After the mine closing

The closing has negative and positive effects, observers say.
By ADRIENNE SABO and ASHLEY TATE
SPECIAL TO THE VINDICATOR
After all of the speculation, studies, investigations and heartbreak, the Sago mine where 12 miners died is closed, and now people of the town are speaking out about the disaster.
Joey Baxa, a junior at West Virginia Wesleyan College in Buckhannon, W.Va., just minutes outside of Sago, said that the Sago mine and its closing have directly affected his life. He said, "I am already feeling the effects of the closing of the mine as many of my dad's co-workers have been either laid off or moved to another plant. There will be many jobs lost and many workers moved to other mines."
Baxa's father works at a cleaning plant for the Sago mine.
Tara Davis, a student at Wesleyan College, said she was not familiar with the details of the mine closing, but like Baxa, she understands that mining is important to the community.
"Any time you shut down something like a mine it will impact the people and the community that surrounds it because it becomes a way of life for many families. Mining is what they do, and that is the only thing that they know, because their father did it and grandfather and so on," Davis said.
Business matter
The mine's operator, International Coal Group Inc. said in a prepared statement issued in late March that the mine will be idle due to high production costs and weak market pricing. Ira Gamm, vice president of investor and public relations for ICG said in a phone interview, "This was strictly a business decision." Workers at the Sago mine have been offered positions at other company-owned mines.
Ted Hapney, international representative for the United Mine Workers of America, said he agrees with ICG that it was a financial decision to close the mine. He said the recent release of the UMWA study of the Sago disaster and safety questions did not play into the company's decision. The study argued that ICG and state officials were to blame for the Sago disaster.
While Baxa was concerned for the future of the community, another area resident and family member of a Sago victim disagreed.
Terry Hamner said, "It won't bother the community. Most people probably would be glad that it [Sago mine] shut down." Hamner, a cousin of George "Junior" Hamner, one of the 12 miners killed during the Sago disaster, said, "Word on the street is that the reasons was a cave-in. But, you know, that's just opinion."
Another West Virginia student said that safety should be the most important issue. Steve Berry, a student from West Virginia University, 90 minutes outside of Sago, said that closing the mine has negative and positive effects. "It is unfortunate that there will be many job losses, however, it is better that an unsafe mine be closed."
"Despite the tragedy, much has been gained in the way of safety for miners, and there has been a great deal of pressure put on mine owners to maintain a work environment within the required safety outlines," Berry said.
What impact
Unlike others, Sarah Beckett, a senior at Wesleyan College, hasn't seen any impact on the community. She said, "Locally, it did put several workers out of a job, but as of yet I haven't really seen a major impact upon the community."
Baxa and Hamner did agree that all of the media attention from the disaster has been intense. Hamner said, "The sooner you quit talking about it, the easier it'll be for families who lost family members in there." But Hamner said the media did bring to light the safety issues with mining.
"They [the media] turned a tragedy into a drama by only broadcasting the bad things. They didn't show all the good things going on. They didn't talk about the things done right. They only wanted to focus on the things that went wrong. You rarely heard how many men actually escaped the mine; all you heard was 12 dead," Baxa said.