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Could the federal shutdown set back mine safety progress?

The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration is inevitably affected by the standoff in Washington. MSHA is partially open with less than half the…

The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration is inevitably affected by the standoff in Washington. MSHA is partially open with less than half the staff.

A letter from the Department of Labor Solicitor Patricia Smith, indicates that MSHA is operating with less than 1,000 employees, that’s less than half the full staff. The shutdown has cut back the number of mine inspectors—those working at the mining academy and field offices where specialists evaluate ventilation and roof control plans.

Since the federal shutdown, communication with the MSHA is limited. They did, however, issue a release Monday to urge mine operators to follow regulations and ensure safe practices, and to remind miners to report hazards.

One mine safety advocate worries the shutdown will only further clog the system.

Sam Petsonk is with the non-profit organization Mountain State Justice. He’s directing a new project called the Miners’ Safety and Health project.

Petsonk grew up in Morgantown and was working for the late Senator Robert C. Byrd when 29 men died at the Upper Big Branch disaster. Petsonk says the disaster was a wakeup call to action.

“The federal system had failed to prevent that disaster,” Petsonk said. “I recognize that unless there is real time information provided by miners to mining companies and to the state and federal regulators the system can’t identify and stop this sort of challenges that mines encounter.”

In 2010, the late Senator Robert C. Byrd secured more than $22 million to help the federal officials deal with a mine safety appeals backlog. While MSHA has made progress, Pestonk points out that even with full staff, it’s tough to keep up.

“MSHA has an immense amount of work to do,” he said. “They do it well but this type of cutback were it to last for any amount of time would threaten the progress we’ve made on mine safety in this country.”

Federal law requires underground mines to be inspected four times a year, while surface mines are required to have two inspections per year.

According to a letter from Assistant Secretary Joe Main, the limited staff has cut back on ‘routine’ inspections. It appears that staff is limited to work on inspections of targeted mines, investigations of accidents, miners’ complaints, mine sample analysis, building securities, information technology support, mine safety plan approvals, and mine emergency readiness.

This concerns Petsonk.

“The shutdown may jeopardize this type of critical oversight and enforcement activity,” he said. “I’m not suggesting there’s any emergency that should alarm miners or their families. But unfortunately during a lull in oversight, some operators have in the past have been tempted to make changes or shortcuts without proper third party review or approval by MSHA.”

MSHA investigations indicate that these types of activities have contributed to deaths in the past.

MSHA has a layered approach to oversight and with some of those layers missing; Petsonk worries that any progress in improving mine safety culture will be jeopardized.

“We have this complex system because this is a complex industry,” he said. “The checks and balances when they’re not in place unfortunately oversights can arise and unprincipled operators or unprincipled actors can try to take advantage and the consequences of that could be tragic it’s something that we don’t’ need to deal with. It’s a risk that we don’t’ need to incur.”

Three coal miners, including one from West Virginia, died this past weekend:

On Friday 62-year-old Roger R. King from Moundsville was killed after an accident at CONSOL Energy’s McElroy mine in Marshall County. He was employed as a longwall maintenance coordinator. King, who had 42 years of mining experience with 17 years at the McElroy mine, was killed while assisting in setting up the panline on a new longwall face. King was standing in the face conveyor, facing the tailgate side of the section, when the accident occurred. According to a release from MSHA, a pulley was attached to a section of the conveyor and a scoop was being used to pull the chain. The device failed, came loose and struck King in the back of the head.

Another miner died on Saturday at the Pattiki mine in Illinois. MSHA said this accident involved a golf cart used to travel underground. The golf cart rolled over and pinned the victim underneath.

At the Bridger Coal mine in Wyoming, a dozer operator was killed on Sunday. MSHA said the dozer went over a 150-foot highwall. The operator began searching for the victim at the end of the night when no one heard from the miner. The dozer and victim were found at the bottom of the highwall.

MSHA Assistant Secretary Joe Main said this is the first time in 10 years that the mining industry has suffered three deaths three days in a row.
“Three miners killed on three consecutive days is extremely troubling,” said Main. “The fact that that this occurred over the weekend, when there may be a greater expectation an MSHA inspector would not be present, is a red flag.”

Meanwhile, the annual TRAMS or Training Resources Applied to Mining Conference is scheduled for next week in Beaver. But that’s not likely to happen if the shutdown continues.

Safety professionals from around the country typically attend the TRAM conference.

Petsonk said despite the shutdown, and short staff, miners would do well to remember that they still have the right to refuse and report unsafe conditions.

“During the shutdown the message to miners is the same as it always is,” Pestonk said. “The system will not work without your active involvement. Keep your eyes open file complaints participate in the system. The Mine Act is intended to work only with your support and it’s critical during the shutdown as it always is perhaps even more so.”

