[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2798 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
109th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 2798
To establish improved mandatory standards to protect miners during
emergencies, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 12, 2006
Mr. Kennedy (for himself, Mr. Rockefeller, Mrs. Murray, and Mr. Durbin)
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To establish improved mandatory standards to protect miners during
emergencies, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Protecting America's Miners Act''.
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that, because the Secretary of Labor
has failed in recent years to adequately fulfill the Secretary's
obligations under the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (30
U.S.C. 801 et seq.) to help miners survive underground mining
emergencies and has failed to adequately prepare for the significant
losses to a highly-trained Mine Safety and Health Administration
inspector workforce that are pending, Congressional intervention is
needed.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this Act, any term used in this Act that is defined
in section 3 of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (30
U.S.C. 802) shall have the meaning given the term in such section.
SEC. 4. IMPROVED ESCAPE AND REFUGE REQUIREMENTS TO HELP PROTECT MINERS
IN THE EVENT OF AN EMERGENCY.
Section 101 of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (30
U.S.C. 811) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(f) Improved Mandatory Safety Standards to Protect Miners in the
Event of an Emergency.--
``(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
this section regarding the promulgation of mandatory health or
safety standards, and in addition to the requirements of any
mandatory health or safety standards promulgated under this
Act, the following shall be mandatory safety standards that
apply to all underground areas of coal mines:
``(A) Emergency detection, warning, and messaging
systems.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
enactment of the Protecting America's Miners Act, an
operator of an underground coal mine shall--
``(i) install atmospheric detection and
warning systems, in all underground areas where
miners normally work and travel, that provide
real-time information regarding methane levels,
carbon monoxide levels, oxygen levels, air
flow, and temperature and that can, to the
maximum extent possible, withstand explosions
and fires;
``(ii) provide each miner working in any
underground area of the mine with a device that
is designed to enable the operator to send a
message to the miner providing instructions
during an emergency; and
``(iii) as soon as the National Institute
for Occupational Safety and Health certifies
that portable devices providing 2-way
communications between the surface and
underground are available and are capable of
operation during some mining emergencies,
provide each miner working in any underground
area of the mine with such a device, and, in
addition, continue to provide the devices
required under clause (ii) until such time as
the 2-way communications devices required by
this paragraph are certified by the National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to
be at least as effective as the other devices
in all mining emergency circumstances.
The Secretary shall establish procedures for regularly
consulting with other Federal, State, and foreign
agencies with respect to new communications
technologies for use in accordance with clauses (ii)
and (iii) and for expediting the approval of such new
technologies.
``(B) Facilitating emergency escape.--
``(i) Emergency caches.--Not later than 30
days after the date of enactment of the
Protecting America's Miners Act, each operator
of an underground coal mine shall provide
emergency underground caches of air and self-
contained breathing equipment, in amounts
sufficient to enable all miners working
anywhere in a particular mine to escape from
the mine in an emergency in which any direct
inhalation of the mine atmosphere by a miner
would likely produce adverse health effects.
The caches shall be located throughout the
mine, including in escapeways. In order to
determine the specific location of each cache
in an escapeway, an operator shall develop a
risk assessment plan that calculates the
necessary amount and placement of the caches
based on the travel time by foot from the
deepest work area in the mine to the surface,
taking into account the impact of emergency
conditions and the demographics of the miners
in the particular mine, except that such caches
shall not be spaced further apart than the
distance an average miner can walk in 30
minutes. Each cache located in an escapeway
shall be marked with flame retardant lifeline
cords or similar devices, and reflective
material shall be placed at 25-foot intervals
along the route to the cache to indicate the
cache's location.
``(ii) Additional emergency caches.--Until
the date that the requirement to provide
refuges under subparagraph (C) is effective,
each operator of an underground coal mine shall
maintain, in addition to the caches described
in clause (i), emergency supplies of air and
self-contained breathing equipment for miners
awaiting rescue due to an emergency within the
mine. Such equipment shall be sufficient to
supply the highest number of miners expected to
be in the working areas of the mine for not
less than 5 days.
``(iii) Self-rescue device approval and
inspection process.--
``(I) Expedited approval.--The
Secretary shall expedite the process
for approving any self-rescue device
that permits the replenishment of
oxygen without requiring the device
user to remove the device.
