electronic tracking. The Governor said GPS technology is already available to know exactly where the miners are and “we are going to use it. Time, hours, days go by [as rescuers search]. It is not acceptable and we are not going to allow it to go on one day.”
3) Mandate reserve oxygen stations and supplies in the mines.
The Governor also promised to have the bills in the State Legislature by Monday and be in Washington on Tuesday to meet with Federal leaders.
The Governor concluded, “These two men that perished, the twelve men that perished the sago mime, they have not died in vain.”
I will give more details once the bills materialize. Meanwhile, my prayers are with the families.
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GPS devices “may” be feasible but is the Governor certain they work underground? I don’t know that they’ve ever been tested in that environment.
It’s my understanding that they exchange signals with Geo-stationary satellites orbiting thousands of miles above the earth and the receivers have to be in a ‘line of sight’…or at least within the footprint or shadow signal of the birds to work.
Perhaps some sort of ‘beeper’ locater device like those carried on airplanes might work better.
ALSO….does he ‘really’ mean he wants to place OXYGEN bottles in undergound coal mines. Seems to me I read somewhere that oxygen is both explosive and flammable.
Maybe he means some sort of ‘compressed air’ tanks similar to those used by Scuba Divers?
I agree that (a) something needs to be done (b)and that there should be some sort of technology that will work.
I’m just not certain that GPS and Oxygen are the answers or the correct teminology.
The problem is, there have been coal mining disasters for decades, and they promise reform and improvement and use of new technology each disaster. Sure, safety has improved. But not as much as it could, or should.
Ever get really, really fed up? The business article below did it for me.
It says– even after continuing mining disasters– that once again, nothing of significance will change.
Why? Apparently because coal is more important than the women and men who dig it.
The miners are safe enough, and we can’t have “an undue financial burden on the operators at coal mines.”
So i’ve just created a new email list, Sago Outrage:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sago_outrage/
If you’re concerned that there’s no justice for coal miners, please join.
How sad. My prayers also go out to the mining families and friends. I will be checking back here for more information.