Underground mine safety in Pennsylvania has been enhanced with the opening of a new mine rescue and training facility in Marion Center, Indiana County, according to Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger.

The new station brings Pennsylvania into compliance with federal rules enacted in the aftermath of the Sago Mine disaster in West Virginia that require mine rescue teams to be located within a one-hour response time of all underground mines. The previous response time was two hours.

“The new Marion Center Mine Rescue Station provides space for mine rescue equipment and training, and dramatically improves response times for rescue crews serving underground mines in the northern bituminous coal fields,” Secretary Hanger said. “This is the latest of several significant improvements to mine safety in Pennsylvania including the purchase of new, state-of-the-art mine rescue equipment and passage of historic legislation that updates our 125 year-old bituminous mine safety law.”

The Marion Center station will equip and train four mine rescue teams that will provide mine rescue coverage to 15 underground coal mines in Armstrong, Beaver, Clarion, Clearfield, Indiana, and Jefferson counties.

DEP’s Bureau of Mine Safety currently operates mine rescue stations in Ebensburg, Cambria County (bituminous), Tremont, Schuylkill County (anthracite), and Uniontown, Fayette County (bituminous). All the stations also provide coverage to the underground non-coal mines throughout Pennsylvania.

Rescue team members are miners who work for the mines that are covered by the station, and each mine must provide a minimum of two team members. DEP equips and trains the teams. Training is mandatory and includes on-site training at each mine in the coverage area.

The 5,000 square-foot facility houses a mine rescue vehicle and mine rescue equipment including 26 new self-contained mine rescue breathing units. Two full-time emergency response and training specialists will staff the station which also has office space for an underground mine inspector supervisor and staff.

“The new Marion Center Mine Rescue Station enhances the Commonwealth’s nationally-recognized mine safety program at a time when mines are employing new technologies to meet increased worldwide demand for Pennsylvania coal,” Secretary Hanger said. “Coal mining remains a cornerstone of our economy, but while we all want our mining industry to be successful, the safety of the miners and the well-being of their families must be assured.”

One year ago, the first major update of Pennsylvania’s 125-year-old bituminous deep mine safety law. It included recommendations to improve safety conditions that were made following the 2002 Quecreek accident in Somerset County where nine miners were trapped underground after they breached a flooded abandoned mine that was not shown on mining maps.