Mine Safety in West Virginia

West Virginia mine safety officials vented their displeasure Thursday with a federal proposal regarding emergency shelters in underground mines, The Associated Press reports.

Critics at a Charleston hearing said the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration's proposal "would require chambers that are too large, too close together and stocked with too many supplies."

"I believe MSHA has missed the point," Jim Dean, former interim director of the state Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training, is quoted as saying. "MSHA seems to be more interested in protecting the shelter than protecting the miner."

The Charleston Gazette reports that the Manchin administration may end up suing the federal government over the proposal.

Ronald Wooten, Dean's successor, "said state officials are concerned that federal regulators may outlaw dozens of the rescue chambers approved under separate state rules," that article said.