Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., announced today that Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia has been awarded $96,307  in grants by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration to provide education and training within the mining industry.  The funding will be used to develop and implement training and related materials for mine emergency preparedness, as well as for the prevention of accidents in underground mines.

“Investing in new technologies is essential in keeping our miners safe.  I have been a strong advocate in Congress for better mine safety  rules and enforcement.  I am thrilled that new technologies are being developed in our home state, as we know first-hand how much mining helps our state and country,” stated Capito, co-founder of the Congressional Coal Caucus.

According to the Department of Labor,  Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, is receiving $96,306 to develop a computer program that performs ventilation network planning calculations as well as simulates a mine’s ventilation system and its response to altered ventilation parameters, external influence such as temperatures and internal influences such as mine fires. The university has proposed to incorporate the program into a virtual underground mine model to produce realistic mine emergency response exercises.

Training grants are awarded for a 12-month performance period, and applicants must be states or nonprofit entities. The grants program was established through a provision in the MINER Act and named in remembrance of 13 men who died in two explosions at the Jim Walter Resources Inc. No. 5 Mine in Brookwood, Ala., in 2001, and 12 men who died in an explosion at the Sago Mine in Tallsmanville, W.Va., in 2006.