Plan To Recover Consol Worker

{Lumberport, West Virginia}…Consol Energy plans to use a 40-foot pipe and a Louisiana dive team to recover a bulldozer operator sucked into the Robinson Run slurry pond near Lumberport in Harrison County Friday. During a conference call, Vice President for Safety Lou Barletta said Wednesday two 20-foot pipes will be welded together and water jets attached to the bottom of the pipe. Barletta says, when the pipe is lowered onto the top of the dozer, water will be used to flush out the solid material and clear an access way for the divers to enter. Barletta says it will be a difficult task with virtually no visibility for the divers when they go under the slurry. Barletta says, if the pipe dive doesn't work, crews would construct a dam-like area to separate the dozer from the slurry.