ABINGDON, Va. — A pair of Virginia coal executives were sentenced for a scheme in which they intentionally skirted requirements to ensure safe air passage in underground mines.
According to a statement from the office of United States Attorney for the Western District of Virginia Thomas T. Cullen, the men, Daniel Tucker, 57, the owner of Grundy, Virginia-based D&H Mining, and Gerald Ball, 39, a foreman at D&H Mining, previously pleaded guilty in federal court in Abingdon to charges of conspiracy to commit dust-sampling fraud. The men, both Russell County, Virginia, residents, were sentenced Tuesday.
According to the statement, Tucker was sentenced to three months in federal prison as part of a plea agreement. Ball, the statement said, was sentenced to three years’ probation. D&H Mining was also sentenced to one year of probation, the statement said, after the business, itself, pleaded guilty to a federal felony charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States for the dust-sampling fraud and a misdemeanor violation of the Mine Act for willfully allowing miners to conduct roof-bolting in return air in violation of the mine’s MSHA-approved ventilation plan.
As part of its investigation, the statement says, federal Mine Safety and Health Administration inspectors discovered irregularities in the record keeping of mandated dust sampling. Upon further investigation, the statement says, MSHA determined that Tucker and Ball had conducted an organized effort to avoid accurate dust sampling in an attempt to avoid MSHA health violations and avoid requirements to reduce the respirable coal dust levels. The statement says as part of MSHA’s mandatory respirable dust standards, mine operators are mandated to conduct dust-sampling for 15 consecutive shifts every quarter. During the sampling, the statement says, designated miners are required to wear continuous personal dust monitors for the entire time they are underground. According to the statement, Tucker intentionally programed the dust monitors to shut off after 9 hours despite the miners working 10-hour shifts underground.
Ball, as the underground foreman, checked dust monitors and when one approached the limits of authorized exposure to respirable dust, the statement says, he would take the monitor off the miner and hang the monitor in fresh air in an attempt to prevent the sampling device from recording the actual levels of dust underground.
According to the statement, the investigation of the case was conducted by the Norton Office of the Mine Safety and Health Administration. Special Assistant United States Attorney Jason Grover from the Department of Labor and Assistant United States Attorneys Lena Busscher and Randy Ramseyer prosecuted the case for the United States.
