New Mine Safety Bill Would Give Workers Major New Protections

by Mike Hall, Jun 21, 2007

Family members of coal miners killed in the Sago explosion testify at a 2006 mine safety hearing.

New mine safety legislation would improve emergency response plans, greatly strengthen federal enforcement of safety and health rules and reduce coal miners’ exposure to black lung-causing coal dust. Mine Workers (UMWA) President Cecil Roberts says the legislation, introduced in the U.S. House and Senate on June 19,

is much more than just another step in the right direction—it answers most, if not all, of the safety and health needs of miners.

Reps. George Miller (D-Calif.), Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) and Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) introduced the legislation in the House, and Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) in the Senate.

The comprehensive mine safety package follows last year’s MINER Act, a bill safety advocates consider a first step in improving coal mine safety and emergency response and practices. The bill passed as coal miners were being killed at a record rate that eventually claimed the lives of 47 coal miners in 2006—including 12 following a methane blast at the Sago Mine in West Virginia and five in an explosion at a Darby, Ky., mine. The year’s death toll was the highest in a decade. Says Rahall:

The mine tragedies of last year are the result of a government and a nation that let down its guard. That should never have happened. The provisions in this new legislative package build upon the solid groundwork provided by the MINER Act and could result in life-saving advances for years to come.

The bill’s requirements include:

•  A more rapid deployment of proven safety technologies, including underground communications systems and refuge chambers where miners could escape poisonous smoke and gases.
•  A ban on the practice of using conveyor belt openings to ventilate mines (belt air).
•  Requiring employers to provide miners with multigas detectors any time they work alone.
• Increasing the enforcement powers of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), including giving the agency subpoena powers that other agencies have.
•  Increasing the penalties against mine operators who have a pattern of safety violations or who retaliate against miners who report safety and health violations.
•  Reducing miners’ exposure to coal dust by requiring them to wear personal monitors and cutting the permissible coal dust exposure levels.

Roberts says the tougher safety laws will prevent the kind of dangerous circumstances that claimed so many lives last year.

For example, had the requirements in this legislation on seals, belt flammability, and on banning the use of ventilating mines with belt air been in place prior to 2006, that tragic deaths at Sago and Aracoma likely could have been prevented.

In March, a Senate committee held hearings to examine how effectively the Bush administration was implementing the MINER Act’s requirements and what additional safety measures were needed. The committee found there had been foot-dragging on the part of the MSHA and that far more sweeping safety measures were needed.

In addition, senators assailed the Bush administration’s mine safety track record and its cozy ties to the coal industry, including the appointment of industry insiders to key MSHA posts—such as Richard Stickler who was twice turned down by the Senate. Speaking at the Senate confirmation hearings, Sen. Robert C. Byrd said:

The agency and department charged with protecting our nation’s miners exacerbated the dangers in the coal fields in the years before Sago and Alma. The dedicated public servants in the mine safety agency were undermined by their own political leadership.

Bush used a backdoor recess appointment last October to circumvent the Senate and place Stickler in charge of MSHA.

Concerning the new legislation, a White House spokesmen on Tuesday told the Louisville Courier-Journal that MSHA was reviewing the new bill and that it “looks forward to working with Congress to improve the safety of miners.” But Kraig Naasz, president of the National Mining Association, an industry group, told the paper the new safety legislation “imposes overly burdensome requirements.”

Of course, the men and women who go down in the ground and dig coal every day might disagree.

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