[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 94 (Friday, July 12, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1249-E1250]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   EXPRESSING REGRET AND SYMPATHY FOR FAMILIES OF THE UKRAINIAN COAL 
                     MINERS KILLED ON JULY 7, 2002

                                 ______
                                 

                     HON. LOUISE McINTOSH SLAUGHTER

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 12, 2002

  Mr. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my humblest 
condolences to the families of the thirty-five coal miners who lost 
their lives in a July 7th fire in Donetsk, Ukraine.
  The terrible loss of life in Donetsk hits home on a number of levels. 
A tragedy of this magnitude is suffered not only by the families who 
lost their loved ones but the larger community. As the representative 
of a sizeable Ukranian-American community and the co-chairperson of the 
Congressional Ukrainian Caucus, I would like to express our condolences 
to the families of the lost Ukranian miners. The Ukranian community in 
Monroe county, which was established over a century ago, maintains 
close times with their counterparts in Ukraine. In fact, in recent 
years, the Rochester-area Ukrainian community opened its arms to a new 
wave of immigrants.
  As a Kentucky native, I have seen, firsthand, the enormous toll that 
underground mining can exact. Underground mining is dangerous. Tunnels 
can collapse. Coal in the mines can catch on fire. Sometimes there are 
poisonous gases near coal. In the U.S., the modernization of mining 
methods has made it

[[Page E1250]]

less dangerous but there is always risk. I appreciate that Ukraine's 
efforts at enhancing its economy and modernizing its industrial 
structures has not been without setbacks. However, I am troubled by the 
fact that this terrible incident is not an isolated one.
  Mr. Speaker, Ukraine's mines have one of the highest accident rates 
in the world due to poor maintenance and neglect of safety regulations. 
This accident comes a year after a gas explosion killed at least 50 
miners in Donetsk and two years after 80 miners died in another 
underground mining explosion. More than 3,700 miners have died since 
Ukraine's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. At this time of 
reflection, it is my sincere hope that this terrible incident marks a 
turning point for Ukraine and the Ukranian government takes substantial 
steps to close the roughly 200 mines that the World Bank rates as 
highly prone to methane blasts.
  Mr. Speaker, I extend my condolences to the victims' families in 
Ukraine, and offer my sorrow and sympathy to the people of Ukraine for 
this shocking tragedy that resulted in thirty-five deaths and my 
sincerest hope for real reforms in the Ukrainian mining industry.

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