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 CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - The coal mining industry has high hopes for a new material that may harden underground seals that don't meet federal strength standards.
Regulators say as many as 13,000 foam block seals in mines across the country don't meet the new strength requirement the Mine Safety and Health Administration set in July. MSHA upped the strength requirement after methane gas explosions behind seals killed 17 miners in separate accidents in West Virginia and Kentucky this year.
Alternative seals must be built to withstand explosive forces of 50 pounds per square inch to meet the new rule. The old standard was 20 psi, but West Virginia regulators suspect the explosion at the Sago Mine on Jan. 2 unleashed at least 95 psi and shattered the seals. Twelve miners died as a result.
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