``(II) Inspection program.--The
Secretary shall--
``(aa) establish a program
to randomly check samples of
any self-rescue devices used in
an underground coal mine on a
regular basis, in order to
ensure that the self-rescue
devices in the coal mine
inventories are working in
accordance with the approval
criteria for such devices;
``(bb) require a
manufacturer of a self-rescue
device to contact the Secretary
immediately upon notification
of any potential problem with
such device; and
``(cc) notify immediately
all operators of underground
coal mines if the Secretary
detects or is advised of any
problems with the self-rescue
devices.
``(iv) Self-rescue device maintenance
schedule.--Not later than 30 days after the
date of enactment of the Protecting America's
Miners Act, each operator of an underground
coal mine shall develop and implement a
maintenance schedule for--
``(I) checking the reliability of
self-rescue devices;
``(II) retiring older self-rescue
devices first; and
``(III) introducing new self-rescue
device technology, such as devices with
interchangeable air or oxygen cylinders
that do not require doffing to
replenish airflow and devices with air
or oxygen supplies of more than 1 hour,
as such devices are approved by the
Secretary and become available.
``(v) Self-rescue device training.--Not
later than 30 days after the date of enactment
of the Protecting America's Miners Act, each
operator of an underground coal mine shall
implement a program to ensure that all miners
are trained in the proper procedures for
donning self-rescue devices, switching from 1
self-rescue device to another, and ensuring a
proper fit of the self-rescue devices.
``(vi) Flame-retardant lifelines.--Whenever
required by law to install lifelines, each
operator of an underground coal mine shall use
flame-retardant lifelines exclusively.
``(C) Refuges.--Not later than 1 year after the
date of enactment of the Protecting America's Miners
Act, each operator of an underground coal mine shall
establish or provide refuges underground in sufficient
locations to ensure that all miners working at any
location in a mine can reach a refuge that can
accommodate such miner within 15 minutes, should such
miner determine that escape from the mine is not the
best course of action to take during an emergency and
without regard to the length of time it might take to
escape the mine. Each such refuge shall be a stand-
alone refuge. Each operator shall ensure that the
locations of the refuges are marked and kept current on
mine maps, and that mine rescue teams for the mine are
regularly provided with information about the design
and features of the refuges. Each such refuge shall
be--
``(i) equipped with adequate air, food, and
water to accommodate the calculated number of
miners for a period of not less than 5 days;
``(ii) constructed or designed in such a
way as to seal out toxic mine atmospheres and
to eliminate the buildup of toxic atmospheres
or other hazardous conditions within the
refuge; and
``(iii) equipped with telephone lines, or
equivalent 2-way communications to the surface.
``(D) Tracking devices to facilitate rescue.--Not
later than 180 days after the date of enactment of the
Protecting America's Miners Act, each operator of an
underground coal mine shall provide each miner working
in an underground location with an electronic tracking
device that permits the continuous tracking of the
location of the miner within the mine, for the purpose
of facilitating the miner's rescue in an emergency.
``(2) Modification and supersession.--The provisions of
this subsection may be superseded in whole or in part by
improved mandatory safety standards promulgated by the
Secretary under this section, and may be modified with respect
to a particular mine only in accordance with the requirements
and procedure described in subsection (c).
``(3) Imminent danger.--Any violation of a mandatory safety
standard under this subsection, or a mandatory safety standard
promulgated by the Secretary that supercedes a standard under
this subsection, shall be deemed to create an imminent danger
to miners for the purposes of section 107.''.
SEC. 5. FACILITATING THE PROMPT INITIATION OF RESCUE AND MINE RECOVERY
EFFORTS.
(a) Emergency Call Center.--Not later than 30 days after the date
of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall establish, within the
Mine Safety and Health Administration, a central communications
emergency call center for all coal or other mine operations that shall
be staffed and operated 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, by 1 or more
employees of the Mine Safety and Health Administration. All calls
placed to the emergency call center shall be answered by an individual
with adequate experience and training to handle emergency mine
situations. A single national phone number shall be provided for this
purpose and the Secretary shall ensure that all miners and mine
operators are issued laminated cards with emergency call center
information.
