Investigation By The West Virginia Government
WV Governor Joe Manchin announced on January 9 that he had appointed J. Davitt McAtteer, assistant secretary for the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration during the Clinton administration to oversee a state probe of the disaster. The Charleston Gazette named the committee to the Sago probe as including former miner Mike Caputo, D-Marion; Eustace Frederick, D-Mercer; and Bill Hamilton, R-Upshur; and Sens. Jeff Kessler, D-Marshall; Shirley Love, D-Fayette; and Don Caruth, R-Mercer.
On March 1, 2006, Governor Manchin announced the March 14, 2006, hearing had been rescheduled for May 2, delayed at the request of several family members of miners who died in the disaster. McAteer said the complex investigation warranted a careful and thorough investigation only with all the facts. McAteer would moderate the joint federal-state hearing to be held on the campus of West Virginia Wesleyan College in Buckhannon, to include a panel of Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), the West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health, Safety & Training (WVMHST), state, labor and industry officials. Manchin said, "I'm confident that May's public hearings will be very useful in providing crucial information to the families of these fallen miners." McAteer said MSHA and the state Office of Miners Health, Safety and Training have agreed to publish transcripts of the so far secret interviews in the federal investigation before the May 2 hearing.
The commission released its preliminary report on the Sago disaster on July 19, 2006.
Read more about this topic: Sago Mine Disaster
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