Proposal Would Halt Sealing Abandoned Sections of Mines

Summary

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The search for a better way to protect the nation's underground coal miners from deadly methane gas explosions is leading some in an unexpected direction: the past.

Before the 1990s, mines typically left abandoned sections open and relied on complex ventilation systems to remove methane that constantly seeps out of coal. For the past decade or so, however, a variety of factors have pushed coal mining toward sealing abandoned areas with concrete block walls.

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Extract

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Proposal Would Halt Sealing Abandoned Sections of Mines

But a pair of deadly 2006 explosions have given the industry reason to rethink the notion that sealing abandoned areas is the best option. The Sago Mine blast that killed 12 men in January 2006 and the Kentucky Darby explosion that killed five more the followin...

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