W. Virginia State Mine Safety Chief To Quit - Charleston Gazete

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The head of West Virginia’s mine safety office plans to resign as soon as Gov. Joe Manchin can name a replacement, the governor’s office announced Tuesday. Doug Conaway had been director of the state Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training since 2001.

Conaway said he had planned to leave state government in January, but agreed to stay on after the Sago Mine disaster. “I’ve just decided to move on, as I had planned to do earlier,” Conaway said Tuesday evening.

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Conaway’s resignation comes just days after the West Virginia Coal Association complained to Gov. Joe Manchin about agency rules to implement a new mine rescue law. Chris Hamilton, vice president of the coal group, said companies are upset at the large number of emergency oxygen supplies required by the rules. “We have expressed concerns about the 16 self-rescuer requirement without providing for a plausible alternative, such as safe rooms or rescue chambers,” Hamilton said.

Under the rules, mine operators would have to provide caches of oxygen devices at various locations in underground mines. Each cache would be required to contain at least 16 rescuers for every miner at the operation. Hamilton said his group did not discuss these concerns directly with Conaway. Instead, the group raised them during a face-to-face meeting late last week with Manchin and Carte Goodwin, the governor’s chief lawyer, Hamilton said Tuesday afternoon. Conaway also attended that meeting. Ramsburg said the meeting “in no way has anything to do with this.”

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http://wvgazette.com/section/News/2006020718

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1. Typical-rule without responsibility.