MELISSA BLOCK, Host:
NPR's Howard Berkes reports from Beckley, West Virginia.
HOWARD BERKES: The officials at the Mine Safety and Health Administration said these were not firm conclusions. They still have evidence to analyze, and they want a second round of interviews for some witnesses. But everything they've seen leads them to say again what they first said April 5th.
BLOCK: I mean, we still stand by our point that all explosions are preventable.
BERKES: This shearer, as it's called, had multiple maintenance and equipment failures. Some of its carbide-tipped bits were worn down to steel nubbins, which led to more sparks as it hit sandstone in the coal seam. And a water spray system on the device wasn't working.
BLOCK: It's used for dust control, but secondly and most importantly in this case, it's used to quench any frictional ignition that may be occurring.
BERKES: Massey Energy's own mine managers didn't report these malfunctioning systems in a required safety inspection before the blast, noted Assistant Secretary of Labor Joe Main.
BLOCK: The operators have a responsibility to be conducting these examinations to protect the miners. These are things that should have been caught during normal mine operator examinations.
BERKES: These are things that are also supposed to be caught by federal mine safety inspectors, but neither Main nor Stricklin would admit to any failure there. Stricklin says his inspectors wrote hundreds of citations and violations for Upper Big Branch.
BLOCK: In addition, the mining environment changes dramatically in one shift. There's no way that we can say that when we were there last, and the sprays and the bits were in place, that they would have been in place on April the 5th. I think my folks were enforcing the law here.
BERKES: Massey Energy has its own theory about the blast, which casts it as a natural and unpredictable infusion of gas that was so sudden and vast it overwhelmed all safety systems. Stricklin says all the evidence rejects that.
BLOCK: I can't reiterate this enough: We do not think this was a massive methane explosion. We think it was small and then turned into a coal dust explosion.
BERKES: Howard Berkes, NPR News, Beckley, West Virginia.