"BECKLEY — Three weeks after the Upper Big Branch explosion left 29 mine workers dead in Raleigh County, federal regulators fanned out in 10 states to examine 57 mines for safety flaws in a massive effort to avoid a repeat of the worst mining tragedy in four decades.

Twenty-three of those mines that fell under the eyes of Mine Safety and Health Administration inspectors in surprise checkups the past weekend were in West Virginia.

Inspections came only days before President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are scheduled to headline a memorial service at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center, honoring the victims of the April 5 explosion at a Massey Energy subsidiary mine near Montcoal."

Mannix Porterfield reports for the Beckley Register-Herald April 22, 2010. [2]