State and federal mine regulators give the green light to Consol Energy to reopen the Blacksville #2 mine.
The mine, which sits on the West Virginia/Pennsylvania line in Monongalia County, closed March 12th when a fire broke out underground. Workers were able to escape safely.
Since then 120 miners have been off work as the company worked closely with MSHA and the state Office of Miner’s Health, Safety, and Training to safely extinguish the blaze. CONSOL pumped water and nitrogen into the mine to starve the fire of oxygen and snuff it out. Underground testing this week indicates the fire is out.
Regulators will allow miners to go back to work underground Wednesday pending the outcome of air quality testing.