(b) Contact Information.--The Secretary shall provide the emergency
call center with a contact list, updated not less often than quarterly,
that contains--
(1) the contact phone numbers, including the home phone
numbers, for the members of each mine rescue team responsible
for each coal or other mine;
(2) the phone numbers for the local emergency and rescue
services unit that is located nearest to each mine;
(3) the contact phone numbers, including the home phone
number, for the operator of each mine;
(4) the contact phone numbers, including the home phone
numbers, for the national and district officials of the Mine
Safety and Health Administration;
(5) the contact phone numbers, including the home phone
numbers, for the State officials in each State who should be
contacted in the event of a mine emergency in such State; and
(6) the contact phone numbers, including the home phone
number, for the authorized representative of the miners at each
mine.
(c) Mine Location Maps.--The Secretary shall establish, maintain,
and keep current on the Department of Labor's website a detailed map or
set of maps showing the exact geographic location of each operating or
abandoned mine in the United States. Such map or maps shall--
(1) be presented, through links within the website, in such
a way as to make the location of a mine instantly available to
the emergency personnel responding to the mine;
(2) be available to members of the public; and
(3) allow a user to find the geographic location of a
particular mine, or the geographic locations of all mines of a
particular type in a county, congressional district, State, or
other commonly used geographic region.
(d) Required Notification of Emergencies and Serious Incidents.--
(1) Reporting.--An operator of a coal or other mine shall
report any emergency or serious mine incident to the emergency
call center not later than 15 minutes after becoming aware of
any such emergency or serious mine incident, regardless of
whether miners remain at risk.
(2) Emergencies or serious incidents.--For the purposes of
this subsection, an emergency or serious mine incident
includes--
(A) a mine fire;
(B) a roof fall, unplanned inundation, collapse, or
unplanned explosion;
(C) a sudden change in mine atmospheric conditions;
(D) a rib fall that impairs ventilation or impedes
passage;
(E) a coal or rock outburst that causes the
withdrawal of miners;
(F) the failure of an impoundment;
(G) damage to hoisting equipment in a shaft or
slope that endangers an individual;
(H) any incident that leads to the death, serious
injury with a reasonable potential to cause death, or
entrapment, of a miner; and
(I) any other emergency or incident, as determined
in regulations promulgated by the Secretary, that needs
to be examined in order to determine if the working
conditions in the mine are safe.
(e) Enhancing the Availability and Capabilities of Mine Rescue
Teams.--
(1) Coal mine rescue team requirements.--
(A) Operators with less than 36 employees.--Not
later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this
Act, an operator of an underground coal mine for which
the total number of employees employed in the
underground areas of the mine, at any time during the
previous year, did not exceed 35 employees, shall
ensure that--
(i) each mine rescue team that is required
under section 115(e) of the Federal Mine Safety
and Health Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 825(e)), and
the regulations promulgated pursuant to such
section, includes miners who are employed by
the operator and who are familiar with the
workings of such mine;
(ii) all members of the mine rescue team
can reach the mine in not more than 1 hour; and
(iii) each mine rescue team conducts at
least 2 mine rescue drills each year in the
mine for which the rescue team has mine rescue
responsibilities.
(B) Operators with 36 or more employees.--Not later
than 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act,
an operator of an underground coal mine that employed,
at any time during the previous year, a total of 36 or
more employees for work in the underground areas of the
mine shall ensure that--
(i) each mine rescue team that is required
under section 115(e) of the Federal Mine Safety
and Health Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 825(e)), and
the regulations promulgated pursuant to such
section, consists exclusively of miners who are
employed by such operator and who are familiar
with the workings of such mine; and
(ii) all members of the mine rescue team
are available for immediate deployment.
(C) Additional teams.--Nothing in this paragraph
shall be construed to preclude an operator of a coal
mine from contracting for the services of other mine
rescue teams in addition to the mine rescue teams
required by section 115(e) of the Federal Mine Safety
and Health Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 825(e)).
(2) Mine rescue team regulations.--
(A) Initiation of rulemaking.--Not later than 30
days after the date of enactment of this Act, the
Secretary shall initiate rulemaking activity to revise
the Secretary's regulations under section 115(e) of the
Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C.
825(e)) regarding mine rescue teams, and shall in this
regard directly contact and solicit the participation
of--
(i) all existing mine rescue teams;
(ii) organizations representing other types
of rescue workers (such as firefighters);
(iii) State and local emergency
authorities; and
(iv) others whom the Secretary determines
may have information relevant to this
rulemaking.
