Arizona's Kayenta mine called dangerous despite safety record

Peabody Coal's Kayenta surface mine in Arizona is one of 48 mines nationwide called dangerous by California Congressman George Miller, who says there are backlogs of contested safety citations.

Peabody is headquartered in St. Louis, where the local paper reported that "MSHA records indicate the mine logged more than 1 million hours without a lost-time incident in 2009, and its safety rate was far better than the national average for U.S. surface mines."   A Peabody spokesperson said she did not know why the Arizona mine was included on the list.

The Mineral Information Institute reports that the Kayenta mine employees are more than 90% Native Americans.   [right, Kayenta mine. Credit MII]