MINING BOARD LOOKS AT CURTAILING DRUG USE

Department Unable To Order Testing After Mine Accidents

MADISONVILLE, Ky. -- Even when allegations of drug use by coal miners
at the scene of an accident arise, investigators do not order drug
tests, a state official says.

"We just don't have the authority to do that," said Tony Oppegard,
general counsel for the Kentucky Department of Mines & Minerals.

Oppegard spoke Thursday at a public hearing hosted 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 if drug tests should be
mandated 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
Thursday'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.