(B) Interim final rules.--The Secretary shall issue
the regulations revised under subparagraph (A) as
interim final rules not later than 270 days after the
date of enactment of this Act.
(C) Content of revised regulations.--In revising
the regulations under subparagraph (A), the Secretary
shall address, at a minimum--
(i) the training and qualifications for
mine rescue team members;
(ii) the equipment and technology used in
mine rescue;
(iii) the structure and organization of
mine rescue teams;
(iv) the identification of qualified
surface personnel to communicate with mine
rescue teams during rescue efforts;
(v) the provision of uniform credentials to
mine rescue team members, support personnel, or
vehicles for immediate access to any mine site;
(vi) the plans required at each mine to
ensure coordination with local emergency
response personnel and to ensure that such
personnel receive adequate training in mine
rescue needs and in coordinating with the mine
rescue teams at each mine; and
(vii) requirements to ensure that operators
are prepared to facilitate the work of mine
rescue teams during an emergency by--
(I) storing necessary equipment in
locations readily accessible to mine
rescue teams;
(II) providing mine rescue teams
with a parking and staging area
adequate for their needs;
(III) identifying a space
appropriate for coordinating emergency
communications with the mine rescue
team; and
(IV) identifying and maintaining
separate spaces for family members,
community members, and press to
assemble during an emergency so as to
facilitate communications with these
groups while ensuring the efforts of
the mine rescue teams are not hindered.
SEC. 6. ENHANCING THE INVESTIGATION OF MINE ACCIDENTS.
(a) Investigations by the Secretary.--Not later than 30 days after
the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall initiate
rulemaking activity to establish regulations regarding the
investigation of accidents, and shall in this regard directly contact
and solicit the participation of--
(1) individuals identified by the Secretary as family
members of miners who perished in mining accidents of any type
during the preceding 10-year period;
(2) organizations representing miners;
(3) mine rescue teams;
(4) Federal, State, and local investigation and
prosecutorial authorities; and
(5) others whom the Secretary determines may have
information relevant to this rulemaking.
(b) Interim Final Rules.--The Secretary shall issue the regulations
revised under subsection (a) as interim final rules not later than 270
days after the date of enactment of this Act.
(c) Content of Revised Regulations.--In revising the regulations
under subsection (a), the Secretary shall require that--
(1) public hearings are held in connection with any fatal
accident and in connection with an accident that could have
resulted in multiple fatalities;
(2) the recommendations of an investigation of an accident
undertaken in accordance with subsection (a) are made public at
such time as the recommendations are provided to the Secretary;
(3) the Secretary designate an employee as a family
advocate to act as the liaison between the Secretary and the
family of any miner killed or injured in any accident that is
the subject of an investigation;
(4) the family of a miner killed or injured in an accident
that is the subject of an investigation is included in all
phases of the investigation (including witness interviews) in
which a representative of the operator or the miners is
included; and
(5) the Secretary is the coordinator of rescue operations
and communications with the public and families during any
investigation of an accident.
(d) Independent Investigations.--After an accident and upon the
timely request of the authorized representative of the miners at a
mine, or representatives of a majority of the families of the miners
killed or who could have been killed in such accident, the Secretary
shall contract with the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board
or other appropriate independent Federal investigative authority to
conduct an independent investigation of the accident and provide
recommendations to the Secretary. Such investigation shall be in
addition to any investigation conducted by the Secretary, and shall be
conducted pursuant to whatever procedures such authority determines are
appropriate for the investigation. The Secretary shall provide such
authority with all information and expertise requested, and shall pay
for such authority to conduct the authority's investigation, including
the costs of obtaining the services of independent experts required for
any such investigation.
SEC. 7. ENHANCING OPERATOR AND OWNER INCENTIVES TO AVOID SERIOUS RISKS
TO MINERS.