MSHA was not available for further comments because of the government shut down.

W.Va. health exchange enrollment numbers expected next week

After an influx on inquiries in the first 24 hours of the health care exchange, an official at the state Department of Health and Human Resources says the federal government is working to fix bugs and increase capacity both online and at their national call center.
Assistant to the Secretary at the DHHR Jeremiah Samples said Thursday the federal government did experience some technical issues in the first 24 hours of the online exchange. He accounted the issues to the large number of Americans looking for information about health care coverage.

“The feds are saying they’ve had 7 million independent hits from across the country on the federal exchange itself,” Samples said, but added they’ve worked to increase capacity on the site to account for the numbers.

As for the federal call center, a second option for people looking to sign up for health coverage, Samples said the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services received more than 295,000 calls the first day, but have also added phones lines to decrease the wait time.

“The first day we were hearing wait times as long as a half an hour,” he said, “and they’re saying that the wait times at the call center have been cut in half since the launch, especially over the last 24 hours.”

As far as the number of West Virginians who have taken advantage of the exchange, the state won’t receive those numbers until early next week, but Samples could say a majority of people using in-person assistors at county DHHR offices are of lower incomes and find they are eligible for Medicaid under the state’s program expansion.

“That’s probably because there’s more experience in that low income population dealing with the DHHR offices,” he said.

As for the large number of not just West Virginians, but Americans who have shown interest in the health care marketplace, Samples said he’s not surprised about the surge in interest.

“We anticipated that there would be three major rushes to assess what coverage was available by the public, Samples said. “Here October 1st. We also anticipate around January 1 because that’s when the coverage actually begins and then towards March 31 toward the end of the open enrollment period.”

He based that assessment on the annual trend the DHHR sees during open enrollment for Medicaid.

Knitters wanted to help families of cancer victims

A pink scarf that stretches more than 6,060 feet is draped across the inside of Tamarack and anyone is welcome to add a few more knitted feet. Knitters that contribute then fill out a card with a message.

“This is in memory of Telo of Richmond Hill, Georgia who passed away at a young age of 47 from cancer,” Deaner Will said. “Telo know I’m always thinking of you with much love and blessings; Linda Crawford from Middleburg Florida.”

Williams, a Tamarack employee, reads a card that’s attached to the pink scarf in Tamarack. The cards are from knitters who contributed to the length.

The project began in January 2010 to honor the memory of Terri Lynne Massey, who died of breast cancer in October 2009. The scarf has gained attention and contributions from people in states across the country and even other countries. Massey left a family including three children.

The funds raised go to the Terri’s Tribute a non-profit organization that helps send loved ones to college who lost a family member to cancer.

The event is special to Williams. She has been cancer free for almost eight years.

“We need to take the time and the trouble and the money and whatever it takes to get the awareness out,” Williams said.

The scarf will be on display through the month of October. Tamarack is supplying yarn and even a rocking chair for anyone interested in contributing to the length with some knitting of their own.

Is obesity related to genetics?

Childhood obesity could be related to the absence of one particular hormone according to research presented this week during a conference in Huntington.

Losing weight is as simple as having more self-control. At least that’s what some think. A new study though shows that maybe it’s not that simple, maybe obesity is tied to a hormone called Leptin. And when people don’t have enough of it in their system, their body tells them to eat more.

Dr. Jeffrey Friedman of Rockefeller University in New York, presented these findings at a Childhood Obesity Conference in Huntington hosted by the Marshall University School of Medicine. The focus was on fighting childhood obesity and its causes, including alternative ideas like Friedman’s.

Friedman said he along with other researchers want to look deeper into body weight than just saying people need more self-control.

“We study the genes and biological factors that regulate body weight and we now know that there are several genes that when defective can cause obesity in humans and this has led us to a deeper understanding of the neural circuitry in our brain that regulates appetite and weight,” Friedman said.

Scientists are studying genes related to the hormone Leptin, which plays a role in regulating the appetite. Leptin is a protein produced by fatty tissue and is believed to regulate the fat storage in the body. Scientists believe people with low or absent levels of Leptin tend to eat much more. Friedman said these are factors that people can’t control.

"This is not simply a matter of lack of will power or a toxic environment, that different people have different genetic endowments that lead some people to become obese and others not," Friedman said.

“I think the bottom line here is that this is not simply a matter of lack of will power or a toxic environment, that different people have different genetic endowments that lead some people to become obese and others not,” Friedman said.

Friedman said these findings could lead to an entire new way of thinking for scientists.

