Montana mine fined $1 million for safety violations

A Montana coal mine located near Billings, Montana, was fined $1 million Monday for repeated employee and environment safety violations, according to the United States Attorney’s Office for Montana.

Federal Magistrate Judge Timothy J. Cavan fined Signal Peak Energy and sentenced the company to three years of probation for violations such as failing to report worker injuries and not getting federal approval before pumping waste into abandoned sections of the mine. The fine will be broken up into four different installments of $250,000.