Mark S. Kuhar
|
Another month, another report about MSHA that has people up in
arms. A recent policy change, apparently adopted without public
comment or input, denies mine operators, miners and their
families, and the press access to MSHA inspectors' notes from a
mine inspection, unless the operator or miner is willing to go
through legal proceedings and the discovery process. Previously,
inspectors' notes were available in a timely manner.
As reported last month in Pit & Quarry, changing the
previous policy — in place since 1977 — has been met with anger
and bewilderment by plant operators, lawyers and others. The
denials in response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
requests for inspectors' notes came completely out of left field
and now pose a logistical challenge for those working on
resolving enforcement disputes.
An official for the U.S. Department of Labor, speaking at a
recent Energy & Mineral Law Foundation Special Institute on Mine
Safety and Health seminar, confirmed the new policy is in place.
The end result is that stone producers will now have only two
choices: contest every citation or pay every fine without
questioning it.
MSHA has drawn a line in the sand. It's a line that makes
little or no sense.
If the agency expected the new policy to reduce the number of
disputes, streamline the collection process and make their lives
easier, they are dead wrong. Instead, they have likely cooked up
a recipe for a legal quagmire that will result in operations
having to spend even more time and money than they currently do
defending themselves in court.
While maintaining that the new policy is consistent with what
other agencies, such as OSHA, have adopted, the policy appears
to be a mean-spirited attempt to throw its weight around -
without logical cause or reason.
Mark S. Kuhar
Editor-in-Chief/associate publisher
|
I call on MSHA to rescind the new policy, continue to allow easy
access to inspectors' notes through FOIA requests, and not
saddle the nation's producers with a new, undo burden.
