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This article originally provided by
The
Charleston Gazette
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Large mountaintop removal mines like the one pictured above loom over small
communities, predisposing them to devastating floods. Valley fill permits
authorize the waste from mines to be disposed of in headwater streams. So far,
over 2000 miles of Appalachian streams have been permanently buried.
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Last year, Nathan Fetty watched his community suffer through the
deaths of 12 miners at the Sago Mine disaster. Now, the Buckhannon
resident is going to do something to help coal miners across the
state deal with safety problems.
Fetty is starting a new project to provide free legal services to
miners who have voiced safety concerns and then been retaliated
against.
“Living in the community and watching the Sago disaster unfold
was really gut-wrenching,” Fetty said. “It impacted the whole
community, and it impacted me. I wanted to do something to help.”
This month, Fetty launched the West Virginia Mine Safety Project,
an initiative of the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the
Environment.
“The coal industry has a duty to provide safe workplaces for
miners,” he said. “This project gives miners a place to turn for
help when they need to speak up about safety problems.”
Federal and state laws prohibit coal operators from firing or
otherwise discriminating against miners for voicing safety concerns.
Miners who feel they were punished for safety complaints can seek
back pay and reinstatement.
Despite these legal protections, many miners fear retaliation if
they complain about unsafe conditions, said Tony Oppegard, who
founded a similar project in Kentucky and has represented coal
miners in discrimination cases for years.
“Discrimination against coal miners for making safety complaints
or for refusing to work in unsafe conditions is especially prevalent
in non-union mines, where miners don’t have the benefit of safety
committeemen to help resolve safety-related disputes with
management,” Oppegard said.
“The right to refuse unsafe work is the coal miner’s ultimate way
to protect his safety when faced with intolerable working
conditions,” he said. “But that right is meaningless if the miner
doesn’t have a knowledgeable attorney who is willing to advocate and
fight for him.”
Fetty, 30, is no stranger to fighting coal companies. While still
a student at West Virginia Wesleyan College, he worked for the West
Virginia Rivers Coalition. He continued that work after graduating,
serving the coalition as both a lobbyist and grass-roots organizer.
While attending West Virginia University’s College of Law, Fetty
worked with the Appalachian Center, representing citizens and
conservation organizations in pollution litigation.
Fetty’s interest in public interest law began while he worked for
the Rivers Coalition, and only grew during his previous stint with
the Appalachian Center.
“I just saw a lot of need for public interest law, and a need for
people to do that sort of work, especially as it relates to the coal
industry,” he said. “I felt like without a law degree I was just
beating my head against the wall.”
Fetty’s work will be funded by a fellowship from the Skadden
Fellowship Foundation, a project of the New York-based law firm
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Skadden’s program, described
as a “legal Peace Corps,” provides one-year fellowships — with an
expectation of renewal for a second year — to provide legal services
for the poor, the elderly, the homeless and disabled, and to those
deprived of their civil or human rights.
Fetty modeled his project after the Mine Safety Project in
Kentucky, which was recently revived by Wes Addington at the
Appalachian Citizens Law Center in Prestonsburg, Ky.
In one case finalized in 2006, Addington helped win back pay and
a $10,000 civil penalty from a Kentucky operator who had fired four
workers for complaining about unsafe conditions and bad brakes on a
coal scoop.
Fetty says he’s going to focus on discrimination cases, but also
will follow the implementation of new mine safety rules and could
challenge any government delays. Short of filing lawsuits, Fetty
also hopes to help miners understand their legal safety rights more
clearly.
Investigations at the Sago Mine, Fetty said, showed how poor
enforcement and failure to follow through on tough regulations could
cost miners their lives.
“It seems like there was a wholesale failure on the part of the
regulatory scheme,” he said. “It was a disaster from top to bottom.
There were so many things that went wrong that shouldn’t have gone
wrong.”
Fetty will not, however, handle cases for miners who have been
injured in workplace accidents.
“There are many skilled and dedicated lawyers helping miners who
have been injured at work,” he said. “We’re doing something a little
different — that is, we hope to help coal miners before tragedy
strikes.”
At the Appalachian Center, Fetty will bring a new twist to that
Lewisburg-based organization.
“Until now, the Appalachian Center’s work has focused on
environmental issues associated with coal mining in the region,”
said Joe Lovett, the center’s executive director. “The center is
proud to sponsor the Mine Safety Project because Mr. Fetty’s work
will help to broaden the Appalachian Center’s efforts to promote a
just and sustainable economy in West Virginia’s coal-producing
counties.”
Coal miners who need the Mine Safety Project’s help can call
(304) 472-2044, write to P.O. Box 2260, Buckhannon, WV 26201, or
e-mail nfetty@appalachian-center.org.
To contact staff writer Ken Ward Jr., use e-mail or call
348-1702.
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