House Committee Passes Mine Bill but Bush Threatens to Veto Mine Safety Funding

by Mike Hall, Oct 31, 2007

New mine safety legislation aimed at preventing mine disasters, improving emergency response and reducing long-term health risks such as Black Lung was approved today by the House Education and Labor Committee.

But the Bush administration’s budget and staffing cuts have raised new concerns about the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s (MSHA’s) failure to conduct mandatory quarterly mine safety inspections in mines across the country, including one where a West Virginia coal miner was killed Sunday.

Says Mine Workers (UMWA) President Cecil Roberts:

This legislation gives MSHA the tools it needs to be a true, tough watchdog for mine health and safety, improving on the MINER Act that was passed last year. The real test for MSHA will come when this legislation becomes law. We will see then if the agency will actually enforce it.

The new legislation, H.R. 2768, builds on the 2006 MINER Act that passed in the aftermath of the Sago, Aracoma and Darby coal mine disasters and was the first major mine safety legislation in decades. More coal miners—47—were killed on the job in 2006 than any year since 1996.

Committee Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.) says the new bill, also known as the S-MINER Act:

…represents a comprehensive approach to minimize the health and safety risks facing miners. Our aim is a simple one: We want to do everything we can to ensure that miners are able to return home safely at the end of their shifts.

One of the bill’s provisions is aimed directly at the controversial mining practice known as retreat mining, a practice that came into the national spotlight after it was linked to the deaths of six miners killed in August at the Crandall Canyon Mine in Utah. Three rescue workers also were killed trying to reach the six trapped miners whose bodies were never recovered.

Retreat mining involves pulling down the pillars of coal that had been left to support the mine roof in areas previously mined. Mine safety experts consider it a dangerous and risky method that should be conducted only under the most stringent guidelines.

The bill requires MSHA—which approved the Crandall Canyon retreat mining plans—to more closely review retreat plans before approving and to monitor the mining operations to ensure they are being conducted as set out in the plans and that the miners are properly trained. It also calls for additional review of retreat plans for mines deeper than 1,500 feet, such as Crandall Canyon.

Says Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.):

With this legislation we hope to prevent the appalling loss of life that we’ve seen in the post couple of years—at Sago, Darby, Aracoma and most recently Crandall Canyon in Utah.

Among other provisions, the S-Miner Act also:

• Strengthens standards to contain explosions and fires inside mines.

• Improves enforcement by giving MSHA subpoena authority and increasing certain penalties against mine operators that violate the law.

• Creates a miner ombudsman’s office to handle safety complaints from miners.

• Requires MSHA to work with state and local authorities to coordinate disaster response plans.

• Improves safety technology in the mines, including better tracking and communications equipment, more reliable air supplies and the installation of refuge chambers where trapped miners can safely await rescue.

• Updates standards to combat black lung disease and to reduce miners’ exposure to other deadly health risks, such as asbestos.

A vote by the full House is expected later this year and a similar bill has been introduced in the Senate by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.).

Meanwhile, MSHA continues to scramble to conduct the required quarterly inspections of the nation’s mines that it has failed to perform on time, including, according the Charleston Gazette, 60 percent of the underground coal mines in southern West Virginia. One of those mines was where Charles Jason Keeney, 34, of Danville, W.Va., became the 26th coal miner killed on the job this year.

The Long Branch Energy Corp. Mine No. 23 in Boone County received its last full inspection Nov. 30, 2006, according to MSHA records. Some spot inspections did take place, but federal mine safety laws require four complete inspections a year. The Gazette reports:

Mine No. 23 is one of dozens of mines across the coalfields where MSHA—hindered by Bush administration budget and staffing cuts—is behind schedule on completing required safety checks.

According to Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), the Bush administration continues to underfund the mine safety agency. Its budget request for fiscal year 2008 is some $23 million short of what’s needed to enforce mine safety laws.

As Sago, Crandall Canyon and too many other recent mine disasters have made tragically clear, mine safety cannot be funded on the cheap. It is remarkable that after the most horrific year of mine fatalities in a decade, the president’s request still fails to provide adequate funds to enable MSHA to conduct in full the most basic safety inspections.

Byrd has added $10 million to the MSHA budget in the Senate Labor Health and Human Services appropriations bill specially to help MSHA conduct the inspections. In October, the safety agency launched a drive to catch up.

But it may be awhile before MSHA sees any of the extra funding. Bush has threatened to veto the appropriations bill.

Print This Article | E-Mail This Article |Comments (2)