"With memories of the nation's worst coal mining accident in decades still fresh -- 29 miners died at the Upper Big Branch site in West Virginia in April -- the administration is challenging coal companies to either change their tactics and voluntarily improve safety or face the harshest sanctions the government can impose.

The new push to strengthen enforcement is already encountering resistance, according to longtime watchers of the coal industry, as companies employ the same legal and political strategies they've honed over decades to block federal reforms."

Kimberly Kindy reports for the Washington Post January 4, 2011. [2]

SEE ALSO:

"48 Coal Mine Deaths in 2010 Is Worst Since 1992" (AP) [3]