MSHA Awards $500,000 in Mine Emergency Training Grants
MSHA has awarded $500,000 in grants to seven organizations that will conduct safety training at underground coal mines. The Brookwood-Sago Mine Safety Grants are named for two recent mine disasters and were authorized by last year's MINER Act reform law.
"These grants will go a long way toward providing mine emergency training for coal miners," said Richard Stickler, MSHA's chief. "The program is a fitting tribute to the miners lost at both the Sago and Jim Walter #5 mines."
The agency received 12 applications and chose these recipients: Pennsylvania State University, $135,000; Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals & Energy, $85,000; United Mine Workers of America Career Center, $73,000; College of Eastern Utah, $54,000; Colorado Department of Reclamation, Mining & Safety, $53,000; Vincennes University (Indiana), $50,000; and West Virginia Miners Health Safety & Training, $50,000. The Jim Walter Resources #5 mine disaster killed 13 men in Brookwood, Ala., on Sept. 23, 1001. The Sago Mine disaster in Buchannon, W.Va., killed 12 men on Jan. 2, 2006.