Clashing views on Senate candidate's mining past

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tom Smith, who made millions in coal mining, ran mines that routinely performed poorly on a federal statistic that measured workers' days lost because of on-the-job injuries, federal mining safety records show.

His mines regularly scored above the industry average of nonfatal days lost to accidents or injuries, a statistic that is used as an industry safety benchmark but is not without criticism.

In two years, one of his mines reported the number of days lost to be more than 10 times the industry average, according to an Associated Press review of Mining Safety and Health Administration records.

Overall, Smith's mines were flagged for more than 1,800 violations, roughly 40 percent of which were considered serious or substantial, meaning they could reasonably be expected to lead to a serious injury or illness. He paid tens of thousands of dollars in fines.

Smith, who is running against Democratic incumbent Bob Casey, contends the high number of days his workers missed is easily explained. He said the number was above average because he sent injured workers home to pursue rehabilitation rather than bringing them back for light duty, as some companies do.

"We tried very, very hard to run as safe a business as we could," Smith said. Fear of an accident often kept him up at night, he said.

Smith wants to scale back the federal government's role in regulating business and uses MSHA as an example of a regulatory agency that he would shut down in favor of leaving such work to states.

Smith said he was extra cautious about safety, not cavalier. Indeed, inspectors flagged Smith's mines far less than other mines for the most serious possible violation, whether on a per-mine basis or per-ton of coal produced. Smith's mines also never received a warning letter that tells an operator that it has a persistent pattern of violations that are considered a serious safety hazard.

Smith said he employed two full-time emergency medical technicians on site, twice the legal requirement, and two safety directors.

And some critics say that the statistic of workers' days lost is misleading. Tony Oppegard, a Lexington, Ky., lawyer who worked for MSHA as accident investigator, said he was hesitant to use the statistic because there are mining companies that do not report accidents, or they minimize days lost by bringing an injured worker back to sit at a desk.

Jack Spadaro, a former director of the National Mine Health and Safety Academy, which trains inspectors, said in his experience, every company with a high injury rate has an excuse and instead should concentrate on fixing its problem.

MSHA, which collects the numbers, said it stands behind its accuracy.

But Smith's idea of eliminating MSHA ignores the tragic history of coal mining in the United States, Oppegard said. Stronger miner safety laws are needed, he said.

Historically, state enforcement, including Pennsylvania's, has been significantly weaker than federal enforcement, Oppegard said.

Smith has given coal a high-profile place in his campaign. He accuses Casey of supporting stronger public health standards on coal-fired power plants that are contributing to mine closures, and a new ad out this week closes with a laid-off miner telling viewers that Smith will "fight for us because he's one of us."

The AFL-CIO's president, Richard Trumka, a third-generation coal miner from Pennsylvania, shot back quickly, saying Casey, not Smith, is a better ally for miners.

"When we fought to protect miners' safety and health on the job, Tom Smith was on the other side," Trumka said.

Smith's dozen or so mines were not among the largest in the United States.

In any given year, 300 or 400 mines produced more coal than Smith's biggest producer. Over nearly a quarter-century, his mines produced more than 17 million tons in the years he ran them. Compare that to Pennsylvania's most productive mine in 2010, which produced almost 11 million tons that year, according to the most recent federal statistics.

No catastrophes occurred at any of Smith's mines. The most serious incident at Smith's mines was the 2005 death of a foreman who was using a bulldozer to push trees off the top of a 24-foot embankment in a road-building project. He was not wearing a seat belt when the bulldozer went over the embankment.