By Alabama Public Radio
Birmingham, AL – Ruling in a lawsuit filed by the United Mine Workers of America against the state, Bessemer Cutoff Circuit Judge Dan King's order, issued late Wednesday, gives state mining officials ten days to conduct inspections. State law requires each of the approximately 50 coal mines in Alabama be inspected once every 45 days. But the state has only three inspectors to check those mines plus about 500 more mineral mines and quarries statewide. King's order applies only to mines located west of Birmingham and affects two large underground coal mines and about 12 surface mines.