Signal Peak Energy was fined $1 M for safety, pol- lution violations

UNDERGROUND MINING

Heavy equipment moves coal outside Signal Peak Energy’s Bull Mountain mine near Roundup, Mont., on Aug. 28, 2009. Signal Peak must pay a $1 million fine for violating environmental and employee safety regulations. (Associated Press )

Signal Peak Energy was fined $1 M for safety, pollution violations

For health and safety infractions at its coal mine 35 miles north of Billings, Signal Peak Energy will pay a $1 million fine and serve three years of probation.

The corporation was sentenced by Federal Judge Timothy J. Cavan on Monday. For mine infractions connected to environmental safety and mine worker safety, the penalty consists of four $250,000 fines.

"In this instance, Signal Peak Mine is held liable for its complete disregard for environmental and worker health and safety regulations. In a broad description of the case, U.S. Attorney Leif M. Johnson stated, "Mine owners provided little in the way of real monitoring of mine operations as long as the mine's management could fulfill claimed safety and production goals."

"That lack of control bred a culture of dishonesty, costing the mine $1 million in fines today." Furthermore, mine managers lied about the mine's expenses, safety record, and other matters, leading to individual criminal convictions and charges for nine people, including former mine vice presidents and their associates, on charges ranging from embezzlement, tax evasion, and bank fraud to money laundering, drugs, and firearms violations."

The environmental infractions included failing to obtain federal approval before pouring mine waste into abandoned parts of the mine. These included chemicals in unprocessed soil containing heavy metals, arsenic, and lead, all of which exceeded groundwater tolerances. The pumping took place multiple times over the course of several weeks.

The garbage had seeped into active mine sections at one time, causing flooding.

An employee with crushed fingers was told not to disclose the injury as work-related, which was one of the workers' safety infractions. When a mine vice president contacted and instructed the worker to cover it up, the worker was going to the hospital. It was necessary to amputate the worker's finger. A worker with a severe laceration was taken home by the mine safety manager instead of being taken to the hospital in a second instance.

The injury was not reported to the federal Mine Health and Safety Administration for the second time. Signal Peak stated that the company was willing to pay the fee and put the fiveyear-old incidents behind it. In October, the business pleaded guilty to the accusations. It claimed that a small handful of Signal Peak employees had broken the law without the mine's knowledge and that the employees involved had since left the company.

Mine owners provided little in the way of real monitoring of mine operations as long as the mine's management could fulfill claimed safety and production goals.