US mines face shortage of emergency air packs

Associated Press

CHARLESTON, W.Va.

One of just two major makers of emergency air packs for U.S. coal mines has stopped selling the devices because they often don’t automatically start, and the industry fears it will lead to a shortage, officials said Wednesday.

Underground mines must increase stockpiles as their operations grow. Government rules require the nation’s 50,000 underground miners to wear an emergency air pack on their belt and operators to cache extra ones in work areas, on vehicles used to bring miners underground and along escapeways.

The new danger comes as the industry deals with its worst loss of life in 40 years — the deaths of 29 miners in an explosion at a West Virginia underground mine last month.

Monroeville, Pa.-based CSE Corp. controls about half the U.S. market. Small oxygen cylinders used to start its air packs automatically have been known to fail. The devices are designed to generate enough oxygen from chemicals for a miner to breathe for about an hour in toxic conditions due to fire or explosion.

The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration won’t allow CSE to resume shipments until the problem is fixed, spokeswoman Amy Louviere said.

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