"Certainly, compared to 20 years ago or 40 years ago, mines are safer," said Phil Smith, a spokesman for the United Mine Workers of America. "But we've seen a spike in fatalities and injuries over the last several years, and that's concerning to us."
The state Assembly is considering a bill that would toughen Pennsylvania's mining-safety law.
"It's hard work, and it's dangerous," Rich Wendell said.
And, like many Greene County families, the Wendells have been uprooted from their home as the mining companies extracted coal below.
In 2003, another mining company - not the Wendells' employer - bought the family home in Jacktown, the Greene County hamlet where Wendell had lived for 50 years.
The company paid a reasonable price. But, said Wendell, choking up a little, "it's been hard for me. I lived there for 50 years. I'd never been through a move. It was home."
Even so, he said, "the union mine has given me a good life" - all the material comforts, a brotherhood with his fellow union miners, and a legacy he can pass to his son.
Some of the evidence is in Rich Wendell's driveway - there's a new truck - and in the garage, where a lovingly polished Harley sits next to the Jaguar his wife, Gwen, drives.
Looking ahead, Wendell sees a bright future - at least for the next 25 to 30 years.
Chad Wendell nodded, looking at his parents, and across the table at his wife, Courtney, who is pregnant with their second child. His son, Christopher, 8, played nearby, waiting for a piece of ice cream cake.
"I hope it lasts so I can retire in it," Chad Wendell said, "and give my family a good life, just like my dad did."
A video, a slide show, an interactive graphic, an account of a trip into the earth's belly and more are at http://go.philly.com/mining
Contact staff writer Jane M. Von Bergen at 215-854-2769 or jvonbergen@phillynews.com.
