Underground scoop operator Todd Upton, this week, became the 19th West Virginia miner to die on the job this year when he was “struck by a wooden board and suffered fatal head injuries.”

The Sycamore No. 2 mine, where Upton worked, has been been cited often and quite significantly, even over the last month.

Last month, the Sycamore No. 2 Mine was cited five times by federal Mine Safety and Health Administration inspectors for “unwarrantable failure” to comply with safety rules, among the most serious enforcement actions that federal officials can take against a coal operator.

Kentucky is having equally poor fortunes…

[Steven T. Bryant of Louisa] became Kentucky’s sixth mining fatality since Saturday and the 11th so far this year.

Our thoughts and prayers to the families, friends, and co-workers of Mr. Upton and Mr. Bryant…

2006 has been an alarming year for coal miners. Here we are, only into May, and fatalities are the highest since 2001.

Less than five months into the year, 2006 has seen 33 coal miner deaths in the United States, the most in any year since 2001, when 42 miners died.

Remember, its not even June yet!

MSHA has fatality reports here