By Alabama Public Radio
Birmingham, AL – Administrative law judge David F- Barbour ruled Tuesday government regulators failed to prove wrongdoing by the mine operator in the disaster. Barbour says Jim Walter Resources Incorporated should pay only 3-thousand dollars in fines for relatively minor violations instead of the 435-thousand dollars in penalties for major problems cited by the Mine Safety and Health Administration. He determined MSHA failed to prove the company's actions caused a pair of explosions that killed 13 men in Brookwood at the Blue Creek Number five mine. Mine spokesman Dennis Hall says the company was still going through the 85-page decision and had no immediate comment, and MSHA indicated it was considering a possible appeal. The miner's union criticizes the MSHA for a lax oversight of the nation's mines.