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In an unprecedented joint partnership investigation that took approximately three years, Mine Safety and Health News (MSHN) and National Public Radio (NPR) found that mining companies in the U.S. failed to pay $70 million in delinquent mine safety penalties - most for years, some for decades, and that these delinquent mine operators had accident rate 50% higher than mine operators who paid their fines. These companies: defied federal court orders to pay; committed 131,000 violations; reported nearly 4,000 injuries. The joint investigation of MSHN and NPR exposed a loophole in federal regulation, and lax enforcement that places U.S. miners at risk. The result was a special report by Mine Safety and Health News, and a series of radio stories by NPR that provided the foundation to challenge and change mine safety law in the U.S.