(a) Pattern of Violations.--
(1) Prompt identification of pattern.--Not later than 30
days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary is
directed to revise the regulations issued by the Secretary
under section 104(e) of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act
of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 814(e)) as in effect on the day before such
date of enactment, so that the regulations provide that--
(A) when a potential pattern of violations is
identified by any inspector or district manager of the
Mine Safety and Health Administration, the operator of
the coal or other mine and the authorized
representative of miners for the mine shall be notified
by the inspector or district manager not later than 10
days after such identification; and
(B) after receiving the notification described in
subparagraph (A), the appropriate Administrator of the
Mine Safety and Health Administration shall promptly
review any such potential pattern of violations and,
not later than 45 days after receiving such
notification, make a final decision as to whether a
citation for a violation of section 104(e) of such Act
should be issued.
(2) Fine for a pattern of violations.--Section 110 of the
Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 820) is
amended--
(A) by redesignating subsections (i) through (l) as
subsections (k) through (n), respectively; and
(B) by inserting after subsection (h) the
following:
``(i) Patterns of Violation.--
``(1) Additional penalties.--If the Secretary determines
that a pattern of violations under section 104(e) exists, the
Secretary shall assess a penalty, in addition to any other
penalty authorized in this Act for a violation of such section,
of not more than $1,000,000. All operators of the mine,
including any corporate owners, shall be jointly and severally
liable for such penalty. The amount of the assessment under
this paragraph shall be designed to ensure a change in the
future conduct of the operators and corporate owners of such
mine with respect to mine safety and health, given the overall
resources of such operators. Notwithstanding subsection (k) or
section 113, a penalty assessed by the Secretary under this
paragraph may not be reduced by the Commission.
``(2) Withdrawal of workers.--In addition to the authority
to withdraw miners from an area of a coal or other mine
pursuant to section 104(e), the Secretary shall withdraw all
miners from the entire mine when any pattern of violations has
been determined to exist until such time as the Secretary
certifies that all identified violations have been corrected
and the operator has agreed to abide by a written plan approved
by the Mine Safety and Health Administration to ensure that
such a pattern of conduct will not recur.''.
(b) Failure To Timely Pay Penalty Assessments.--Section 105(a) of
the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 815(a)) is
amended by striking the third sentence and inserting the following:
``The operator has 30 days from the receipt of the notification of a
citation issued by the Secretary, to notify the Secretary that the
operator intends to contest the citation or proposed assessment of a
penalty and to place in escrow the amount of the proposed assessment.
If notification and proof of escrow is not provided to the Secretary,
the citation and the proposed assessment of penalty shall be deemed a
final order of the Commission and not subject to review by any court or
agency. It shall be a felony for any mine operator, including a
corporate owner, of a coal or other mine to fail to timely pay any
penalties assessed under this Act for which payment has been demanded.
Such felony shall be punishable, for each operator, by a fine of not
less than $50,000 or by imprisonment for 1 year.''.
(c) Maximum and Minimum Penalties.--Section 110(a) of the Federal
Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 820(a)) is amended by
striking ``more than $50,000 for each such violation.'' and inserting
``less than $500 or more than $250,000 for each such violation, except
that, in the case of a violation of a mandatory health or safety
standard that could significantly and substantially contribute to the
cause and effect of a coal or other mine health or safety hazard, the
penalty shall not be less than $1,000 or more than $500,000, for each
such violation.''.
(d) Penalty for Late Accident Notification.--Section 110 of the
Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 820) is further
amended by inserting after subsection (i) (as inserted by subsection
(a)(2)(B)) the following:
``(j) Any operator who fails to provide timely notification of an
accident as required under section 5(d)(1) of the Protecting America's
Miners Act shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than
$100,000 and not less than $60,000.''.
(e) Factors in Assessing Penalties.--Section 110(k) of the Federal
Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 820(k)) (as redesignated
by subsection (a)(2)(A)) is amended by striking ``the appropriateness''
and all that follows through ``the gravity'' and inserting ``whether
the operator was negligent, the gravity''.
SEC. 8. ENHANCING THE WILLINGNESS OF MINERS AND OTHERS TO REPORT
SERIOUS PROBLEMS BEFORE ACCIDENTS OCCUR.
(a) Establishment of Miner Ombudsman.--There shall be established,
within the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Labor,
the position of Miner Ombudsman. The President, by and with the advice
and consent of the Senate, shall appoint an individual with expertise
in mine safety and health to serve as the Miner Ombudsman.
