Newsday on the Mine Disaster Communication Mess

Newsday reporter Dan Wagner talked to several former feds about what happened.

He quotes me. I'm not sure if MSHA revised its emergency response procedures in the last two to three years. But they certainly didn't follow tried and true communication practices developed over many such incidents.

The MSHA emergency response manual that we used to follow isn't on the web that I can see. But the agency's accident investigation manual, which is posted (huge PDF file), indicates they could clearly have done more than they did. See Chapter I, section IV, "Authority to Issue Statement." (This is p. 20 of the PDF file.)