MORGANTOWN -- A federal information has been filed against a man accused of falsifying safety records at the Federal No. 2 mine owned by Patriot Coal Company.
The United States Attorney’s Office has filed the paperwork against John Renner, of Morgantown, charging him with making false statements, representations and certifications in Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) documents in the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia.
Some time around Jan. 24, court documents say Renner claimed he examined the No. 27 block seal for the mine, but actually did not.
Renner admitted doing so to the West Virginia Office of Miners Health Safety and Training (OMHST), saying he was using a mine vehicle that broke down on his way to inspect the seal, according to Jama Jarrett with the OMHST’s communications officer.
He never made it to the seal to check the methane levels in that part of the mine, Jarrett said.
After Renner’s admission, state investigators began looking into the mine’s records, which led them to discover that there were high levels of methane building up in some parts of the mine.
Methane is an explosive material, known for contributing to the explosion at the Sago Mine in Upshur County back in 2006. That explosion killed 12 miners and severely injured another.
MSHA is conducting its own investigation, according to Jarrett, but MSHA officials refused to comment on the matter.
Patriot Coal issued a statement on its web site saying it plans to submit an “enhanced ventilation plan” to MSHA that would resolve the methane buildup problem, and said it expects to keep the mine idle through next week.
The company is also cooperating with the investigation into falsified safety checks, acknowledging that “one or more employees made inaccurate entries in official mine records,” according to its web site.
