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MSHA News Release: [10/02/2007]
Contact: Matthew Faraci Amy Louviere
Phone: (202) 693-9406 (202) 693-9423
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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