Senate Passes Mine Safety Bill; Another Coal Miner Dies

by Mike Hall, May 24, 2006

With the nation’s coal mines claiming more lives than any full year since 2001—32 so far this year, including a driver on a mountaintop strip mine in Martin County, Ky., killed yesterday when his truck went over an embankment—the U.S. Senate passed legislation this morning to strengthen coal mine safety laws.

Mine Workers President Cecil Roberts said:

As tragedies in the mines continue to create more widows and make more children fatherless, all Americans are reminded we still have a long way to go to make America’s coal mines as safe as they must be. This legislation is a step in the right direction, and I urge the House to pass it as soon as possible and President Bush to sign it into law without delay.

The bipartisan bill would require additional emergency oxygen supplies in the mines and pave the way for better communication, tracking devices and procedures to help miners caught in explosions, fires and other serious accidents.

Watch this space for more details and reaction.     

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