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MSHA News Release: [10/02/2007]
Contact Name: Amy Louviere or Mathew Faraci
Phone Number: (202) 693-9423 or x9406
Release Number: 07-1499-NAT

MSHA awards half-million dollars in mine safety grants

Brookwood-Sago Mine Safety Grants target mine emergency training

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) announced seven recipients of a total of $500,000 in grant funds for education and training at underground coal mines. MSHA established the competitive grants program through a provision in the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006.

"These grants will go a long way toward providing mine emergency training for coal miners," said Richard E. Stickler, assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health. "The program is a fitting tribute to the miners lost at both the Sago and Jim Walter #5 mines."

Twelve applications were submitted. The selected grantees are as follows:

Grantee

Amount Awarded

Type of Program

College of Eastern Utah

$54,000

Mine Emergency Training

Colorado Department of Reclamation, Mining & Safety

$53,000

Training Materials for Mine Emergencies

Pennsylvania State University

$135,000

Mine Emergency Training

United Mine Workers of America Career Center

$73,000

Mine Emergency Training

Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals & Energy

$85,000

Mine Emergency Training

Vincennes University (Indiana)

$50,000

Mine Emergency Training

West Virginia Miners Health Safety & Training

$50,000

Training Materials for Mine Emergencies

Applicants for the Brookwood-Sago grants must be states or nonprofit entities. MSHA may award as many as 10 separate grants a minimum of $50,000 each with a 12-month period of performance. These grants will be made on an annual, competitive basis to provide education and training for employers and miners, with a special emphasis on smaller mines.

In 2001, 13 men died in two explosions at the Jim Walter Resources #5 mine in Brookwood, Ala. Another explosion at the Sago Mine in Buchannon, W.Va., claimed 12 lives in early 2006.




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