Editorial: A miner’s farewell to family

Saturday, Feb. 18, 2006 | 12:30 p.m.

As federal officials continue speculating about what went wrong in West Virginia's Sago coal mine last month, the last hours of miners who perished as a result of a Jan. 2 explosion are recounted in the haunting handwritten notes that they left behind.

According to Bloomberg News, family members of some of the 12 miners who died read aloud their loved ones' final words during a meeting earlier this week organized by Rep. George Miller, D-Calif. Democrats, who were the only ones to participate in the meeting, have accused the Labor Department's Mine Safety and Health Administration of failing to prevent dangerous mining practices.

Subsequent congressional discussions on mine safety have been tense - the acting head of the mine safety administration walked out of a January hearing, infuriating Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa. But such theatrics pale when compared to the miners' voices, which were heard Tuesday as family members read the notes that had been found with their loved ones' bodies.

"I'm still OK at 2:40 p.m.," George Junior Hamner wrote to his wife and daughter some eight hours after an explosion sealed him and 11 others in the mine. Sarah Bailey, Hamner's daughter, read his note to the lawmakers.

"I don't know what is going on between here & outside. We don't hear any attempts at drilling or rescue. The section is full of smoke & fumes so we can't escape. We are all alive at this time."

The missteps that preceded the Jan. 2 Sago tragedy include the Labor Department's failure to enforce a federal requirement that mine rescue teams be available quickly. Rescue teams did not enter Sago until 10 hours after the blast, which investigators believe was ignited by a lightning strike. The Sago mine also was cited for 208 federal safety violations last year, up from 68 in 2004.

The Bush administration in 2001 axed a regulatory effort to increase mine safety measures that were re-commended after 13 workers died in an Alabama mine in September of that year. The mine safety administration on Thursday promised to modernize its penalties system and increase fines. Republican Majority Leader John Boehner has said the House Education and Workforce Committee, which he formerly chaired, is holding off on further action until the Labor Department completes its own mine safety investigation.

But such promises ring hollow in the echo of Hamner's last words. "I'm in no pain," the miner wrote, "but I don't know how long the air will last."