February 23, 2019 - The West Virginia Senate passed a bill with amendments inspired by recent instances of people getting lost in shut down coal mines.

“If someone willfully, without permission, enters an underground mine that has been sealed or marked appropriately, then that’s a penalty,” said state Sen. Bill Ihlenfeld, D-Ohio.

The bill was on third reading with the right to amend on Thursday.

Ihlenfeld, a former federal prosecutor, cited a potential punishment of one to 10 years in prison under the bill. There are also a series of fines.

Ihlenfeld said there was concern about people who might wind up on mine property without ill intent. For example, people riding four-wheelers, hiking or picking berries.

Intent would protect those people from prosecution, Ihlenfeld said.

“You have to have the intent to steal something to be convicted,” he said.

But there are increasing penalties in the bill if trespassing results in injury.

“If someone is hurt, that’s an additional crime,” Ihlenfeld said. “If somebody is seriously hurt, that becomes more severe.”

Sen. Randy Smith, R-Tucker, the lead sponsor, thanked Ihlenfeld for the amendments he offered.

“It strengthens the bill and cleared up a lot of the language,” he said.

The bill makes a variety of other changes to laws surrounding coal mining, including potential exemptions to the above ground tank storage act, decertification of miners who fail to perform daily examinations and eliminating timing requirements for submitting a detailed mine ventilation plan to MSHA.

The bill passed the Senate 32-1 with Senator Richard Lindsay, D-Kanawha, voting against and Sen. Sue Cline, R-Wyoming, absent. The bill now goes to the House of Delegates.

The House of Delegates already has a similar mine trespassing bill. That one has been on second reading.

Trespassing on mine sites received renewed concern earlier this year after multiple incidents of rescue teams having to search for people.

An incident from December received national attention when three people were rescued from a Raleigh County mine. Copper theft was among their motivations.

In a separate November case, a man was reported missing after last being seen in a Boone County mine. Police said that was another copper theft case.