Are regulations sufficient to discourage unsafe practices? T he loss of 12 miners in the West Virginia coal disaster is a reminder that taking coal out of the ground is inherently dangerous work.

But it's also reasonable to ask: Must it be as dangerous as the deadly Sago Mine? Since it reopened in early 2004, the Sago Mine has been cited for 276 violations, including 120 considered "significant and substantial."

This is considerably more than other, similar-sized West Virginia mines were cited. Another sign of the Sago Mine's unusual level of danger was its high number of accidents: 40 in 2005, compared to 12 at other mines.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration is launching a full investigation into the Sago tragedy, but an early question that arises is whether existing laws and regulations are sufficient to discourage unsafe practices.

While there was a recent change in ownership of the Sago Mine -- the new owner, International Coal Group, claims it is working to improve conditions -- the $23,986 Sago's operators paid in fines for its 276 violations is no doubt a relatively minor sum in the total cost of doing business.

At least 16 violations involved failures to prevent the build-up of deadly methane gas, or to adequately monitor for it. While the cause of this accident remains under investigation, it is believed to have been triggered by a gas explosion in an inactive section.

Coal mining remains one of the most dangerous of occupations, but it is far safer than it once was. Last year, a record low 22 miners died. A century ago, the kind of tragedy we saw unfold in Tallmansville, W.Va., this week was routine. Thousands of miners died every year in mine explosions and accidents between 1880 and 1910.

An incredible 3,242 coal-mining deaths occurred in 1907, the worst year in U.S. mining history. The deadliest disaster killed 358 miners in Monongah, W.Va. As recently as the 1990s, coal and noncoal mining deaths averaged more than 90 a year, with more than 21,000 injuries.

Mine safety, in fact, has come a long way, although the record of the Sago Mine suggests it has not come far enough.

As dangerous as underground coal mining is, the nation would be hard-pressed to live without the fruits of the miners' labor. About 50 percent of the nation's electricity is generated by coal, and that isn't likely to change anytime soon, despite recent massive investments in power generators fueled by natural gas, which is five times more costly.

As a nation, we depend on miners to continue to go down into more than 500 underground mines and bring out the "black gold" that plays a major role in keeping the lights burning in our electricity- dependent world. In return, a grateful nation should insist on strongly enforced safe working conditions, with no tolerance for lax observance of critical safety precautions.