Coal Industry Says Emergency Safety Rules Too Costly, Too Strict

by Mike Hall, May 23, 2006

Something is very, very wrong in our coal mines. Less than five months into the year, 31 coal miners have been killed on the job, including five last weekend in Harlan County, Ky., and 12 who died Jan. 2 in the Sago Mine explosion in West Virginia. More coal miners already have died on the job this year than in any full year since 2001, when 42 were killed.

Coal miners, their families, the Mine Workers union and a growing number of state and federal legislators are demanding new and tougher coal mine safety laws. Even the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration—rightfully criticized for lax enforcement, ties to the coal industry and an unwillingness to develop new safety rules—issued some emergency measures in March as the 2006 death toll climbed.

But guess who says those emergency measures have gone too far and should be rolled back?  The coal industry.

The Pittsburg Post-Gazette took a look May 22 at a series of public hearings MSHA has  held on the new rules, which must be made permanent, amended or scrapped by the end of the year. The paper reports:

In testimony over the past month at four federal Mine Safety and Health Administration hearings around the country, industry officials and lobbyists offered condolences to the families of the 14 miners who lost their lives in January and voiced general support for safer mining practices, but they challenged the core provisions of the emergency rules aimed at helping miners escape after an underground fire or explosion….

Although the National Mining Association and many of its member companies said they supported the intent of the emergency rules, those testifying for the industry said MSHA, reacting to harsh public scrutiny and pressure in the aftermath of the accidents, imposed rules that are too rigid and maybe too costly.

The new rules include improved evacuation training and installation of  more and better-situated oxygen supplies and lifelines. They also require quicker notification of emergency officials about serious accidents and reporting of all unplanned underground mine fires, instead of only those that burn for longer than 30 minutes.

When they were issued in March, the Mine Workers said the emergency rules were “a good a starting point…a step forward, but there is much more to do.”

If the coal industry thinks MSHA’s emergency regulations are too tough, it’s not going to like the mine safety legislation (H.R. 5389) now moving in the House and Senate that goes much further and imposes stronger fines and penalties for safety violations.

While coal industry executives would likely just as soon kill any new mine safety bill, even they probably realize that would be a public relations nightmare—an admission that coal miners’ blood and lives are just the price of doing business. They couldn’t admit that, in public at least.

You can help make sure strong mine safety legislation is enacted. Right now, tell your members of Congress to pass real mine safety reform, including H.R. 5389.   

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