NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Federal government fines for coal mine safety violations are far below the level imposed by other government agencies and may not be offering incentives for mine companies to fix safety problems, according to a published report.

USA Today reports that a mine operator could be fined just a few hundred dollars for "high negligence" of worker safety, far below the $5,000 minimum fine that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which inspects most other workplaces, imposes on firms found to knowingly endanger workers.

Families of the miners killed in West Viriginia's Sago mine after the fatal accident there that killed 12 miners in January.

Among the examples cited by the newspaper's report was a $268 fine against West Virginia's Sago Mine in 2004 when it found levels of black-lung-causing coal dust were nearly 25 percent above the legal limit. The condition meant that miners were "reasonably likely" to become permanently disabled.

The violation was not a cause of the accident that killed 12 miners at that mine in January, but some experts interviewed by the newspaper said that the fines aren't enough to prompt mine operators to change dangerous practices. So far in 2006 there have been 19 people killed in U.S. coal mine accidents.

"It's like fining you or me 25 cents for a speeding violation," Tony Oppegard, a mine-safety adviser in the Clinton administration, told the newspaper, who added it takes only a couple of minutes for a mine operator to mine the amount of coal needed to pay that fine. "It's cheaper to exceed the dust limits, expose a miner to black lung and pay the fine than it is to do the right thing."

Federal law limits fines to $60,000 for each violation of a mine health and safety standard, the newspaper reported, compared to a maximum fine of $1 million that can be imposed for a single violation by the Environment Protection Agency, the Federal Communications Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Members of Congress from West Virginia recently proposed setting a $10,000 minimum fine for mine-safety violations for "negligence or reckless disregard," according to the newspaper's report, but it said the Bush administration has said that higher fines are not as effective as forcing companies to close unsafe areas until they are fixed.

David Dye, the Mine Safety and Health Administration acting chief, told a Senate panel reviewing mine safety that the agency is forcing safety changes by closing part of a mine until violations are corrected. He said it can cost up to $150,000 per shift in lost coal production in the case of a closing.

"That is a way that you can get the attention of an operator very quickly," he testified, according to the newspaper. The agency closed parts of the Sago Mine 18 times and fined it $25,817 for 198 safety violations, 95 of them serious in 2005, according to Dye's testimony.

Tim Biddle, an attorney for coal companies, told the newspaper that larger fines won't improve safety.

"I really don't think any responsible mine operator makes any decision about safety based on civil penalties," he said.

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For a look at the call for great attention to mine safety, click here.