August 2, 2004

Kentucky cracking down on coal trucks

Companies agree to pay drivers more so they can reduce loads

By The Associated Press

WHITESBURG, Ky. -- Kevin Ison is back on the job hauling freshly mined coal along a twisting mountain highway, the big diesel engine in his Mack truck humming under half the load that it used to carry.

A state crackdown on overweight trucks threatened to put Ison out of business until a coal company agreed to the unlikely arrangement of paying more money for smaller loads.

"I feel like the weight of the world has been lifted off my shoulders,'' Ison said, his dusty black and white coal truck back in service after a successful two-day labor strike against Enterprise Coal Co. "We were going broke.''

Although they drive the most powerful rigs in the mountains, independent coal truck drivers complained that they were helplessly caught in the middle of what has become a relentless state crackdown on overweight vehicles. Drivers risked fines each time they hauled too much coal. Yet, they couldn't afford fuel and insurance unless they hauled too much coal.

The dilemma spawned sporadic labor strikes across the eastern Kentucky coalfields over the past month as truckers tried to get more money from coal operators to make up for financial losses that came from hauling smaller loads.

Enterprise Coal joined a handful of companies that already have agreed to increase the rates they pay independent truckers. Under the agreement reached with Enterprise on Wednesday, that rate increased from $1.60 a ton to $3 a ton.

Ison said the increase will adequately compensate for the smaller loads truckers now must haul. He said his loads have been trimmed by 20 tons each.

Greg Howard, commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Vehicle Enforcement, said the smaller loads will translate into safer highways, which is the goal of the crackdown.

Truckers aren't the only ones being held accountable for overweight trucks. Kentucky Vehicle Enforcement has begun writing citations to coal companies for overloading trucks.

Officers began their crackdown about a month ago, sparking demonstrations by drivers. Some called for legislation that would make coal companies share the responsibility for overloaded trucks. Truckers faced fines of court costs of more than $100 for each citation they received. Often, the penalties exceeded their income for a load of coal.

Howard contends that current law holds coal companies accountable for overloading trucks and sending them out on state highways.

That contention is being tested on Consol of Kentucky, the first coal company to receive a citation for allegedly aiding and abetting in the breaking of the weight law.

Bill Caylor, president of the Kentucky Coal Association, said the legal action taken against Consol appears to be intended as a test case to try to hold coal operators responsible for violations by coal haulers.

Howard said the crackdown has been effective. He said he watched 50 trucks being weighed last week. All 50 were within weight restrictions. If that had been done a month earlier, he said, all 50 trucks likely would have been dangerously overweight.