PIKEVILLE, Ky. — Black Diamond Coal Company and one of its employees were sentenced Thursday for violating rules on coal-dust sampling.
Black Diamond previously pleaded guilty to submitting false samples, while certified dust examiner Walter Perkins was sentenced for lying to investigators from the Mine Safety and Health Administration.
Perkins and the company were found to have used a coal-dust monitor at a Floyd County mine above ground in the open air, rather than down in the mine as required. As a result, the samples submitted to MSHA showed no coal dust.
When the monitor was found by an investigator, Perkins said it was one that was supposed to be used, but that it had been returned after malfunctioning. But an examination of the device showed no malfunction, and sensors showed that it had not been moved the entire day and had not been exposed to cooler air inside the mine.
Perkins was sentenced to serve six months in prison, followed by six months of house arrest.
Black Diamond was sentenced to pay a fine of $200,000, as well as $400 to any former employee no longer in the mining industry to cover the cost of black-lung screenings.
