FRANKFORT — Coal industry members of the Kentucky Mining Board missed a meeting where tougher safety rules for miners were to be considered.

        Tony Oppegard, the chief lawyer for the state Department of Mines and Minerals, suggested the industry representatives were boycotting the Thursday meeting to delay adoption of tougher penalties for intentional violations of mining safety laws and regulations.

        “It's an amazing coincidence that all three of them had emergencies on the same day. I think we can all read between the lines,” said Mr. Oppegard, the department's general counsel. “If industry members are boycotting a meeting because they're afraid of these penalty regs, then they're shirking the duties that they have to the miners of the commonwealth.”

        Bill Caylor, president of the Kentucky Coal Association, said the three “were upset that they weren't being afforded the chance of meaningful review of the proposal,” which had been revised several times and was to be changed again Thursday at the behest of Gov. Paul Patton.

        The new regulations are the last step in an overhaul of state policing of mine safety following a series of reports by the Louisville Courier-Journal in December. The series found that state regulators had ignored scores of violators, excused others, rarely imposed strong penalties and lacked clear procedures for following up on federal prosecutions.

        Two of the three industry members left voice-mail messages Wednesday night or early Thursday saying they had been called back to their mines, and the third cited an emergency at home, said Michele Leugers, the board's secretary.

        None of the three — Paris Charles of Pikeville, Ben Spears of Dixon and William Spears of Elkhorn City — could be reached for comment.

        Mr. Patton, a Democrat, and the Republicans who control the state Senate agreed this year on a bill creating a new mining board and giving it authority over regulations but repealing its enforcement power.

        The new board has seven members — three from industry, three from labor and a chairman, Kenneth Fee, a former U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration field officer. Five members must be present for a quorum, which ensures that both labor and industry are represented when the board acts. Mr. Fee and the three labor members showed up but could not act because they were one short of a quorum.

        The derailment of the new regulations disappointed James Talbert-Slagle, attorney for the Appalachian Research and Defense Fund of Kentucky's Mine Safety Project.

        “The focus of these regulations is to protect the miners,” he said. “This just seems to thwart that whole interest.”

        But Mr. Caylor said it was not an issue of safety and that the industry wants to oust mine operators and foremen who cause deaths and injuries.

        “It's an issue of being able to have legitimate input into a product,” he said. “Slowing it down is not going to affect safety.”

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