The funds have been earmarked to help identify, avoid and prevent unsafe conditions at coal and metal/nonmetal underground operations.

 

“This grant competition is an important piece of the agency’s commitment to mine safety,” assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health Joseph Main said.

 

“The training provided by these grants will aid workers in identifying, avoiding and preventing unsafe working conditions in and around all mines, and will help ensure that miners can go home to their families at the end of every shift.”

 

MSHA will award up to 10 grants for 12-month project performance periods, with each individual grant worth at least $50,000. All applicants must be states or nonprofit entities.

 

The competition will close on August 18 at 11.59pm Eastern time. The agency will announce the awards on or before September 30.

 

The Brookwood-Sago grants program was created through a provision in the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response (MINER) Act of 2006. This year’s funding, stemming from fiscal year 2010 allotments, will focus on development and implementation of training and training materials for emergency preparedness and prevention underground.

 

The program was named in memory of 13 miners who perished in two explosions at the Jim Walter Resources No. 5 operation in Alabama in September 2001 and the 12 workers killed in the Sago mine explosion in West Virginia in January 2006.

 

All applications must be submitted electronically using the site http://www.grants.gov.