he U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration opened a mine rescue station in western Kentucky.
The facility opened at Noon Friday is to serve mines in the Midwest in case of emergency. Similar stations are located in Beckley, West Virginia; Pittsburgh; and Price, Utah.
The station at 150 School Avenue in Madisonville includes a fully equipped mine emergency unit team truck, surface communication system, first response underground communication system, infrared gas monitoring and a mobile gas chromatograph laboratory.
A tour of the facility will followed remarks by Assistant Labor Secretary for Mine Safety and Health Joseph A. Main, other MSHA officials and representatives of Alliance Coal, Alpha Natural Resources and the Kentucky Division of Mine Safety.