R&D Coal Owner Found Dead at Mine

Mine Safety and Health News

 

    Yesterday morning, David Himmelberger, the owner of R&D Coal who had several small anthracite coal mines in Pennsylvania, took his life at one of one of his mines, according to his attorney, Adele Abrams.

    The FMSHRC judge in late July found that the criminal case and the commission proceedings would involve “the same evidence,” noting that 11 of the 12 orders and citations allege that the violation either caused or contributed to the miner’s fatal injuries.

    Despite all of the “flagrant violations” found after the accident, MSHA only found four violations in the inspection that ended Aug. 11, 2006 – only 11 weeks before the explosion -- conditions that would have existed at the time of the accident. In addition, the mine had been cited for  25 violations in all of 2006 – before the accident occurred – 13 of which were S&S. 
     The mine’s safety record according to MSHA’s data base showed zero accidents for 2006 and 2005, when the national rate was 2.79 and 3.80 respectively for those years. From 1995 through 2006, the mine had only 5 reported accidents – well below the national average.

    R&D objected to postponing the commission case, which was scheduled for trial in mid-September, arguing that MSHA is delaying the case for tactical reasons. But the judge found “no bad faith” on the part of the agency.
     Abrams believed that the penalties assessed against the company were not just unfair, but illegal.
 “Imposing a proposed $874,000 penalty against a five-employee mine that was never able to reopen after the fatality is clearly at odds with the statutory criteria in the Mine Act that require (among other things) the size of the operator and the financial status of the operator to be considered when setting a penalty. Civil penalties are supposed to be deterrents - not punitive, as this obviously is intended to be,” Abrams had said at the time the penalties were imposed. 
    The company also contended that MSHA was legally barred from imposing the new "flagrant" penalty on R&D for citations issued in 2006, when the final rule codifying the penalty (published on March 22, 2007) did not take effect until April 23, 2007, and MSHA's preamble states that the rule would not be imposed retroactively.

    Abrams said that Himmelberger left a wife and three children and was distressed by the prolonged case and potential fines that would have sent him into bankruptcy. At the time of Himmelberger's death, none of MSHA's allegations had been proven nor had any criminal indictments been made against anyone employed at the mine.