He says it could take 10 to 20 years for those treatments to emerge. He also says only a small amount of people are lacking Leptin, but that it could lead to other research that might combine Leptin with other drugs to solve some obesity cases. Friedman said obese individuals need a new mindset when trying to lose weight.

“It should focus our attention much more on health than weight per say. And the health benefits of weight loss can be achieve with pretty modest amounts of weight loss. And so I think it’s going to be important based on what we know about the biology to not focus on people normalizing their weight, but rather reducing their weight sufficiently to improve their healt,” Friedman said..

Athar Nawab is a first year medical school student at Marshall. He said Friedman presented an entirely new way of looking at obesity.

“I thought his ideas of obesity and the genes involved were pretty enlightening and it’s a different way of thinking about it as opposed to blaming the person that’s obese, there could be deeper issues,” Nawab said.

Michael Andryka is also in his first year of medical school.

“It’s not necessarily an issue of will power or environment, but there may be some hormonal control and some genetic role. And I think this is probably a pretty promising line of research or it seems to be,” Andryka said.

The students think it could open the doors for different treatments as they become doctors.

Shutdown may affect upcoming marathon

The federal government shutdown could possibly impact the upcoming Freedom’s Run marathon in the Eastern Panhandle if the shutdown is still going on at the end of next week. But the Marathon will continue regardless of whether the government’s closed.

This is the fifth year for the marathon and one of its main attractions is the route it takes through four national parks. Those parks are closed because of the federal government shutdown. But there is a contingency plan.

“It’s something that when you plan for an event like this for a year you run through all your contingencies and think of things you can control and this one didn’t come into the radar until about 10 days ago,” Mark Cucuzzella, Freedom’s Run director, said. “So yes if there is a government shutdown we will not be able to use the parks.”

Cucuzzella is hoping for a quick resolution to the shutdown but said organizers have mapped out “a really nice alternate route” for runners to use if the federal government is still closed the day of the event, Oct. 12, 2013.

“So the show will go on and I think this will be a good stance of solidarity to health and fitness and community doesn’t stop when the government decides they can’t figure things out and come to agreement,” he said.

Freedom’s Run offers a one mile kids run, a 5K, 10K, half marathon and full marathon. The number of participants is capped at 25 hundred for the four races and Cucuzzella said close to that number is signed up.

The afternoon and evening before the race there are several events in Shepherdstown, W.Va. and at Shepherd University. A pre-race pasta dinner will feature a talk by West Virginian Jamie Summerlin.

“And Jamie ran across the country last year to raise money for military foundations and he just wrote a book called Freedom Run,” Cucuzzella said. “So he’s very generously offered to come here and speak at the pasta dinner, share his story. He’s going to run the race too.”

There will also be a free screening of the film In the High Country, which followed runner Anton Krupicka for a year as he lived and ran in the mountains. Krupicka and filmmaker Joel Wolpert will be there.

“I think what will be really cool is they’ll answer questions from the audience and talk about how to make a movie,” Cucuzzella said. “Meet Anton, he’s kind of an icon in the ultra-running world, one of the best ultra-marathoners in the world and people will be coming from all over just to meet Anton.”

Cucuzzella calls Krupicka “kind of a cult figure out there, (who) travels, sleeps in his truck and runs up and down mountains when the spirit hits him.”

“Probably a lot of us wish we had that kind of life where we don’t have to be at work at seven o’clock every day,” he said.

Freedom’s Run is featured in last month’s Running World Magazine and Cucuzzella said he’s excited that a little event he started five years ago to raise money for trails and gardens for schools is gaining national attention.

Annual marrow donor registry drive seeks ethnic diversity

WVU Healthcare and the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center will host their annual marrow donor registry drive Friday, October 4th, from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Morgantown Mall in Monongalia County. Organizers say there’s an especially urgent need for African Americans to register.

Londia Goff is a bone marrow transplant coordinator and nurse clinician for the Osborn Hematopoietic Malignancy and Transplantation Program at the Cancer Center. She says this annual marrow drive where people register as potential marrow donors is critically important because patients with 73 different diseases, including leukemia and lymphoma, are dying for lack of matching donors.

Goff explains that a registry of willing donors was established in the 1980s and now contains some 14 million people. She says the likelihood of finding a match depends largely on ethnicity; those with European ancestry have an 80 percent chance, but that number drops dramatically for those with other backgrounds.

“It’s about a 7 percent chance for Hispanics; it drops down to a 3 percent chance for African Americans. So we desperately need people of ethnic backgrounds to join the registry,” Goff says.

Joining the registry requires 18-44 years of age, a health screening, a couple mouth swabs, and maintaining up-to-date contact information. Goff says she hopes to register at least 200 people during the drive.