State Safety

From: The Salt Lake Tribune

The University of Utah has chosen Thomas Hethmon to occupy the Western Mining Presidential Endowed Chair in Mine Safety, a new faculty position funded by a $1.5-million endowment from Barrick Gold of North America and CONSOL Energy.

Hethmon, who lives in Sandy, is an industrial safety expert who serves as senior vice president for health, safety, and environment at Dyno Nobel Inc., an international blasting-services firm with offices in Salt Lake City. He has also worked as an executive at Rinker Materials Corp. and Phelps Dodge Corp.

“The University of Utah is uniquely positioned to influence industrial … Continue Reading

BILL ARCHER, The Bluefield Daily Telegraph

ROCKY GAP, Va. —  A well-established Bland County, Va., business that has a long record of meeting the underground communication needs of the coal mining industry, will be able to improve its products as well as its production capability thanks to a grant from the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission.

American Mine Research Inc., joined together with the Tobacco Commission, federal, state and county leaders on Thursday to host a ground breaking ceremony for a major expansion project at AMR’s facility in Rocky Gap. The commission’s $800,000 grant along with AMR’s $800,000 match will … Continue Reading

From: West Virginia Division of Mining and Reclamation (DMR)

NEW POLICY – Coal Remining Operations

We have developed a new policy that is now in effect as of May 25, 2011.  This policy is regarding “Coal Remining Operations”.  We have inserted this policy in our Permitting Handbook section 31 and in our Inspection and Enforcement Handbook section 20.  Please update your handbooks accordingly.  You may find this new policy and the updated handbooks on our DMR web page.  If you have any questions regarding this please contact Yvonne Anderson at (304) 926-0499 ext. 1523. 

The document is attached below

By JoAn Bjarko
North Forty News

Colorado residents are being asked to comment on a proposed roadless rule that will set guidelines for the future use of 4.2 million acres of national forest lands in the state.

A roadless area is undeveloped land that generally is at least 5,000 acres and has a number of unique characteristics.

A state task force began drafting a roadless rule in 2005. The resulting proposed Colorado Roadless Rule and Revised Draft Environmental Impact Statement are available for review and comment online at www.fs.usda.gov/goto/coroadlessrule until July 14. Additional information is available at the U.S. Forest … Continue Reading