Article: Westmoreland company faces higher standards for mine seals

Article: TODAY'S TMJ4 WEATHER PLUS; Blame it on omega block
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel;  June 14, 2008 ;     463 words ... ... air patterns. We've been experiencing something called an omega block. The meteorological term borrows its name from the letter ... and storms, and even severe weather. The problem with the omega block, as its name implies, is a resistance to any progressive ...

Article: Could this be the year? Waiting for the only gift a skier really ...
Skiing;  December 1, 2003 ;     700+ words ... ... like me, you're feeling magnanimous and greedy, you should cross your fingers and hope for what meteorologists call an omega block. This is a huge ridge of high pressure smack in the middle of the country, with low-pressure troughs on either side ...

Article: Mine sealer banned
Tribune-Review/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review;  May 23, 2006 ;     700+ words ... ... s acting administrator. Burrell Mining Inc., of New Kensington ... area, demolished several Omega Block seals and directly killed ... rescue teams reported several Omega Block seals were demolished by ... has run a new test on an Omega Block seal that confirmed it meets ...

Article: 'Time bomb' seals leave miners at risk, official says.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh, PA);  August 4, 2006 ;     700+ words ... ... hundreds of underground seals made of Omega Block, the lightweight, reinforced fiber ... methane explosions that destroyed a nearby Omega Block seal -- has mine safety officials scrambling ... Fillpot said the number and location of Omega Block seals is collected at the district ...

Article: Investigators ask how Sago blast wall failed.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh, PA);  February 24, 2006 ;     700+ words ... ... the 40-inch thick wall, built of Omega Block, a concrete-fiber composite, was ... monoxide poisoning. One survived. Omega Block, classified by the federal Mine Safety ... properly done. MSHA last examined a failed Omega Block wall after a Dec. 14 mine explosion ...

Article: MSHA halts use of foam mine seals
Charleston Gazette;  May 23, 2006 ;     700+ words ... ... structural integrity" of such seals, known as Omega Block. MSHA will also require mine operators to ... controversial foam block material called Omega Block. Potential problems with Omega Block have been linked to the Jan. 2 explosion ...

Article: Sago mine seals were poorly built.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh, PA);  July 18, 2006 ;     700+ words ... ... oversaw construction of the underground Omega block seal that failed at the Sago mine in ... died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Omega block, a lightweight foam and fiber material ... substantially from the standard for an approved Omega block seal, but matches descriptions of the ...