Sbaffoni has been relieved of his decision making powers over Rosebud’s operations until the investigation is completed, according to several news reports.

 

The announcement follows two separate incidents at Rosebud mines, Tracy Lynne in June and Logansport in December, each of which involved a fatality.

 

The Tracy Lynne accident took the life of Boyd Alfred Beer Jr, 26, and the Logansport collapse killed 30-year-old Eric Benjamin Hill.

 

Following the June incident and only two days prior to the Logansport fatality, a mine inspector who investigated the former issued a letter to Sbaffoni calling the operation’s roof-control plan “inadequate” and “endangering [to] miners” because of its poor wording, said local newspaper the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.

 

The inspector also recommended that the plan, which was approved by the state’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), be updated and said that Sbaffoni’s “lack of direction on the situation has a negative impact on the safety of all miners and all persons traveling underground”

 

Following the Logansport accident, the DEP suspended four of the operation’s workers - mine foreman Michael Roudybush, assistant mine foreman Michael Kunselman, section foreman James Waltenbaugh and roof bolter John Kaplon.

 

The DEP cited improperly installed roof bolts at the accident scene that may have been a factor in the collapse.

 

Sbaffoni, who was heavily involved in the Quecreek mine rescue of 2002, assumed the role of director for the Bureau of Deep Mine Safety in July 2003.

 

The Logansport death was Pennsylvania’s second mining fatality last year. Rosebud is the third largest underground coal producer in Pennsylvania and operates nine deep mine complexes in five counties of the western area of the state.