(b) Duties.--The Miner Ombudsman shall--
(1) be responsible for establishing practices to ensure the
confidentiality of the identity of miners, and the families or
personal representatives of the miners, who contact mine
operators, authorized representatives of the miners, the Mine
Safety and Health Administration, the Department of Labor, or
others with information about mining conditions that may
threaten, or have recently threatened as of the time of the
contact, miner safety or health, while ensuring that the Mine
Safety and Health Administration has the information needed to
promptly investigate such complaints;
(2) establish a toll-free telephone number and appropriate
Internet website to permit individuals to confidentially report
possible mine mandatory health or safety standard violations or
concerns;
(3) collect and forward information concerning possible
mine safety or health violations or concerns to the appropriate
officials of the Mine Safety and Health Administration for
investigation;
(4) monitor the Secretary of Labor's efforts to protect
miners who report that their rights under section 105(c) of the
Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 815(c))
have been violated, and report to the Congress any
recommendations that would enhance such rights or protections;
and
(5) carry out public outreach and other activities to
facilitate the transmission, to the Secretary of Labor, of
information that could help avoid mine accidents.
SEC. 9. ENHANCING SPECIFIC PROTECTIONS FOR UNDERGROUND COAL MINES.
(a) Special Rulemaking.--Section 101 of the Federal Mine Safety and
Health Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 811) is further amended by adding at the
end the following:
``(g) Special Rulemaking Procedure for Certain Safety Standards.--
``(1) Conveyor belts.--
``(A) Rulemaking and interim standards.--Not later
than 30 days after the date of enactment of the
Protecting America's Miners Act, the Secretary shall
initiate rulemaking activity to develop mandatory
safety standards that implement the recommendations of
the National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health that conveyor belts used in underground coal
mines be designed to minimize flammability. Such
revised mandatory safety standards shall be issued as
interim standards not later than 270 days after the
date of enactment of such Act.
``(B) Application of prior rule.--Until such time
as the interim standards described in subparagraph (A)
are issued and new requirements on belt flammability
are placed in effect, the amendments made by the final
rule published on April 2, 2004, in the Federal
Register (69 Fed. Reg. 17480) to the mandatory safety
standard in section 75.350 of title 30, Code of Federal
Regulations, that authorized belt haulage entries to be
used to ventilate active working places are suspended,
and the Secretary shall instead apply such mandatory
safety standard as it was in effect the day before the
effective date of such amendments, including all
modifications to such standard that had been approved
under subsection (c) prior to such date and any new
modifications that may be approved in the future
pursuant to such section.
``(2) Seals.--Not later than 30 days after the date of
enactment of the Protecting America's Miners Act, the Secretary
shall initiate rulemaking activity to modernize and improve
mandatory safety standards relating to seals for abandoned
areas in underground coal mines. As part of such rulemaking,
the Secretary shall improve the 20 psi standard described in
section 75.335(a)(2) of title 30, Code of Federal Regulations
(as such section was in effect on the date of enactment of the
Protecting America's Miners Act). The Secretary shall give
particular consideration to the standards in effect in other
countries in this regard. The Secretary shall further consider
whether the Secretary should be required to inspect seals
during the seals' construction to ensure that the seals are
constructed in a safe manner. Such improved standards shall be
issued as interim mandatory safety standards not later than 270
days after the date of enactment of such Act.''.
(b) Inspections.--Not later than 30 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in consultation with the National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, shall inspect the seals
of all underground coal mines that are composed of nontraditional
materials to ensure that the seals are constructed in a safe manner,
and ensure that any seals not constructed in a safe manner, regardless
of plan approval, shall be promptly reconstructed in a safe manner.
(c) Mandatory Health Standards.--Section 101 of the Federal Mine
Safety and Health Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 811) is further amended by
adding at the end the following:
``(h) Mandatory Health Standards Regarding Respirable Dust.--
``(1) Concentration levels.--Notwithstanding any other
requirement of this Act, not later than 90 days after the date
of enactment of the Protecting America's Miners Act, the
Secretary shall initiate rulemaking to develop mandatory health
standards that provide the following:
``(A) Concentration of dust.--Each operator of a
coal or other mine shall continuously maintain a
concentration of respirable dust, in the mine
atmosphere during each shift for which a miner is in
any place in a coal or other mine where miners are
normally required to work or travel of such mine, of
not more than 1.0 milligram of respirable dust per
cubic meter of air. In meeting this standard, each
concentration level shall be considered independently
and shall not be averaged with other such levels.
