Sago Mine Had Safety Problems Before
BLITZER: Back now to our top story. Rescue crews are pushing deeper into the Sago Mine in Upshur County, West Virginia. They're looking for 13 miners missing since an explosion early yesterday morning. Rescuers have advanced nearly two miles into the main tunnel and small holes have been drilled trying to pinpoint the location and the condition of those miners. They're believed to be about 260 feet down from the surface. If the men are located, a larger hole could be drilled to allow for their rescue. But there's one especially troubling sign right now. A probe has turned up carbon monoxide gas at levels which officials say are simply too high to support life. There have been some significant safety issues with the Sago Mine, and officials are already asking whether this accident could have been prevented. CNN's Kathleen Koch has been looking into this part of the story. She's joining us live. Kathleen?</s>KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, both federal and state inspectors go into mines like this on a regular basis. They check things like the mine's structure, the ventilation, the work practices and they have found problems at the Sago Mine. After being closed for a couple of years when it began ramping up in 2004 with a small number of employees, it was cited 68 times for potential safety violations. But in 2005, its workforce more than doubled and its cited safety violations more than tripled to 2,005 (sic) with some 96 of them considered significant and serious. Now, the Sago Mine's injury rate is also three times that of most mines its size and it had 13 roof collapses in the last six months of the year. But an important caveat here -- as of mid-November, Sago Mines is under new ownership, and the International Coal Group says that safety was up the last quarter of the year. They claim it has improved some 80 percent. Now, a mine safety expert whom I just spoke with said that while the trend for the mine has, over the years, been toward more injuries and potential safety violations and that is not good, he says that Sago Mine, in his opinion, doesn't have the best record he's ever seen -- but, Wolf, it also doesn't have the worst.</s>BLITZER: And we're expecting a news conference right at the top of the hour. Kathleen, we expect to get more on this story. We'll carry that news conference live when the authorities emerge. Thanks very much, Kathleen, for that report. The mine explosion is certainly on President Bush's mind as well. He talked about it earlier in the day in front of reporters over at the White House. Our Zain Verjee is off this week, but Mary Snow fortunately is with us. She's got more on that and other stories. Hi, Mary.</s>MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Wolf. While West Virginia families keep vigil in a local church, rescuers step up their search for 13 trapped coal miners. They're trying to find any sign of the miners since an underground explosion sealed them 260 feet straight down more than 30 hours ago. In Washington earlier today, President Bush said he had spoken with West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin.</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I told him that I appreciated the great outpouring of compassion from the West Virginia citizens toward those worried family members. I also assured him that the federal government will help the folks in West Virginia any way we can to bring those miners out of that mine, hopefully in good condition.</s>SNOW: In other news today, a warmer windier Tuesday is not helping matters for firefighters battling fast-moving flames in Texas and Oklahoma. Those fires have burned out small towns and hundreds of thousands of acres. Four deaths from the wildfires were reported last week. Southeastern New Mexico is burning as well. Four wildfires there have scorched 53,000 acres, forced evacuations and destroyed 11 homes and two businesses near the city of Hobbs. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has gotten a look at the flooding in the state's wine country. Monday, he declared a state of emergency in seven counties. The Russian River today dropped below flood stage after overflowing its banks and flooding countless homes. It rained on the Rose Parade yesterday for the first time in half a century. Southern California got up to two inches of rain. And rain, sleet and slushy snow are mucking things up in the Northeast with snow amounts reaching 11 inches in some areas. Highway crews have a hard time of it pushing the wet heavy stuff off the roads. Schools were closed in parts of Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York state. The heavy snow snapped branches which pulled down power lines. Tens of thousands of people also lost their electricity. Wolf.</s>BLITZER: All right, Mary, thank you very much. Mary Snow in New York for us. And once again, we're standing by for the news conference from West Virginia on the fate of those 13 trapped miners. We'll bring it to you live as soon as it starts. Also coming up, do you think Senator Hillary Clinton's too liberal? We've got some new poll numbers that might surprise you. Stick around. That's coming up. Also, will he or won't he? What Donald Trump has to say about running for governor of New York state. That story in today's "Political Radar."