Coal miners weren’t evacuated as fire raged underground, feds say. Company owes $1.2M
Coal miners kept working as a fire raged underground because their employer “continued business as usual” and did not evacuate them in Illinois, according to federal labor department officials.
They were never warned of the danger in the mine until someone anonymously reported it one day after it began on Aug. 13, 2021, the Department of Labor said in a June 17 news release. The fire continued burning at the time it was reported.
As a result, the Macedonia coal mine operator, M-Class Mining LLC, has 30 days to pay nearly $1.2 million in civil penalties after letting coal production carry on despite the “dangerous” fire, according to the agency.
McClatchy News called the company for comment but they declined.
The company “deliberately jeopardized the lives of the very miners it was responsible for protecting, and violated numerous important safety and health standards in the process,” Mine Safety and Health Administration Assistant Secretary Chris Williamson said in a statement.
M-Class Mining LLC never notified the MSHA about the fire as was required under federal law and had “reckless disregard for the miners’ safety,” the release said. The fire should have been reported within 15 minutes of its discovery and the miners should have been evacuated.
The company has been cited 14 times in connection with the incident, the release said. The company has the option to “contest the violation or penalties,” totaling $1,165,396, to the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission.
Macedonia is roughly 170 miles south of Springfield.
This story was originally published June 17, 2022 at 4:55 PM with the headline "Coal miners weren’t evacuated as fire raged underground, feds say. Company owes $1.2M."
.jpg)