Mine safety agency faulted on choice to lead probe into explosion

By The Post's Steven Mufson and David Fahrenthold:

After a coal mine explosion that killed five people in 2006, an internal review by the Mine Safety and Health Administration sharply criticized its own inspection process. It said many safety flaws had not been corrected before the blast because of faulty inspection practices "coupled with weak supervisory, managerial and headquarters oversight."

Now the MSHA district manager who oversaw that mine's inspections has been named to lead the investigation of what went wrong at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch mine, where an explosion last week killed 29 workers.

Former regulators and industry experts said MSHA should have chosen someone else to investigate last week's accident in West Virginia, the deadliest in a quarter-century.

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