MINE GETS LARGEST FEDERAL FINE IN KENTUCKY HISTORY

ALTERING BLAST SCENE IS AMONG VIOLATIONS AGAINST CODY MINING

LOUISVILLE - An Eastern Kentucky coal company has been fined more than half
a million dollars for violations stemming from a June 2003 explosion that
killed a miner, injured two others and renewed focus on drug use in mining.

The $536,050 fine is the largest federal penalty ever in the state and the
third largest in the nation against a coal operator or contractor, a federal
mining official said.

Investigators cited Cody Mining last year for violations that they say
contributed to the miner's death, including poor mining practices, failure
to identify obvious hazards and detonation of an excessive amount of
explosives.

The company also was cited for altering the scene of the blast that killed
21-year-old Paul Blair Jr. The Paintsville man was killed in the blast at
Cody Mining's No. 1 Mine in Floyd County.

Robert Ratliff Jr., 29, also of Paintsville, was severely injured. A third
miner, Robert Delong, suffered less serious injuries.

The mine's owner, Robert Ratliff Sr., whose son was injured in the blast,
could not be reached for comment. A woman who identified herself as Robert
Ratliff Sr.'s wife said the family would not comment.

Paul Blair Sr., the father of the miner killed, said the fines gave him
little comfort.

"They'll probably never pay a dime of it," Blair said Friday. "Unless there
are criminal charges filed, nobody's going to pay attention."

MSHA records show that Cody Mining, which has been closed since the
accident, has not yet paid any of the fines. The company was listed as
active on the Kentucky Secretary of State's Web site as of June 2004, the
most recent records available.

In addition to the safety violations, investigators said they recovered a
plastic bag in the mine containing 0.3 grams of marijuana.

Blair tested negative for marijuana but a urine test showed he had
hydrocodone, a powerful painkiller, in his urine. The drug's presence in
Blair's urine and not in his blood meant that "at the time of the incident
he was not under the influence," an associate chief medical examiner said
last year.

Drug and alcohol use at mines is illegal, but state and federal agencies
have no authority to test miners for drugs. The miners who survived the Cody
blast were not tested for drugs, so state investigators could not make any
conclusions about drug use at the mine.

Butch Oldham, a union representative on the Kentucky Mining Board, said the
stiff fines against Cody Mining warn coal operators to focus on safety.

"If you're going to operate in this manner, you're going to pay the price,"
he said.

Oldham said he hopes criminal indictments are returned in the case now that
civil penalties have been levied.

Dave Lauriski, head of MSHA, has said the agency plans to pursue the Cody
case "to the fullest extent allowable by law," which includes possible
federal criminal prosecution.

Joni Weber, spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Greg Van Tatenhove in Lexington,
said her office would not comment on ongoing investigations.

Lawyers for Robert Ratliff Sr. and mine foreman Eugene Conley filed motions
with the state commission last year, asking the state to put its actions on
hold because of the criminal investigation by the U.S. attorney's office.

At the time of the accident, Delong set the explosive charges and took
shelter behind a wall in a cross tunnel with Blair and the younger Ratliff.
Because the tunnels were improperly cut, the miners were too close to the
explosion, investigators determined. The amount of explosives used in the
blast also exceeded legal limits.

Debris from the blown-out wall hit the miners and killed Blair instantly.