Kentucky officials seek to punish miner who reported safety violations

http://www.kentucky.com/2012/12/17/2447156/kentucky-officials-seek-to-punish.html#storylink=botprev

Published: December 17, 2012
By Bill Estep

To federal prosecutors, Mackie Bailey is a witness who provided information about dangerous practices at an underground coal mine in Harlan County where a man was crushed to death in June 2011. The company and three supervisors pleaded guilty in federal court.

To state authorities, Bailey is a miner who broke the rules. The Kentucky Office of Mine Safety and Licensing filed a complaint against him for taking part in the dangerous activities he reported to state and federal regulators.

To Bailey and his attorney, that's an injustice, not just because supervisors ordered Bailey to do unsafe work, but because his information helped convict the people responsible.

"They're trying to punish the whistle-blower," said Bailey's attorney, Tony Oppegard, who previously worked as a federal mine-safety official and as a prosecutor in the state mine-safety agency.

Kentucky regulators are asking the state Mine Safety Review Commission to put Bailey's underground miner certificate on probation for a year. That wouldn't stop him from continuing to work, but penalties for subsequent offenses are higher under state mining law. The probation could hurt Bailey if he faces another complaint, Oppegard said.

Oppegard asked the state in October to drop the complaint against Bailey, but the Office of Mine Safety and Licensing has not responded, Oppegard said. Bailey has a hearing scheduled before the mine-safety commission in February.

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