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On Mine Safety, ‘We Do Not Have a Moment to Waste’
The four key senators who crafted the bipartisan coal mine safety bill that won unanimous support May 24 from the full Senate have urged their House counterparts to move quickly and pass mine safety legislation. You can do the same. Click here to tell your U.S. representative to pass strong mine safety legislation (H.R. 5389) now.
Passage of the Senate bill (S. 2803) came on the heels of a coal mine explosion that killed five workers at the Darby Mine No. 1 in Kentucky and the death of another worker at a Kentucky mountain strip mine. So far this year, 33 coal miners have been killed on the job, including 12 who died Jan. 2 in the Sago Mine explosion in West Virginia.
The 33rd miner to die on the job was killed yesterday in an International Coal Group Inc. (IGC) mine in Harrison County, W.Va. IGC also operates the Sago Mine. More miners have been killed on the job in five months this year than in any full year since 2001.
Here’s what the four senators had to say.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.):
The tragedies at the Sago and Alma mines in West Virginia and the Darby mine in Kentucky could not have made the urgent need for these reforms clearer. Their fellow miners will be safer as a result of this legislation. It’s the most significant action by the Senate to improve mine safety in a generation. The bill is an overdue attempt to produce a much greater commitment to safety in the industry. I urge the House to move quickly to approve these much-needed reforms so they can be implemented as soon as possible.
Sen. Michael B. Enzi (R-Wyo.):
The Senate has shown its commitment to ensuring that such tragedies will not be repeated. I urge the House to do the same by acting quickly on this important issue, so that we can send it to the president’s desk for his signature.
Sen. John D. “Jay” Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.):
We do not have a moment to waste as we now push for action in the House and for the bill to be signed into law. Last weekend’s accident in Kentucky, as well as the miner who perished today, are only the most recent reminders of how dangerous coal mining is. The [Senate-passed legislation] will make mining not free of danger, but less dangerous.
Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W. Va.):
It [the bill] will save more coal mining families the heartache of losing their loved ones in a mining disaster. Many, if not all, of the coal mine deaths this year were preventable, if only miner safety were a higher priority.
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[...] Its been frustrating and deeply saddening to observe the continued chain of accidents and deaths in the American coal mining industry that are occuring with greater frequency this year. Since the death of 12 in the high profile January 2 Sago Mine explosion in West Virginia, 33 miners have been killed on the job, the latest just yesterday. Most die with far less media visibility – sadly fast tragic deaths get far less attention than prolonged rescue efforts that spread out over multiple media cycles. [...]