The 7:37 a.m. recovery of Steve Lipscomb’s body at the Rolling Thunder Mine in the Swiss area of Nicholas County Thursday ended a 113-hour underground search mission for the 42-year-old from Elkview, marking West Virginia’s fifth mine fatality of 2025 and second in a one-week span.

But a shadow over workplace safety still hangs below and aboveground in West Virginia, cast by wide-ranging safety rule rollbacks proposed by the Trump administration that have sparked fervent opposition from worker allies. Politics

Severe work injury rate increasing in West Virginia, exceeding neighboring states

By Mike Tony mtony@hdmediallc.com

2 min to read

Energy and Environment

WV mine sites of fatal incident, rescue effort had serious safety violations

By Mike Tony mtony@hdmediallc.com

6 min to

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