``(B) Method of measurement.--To measure the level
of respirable dust in an area of a coal or other mine,
samples shall be taken--
``(i) by the Secretary, and not by the
operator; or
``(ii) by using personal dust monitors on
not less than 3 miners per shift, in each
working section of the mine and in any section
known to contain the highest dust
concentrations, and not less often than once a
year on each miner who works in the mine.
``(2) Interim rules.--The Secretary shall issue the rules
described under subparagraph (A) as interim final rules not
later than 270 days after the date of enactment of the
Protecting America's Miners Act.''.
(d) Definition.--Section 101 of the Federal Mine Safety and Health
Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 811) is further amended by adding at the end the
following:
``(i) Definition of Coal Mine.--In this section, the term `coal
mine' has the meaning given the term in section 3(h)(2).''.
SEC. 10. TRANSITION TO A NEW GENERATION OF INSPECTORS.
(a) Personnel Ceiling Temporarily Lifted.--In order to ensure that
the Secretary has adequate time to provide that a sufficient number of
qualified and properly trained inspectors of the Mine Safety and Health
Administration are in place before any inspectors employed as of the
date of enactment of this Act retire, any ceilings on the number of
personnel that may be employed by the Administration with respect to
mine inspectors are abolished for the 5-year period beginning on the
date of enactment of this Act.
(b) Contracting With Retired Inspectors.--In the event that,
notwithstanding the actions taken by the Secretary to hire and train
qualified inspectors, the Secretary is temporarily unable, at any time
during the 5-year period beginning on the date of enactment of this
Act, to employ the number of inspectors required to staff all district
offices devoted to coal mines at the offices' highest historical levels
without transferring personnel from supervisory or plan review
activities or diminishing current inspection resources devoted to other
types of mines, the Administration is authorized to hire retired
inspectors on a contractual basis to conduct mine inspections, and the
retirement benefits of such retired inspectors shall not be reduced as
a result of such temporary contractual employment.
(c) Compliance Assistance and User Fees.--In order to ensure that
the Secretary has sufficient resources to carry out the enforcement
activities of the Mine Safety and Health Administration, during the 5-
year period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act--
(1) the Secretary may not expend any funds for technical
support or advice to an operator of a particular mine, except
funds that are collected through user fees under paragraph (2);
and
(2) an operator who incurs a civil penalty or fine under
section 110 of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977
(30 U.S.C. 820) shall be assessed a user fee of $100 for each
such penalty or fine, which fee shall be maintained in a
separate account by the Secretary to be used to provide
technical support or advice to mine operators, with priority
given to requests from mines with less than 20 miners.
(d) Report to the Congress.--During the 5-year period beginning on
the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall issue a special
report to the appropriate committees of Congress every year, or at such
more frequent intervals as the Secretary or any such committee may deem
appropriate, providing information about the actions being taken under
this section, the size and training of the inspector workforce at the
Mine Safety and Health Administration, the level of enforcement
activities, and the number of requests by individual operators of mines
for compliance assistance.
SEC. 11. TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH PRIORITIES.
In implementing its research activities in the 5-year period
beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, the National Institute
for Occupational Safety and Health shall give due consideration to new
technologies, and existing technologies that could be adapted for use
in underground coal or other mines, that could facilitate the survival
of miners in a mining emergency. Such technologies include--
(1) self-contained self-rescue devices capable of
delivering enhanced performance;
(2) two-way communications devices capable of delivering
enhanced performance between underground locations or between
underground and surface locations, including devices capable of
sustained operation after underground explosions;
(3) improved battery capacity and common connection
specifications to enable emergency communication devices for
miners to be run from the same portable power source as a
headlamp, continuous dust monitor, or other device carried by a
miner;
(4) improved technology for assisting mine rescue teams,
including devices to enhance vision during rescue or recovery
operations; and
(5) improved technology, and improved protocols for the use
of existing technologies, to enable conditions underground to
be assessed promptly and continuously in emergencies, so as to
facilitate the determination by appropriate officials of the
instructions to provide both to miners trapped underground and
to mine rescue teams and others engaged in rescue efforts.
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