PANEL STUDIES DRUG ABUSE BY MINERS

Recommendations To Legislature Expected

MADISONVILLE - Even when allegations of drug use by miners at the
scene of an accident arise, investigators do not order drug tests to
check, a state official said yesterday. "We just don't have the
authority to do that," said Tony Oppegard, general counsel for the
Kentucky Department of Mines & Minerals. Oppegard was speaking at a
public hearing held in Madisonville by the Kentucky Mining Board to
gather information about the best way to curtail drug and alcohol
substance abuse by miners.

The board is expected to make a recommendation to the General Assembly
later this year. The board is examining issues such as when, or
whether, drug tests should be required and whether a mining company or
the state should pay for them if they are done. It also is gathering
information about company policies pertaining to drug use and testing.
A problem with drug use became apparent last June during an
investigation at the Cody Mining Co. in Floyd County where one miner
was killed and another seriously injured.

Marijuana was found at the scene and another employee told
investigators he saw two miners crushing painkillers and inhaling
them. An autopsy on the miner killed found illegal drugs in his
system, said Holly McCoy, a spokeswoman for the mines and minerals
department. Drug and alcohol use at coal mines is illegal.

But to test for drugs, "you can only do it through autopsy," said
McCoy, who was not at yesterday's hearing. "If there is a fatality,
you can find out about the person who was dead, but you can't find out
about anybody else involved in the accident." Marijuana also was found
during a surprise inspection last fall at a different Eastern Kentucky
mine in Harlan. A dozen people attended the hearing, but only three
people spoke. Heath Lovell, of Dodge Hill Mining in Sturgis, told
board members yesterday that he thinks there is a reluctance in the
mining industry to speak because more regulation is feared. He said
one solution might be to have toll-free numbers where miners could
anonymously report drug or alcohol use by others on the job. Lovell
said his mine already requires drug tests for miners involved in an
accident. Edgar Oldham, who represents labor interests on the mining
board, encouraged people at yesterday's meeting to speak out about the
issue or the "board may come up with something you don't like." A
second hearing will be at noon on Aug. 19 in Prestonsburg at Jenny
Wiley State Resort Park. The board will accept written comments until
Sept. 18.