[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 10 (Wednesday, February 1, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E46-E48]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               FEDERAL MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH ACT OF 2006

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. NICK J. RAHALL II

                            of west virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 1, 2006

  Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, on the evening of January 19, a fire erupted 
on a conveyor belt at the Aracoma, Alma Number 1 coal mine, in 
Melville, West Virginia. Black smoke began rolling through that mine. 
Nineteen miners escaped. Two were missing. It was the beginning of 
another episode in our recurring nightmare.
  West Virginians were still veiled in grief. Still trying to make 
sense of the loss of 12 miners, taken from us just 17 days before, at 
the Sago coal mine, in Upshur County. Then it started again.
  Media had flooded into Sago. They had covered the waiting, the 
watching, the praying, and the mourning. Now they were streaming back 
into West Virginia. And with them, the world was drawn to another coal 
mining town, this time in Logan County, to witness yet another mine 
tragedy unfolding.
  I stayed with the families, gathered at the Bright Star Freewill 
Baptist Church. We held hands. We prayed. We believed in the power of 
miracles. We clung tightly to the hope that those men, dust-covered and 
weary, would emerge from the Alma mine to the hugs of grateful 
families.
  But, tragically, in the end, our worst fears were realized. Instead 
of a joyous reunion, our coal communities had lost two more souls. 
Fourteen men gone in a span of less than three weeks. Two fatal mine 
tragedies that might have been prevented. Two emergencies that went 
unreported for far too long. Two anguishing events where time stood 
still for hours on end, with rescue teams frustrated and idling, and 
helpless families waiting.
  In this age of high-technology, when reporters at the mouth of a mine 
could beam reports around the Earth in an instant, it defies logic

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that we could not communicate with those men just a few thousand feet 
underground. When electricity was running all types of comfort-giving 
and life-saving devices around the globe, it was unbelievable that men 
who toiled in danger to make that power possible were trapped in 
primitive conditions, untraceable, with just one precious hour of 
oxygen.
  It was in 1969, spurred by another horrific West Virginia mine 
disaster, that one at Farmington, that the Congress passed the Federal 
Coal Mine Safety and Health Act, broad, comprehensive legislation to 
improve the lot of the miner. In 1977, we reinforced that act, giving 
the labor Secretary immense powers to protect miners.
  Since then, much progress has been made. Tragedies such as these have 
become less frequent. Yet, as technology enabled our Nation to mine 
much more coal in much less time with far fewer workers, advances that 
could improve the conditions for workers in the mines were tragically 
shoved aside. Mine safety funds were cut. Federal enforcement became 
lax. Indeed, less than three years ago I stood on this floor of the 
House of Representatives and offered an amendment to halt the 
Administration's attempt to allow a fourfold increase in the amount of 
respirable dust in underground coal mines. A regulation, I would note, 
that would have resulted in more coal miner deaths due to the crippling 
disease known as black lung.
  Yet the miners kept kissing their families goodbye, whispering a 
prayer for their own safe return, and going into the mines, into the 
dark, under tons of rock and dirt, to earn an honest wage.
  That so many tools available to the Secretary of labor under existing 
law have been left to just sit on the shelf while miners continue to 
die underground is inhumane and inexcusable.
  It must stop now.
  That is the aim of legislation being introduced by the West Virginia 
Delegation in the House and the Senate.
  This legislation provides what apparently is a necessary roadmap to 
the Secretary of labor of available statutory authorities which can be 
implemented immediately to improve health and safety in our underground 
coal mines. A necessary roadmap, I would point out, in light of the 
numerous improvements, either already on the books or in the proposal 
stage, this Administration abandoned in recent years. Following my 
remarks, I would include in the Record an overview and explanation of 
our legislation, entitled, the ``Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 
2006. ``
  Mr. Speaker, shamefully the coalfields of our Nation are littered 
with examples of how tragedy will always arise when the safety of 
miners is neglected.
  Facing his final moments, trapped in the mine as oxygen waned, miner 
Powell Harmon wrote:
  ``Dear Wife and Children: My time has come. I trust in Jesus. He will 
save. It is now ten minutes to 10 o'clock, Monday morning, and we are 
almost smothered. May God bless you and the children, and may we all 
meet in Heaven. Good-bye till we meet to part no more.''
  That was in 1902, in Tennessee.
  Less than a month ago, Martin Toler, Jr., trapped in the Sago mine in 
West Virginia, left these words: ``Tell all I'll see them on the other 
side. It wasn't that bad. Just went to sleep. I love you.''
  Indeed, today the battle cry of Mary `Mother' Jones, that fiery 
advocate of coal miner justice during the early part of the last 
century, rings just as loudly in our ears: ``Pray for the dead and 
fight like hell for the living.''
  We can take some comfort in knowing that when those 14 West Virginia 
miners succumbed to the fire at Melville and the toxic gases of Sago, 
waiting to welcome them on the other side were generations of miners 
who know and understand their bravery and love.
  But we should, as well, feel with unease the fact that the Mine 
Safety and Health Administration--vested and empowered by the Congress 
with necessary authorities--still has not done enough to prevent these 
tragedies, and in fact, has retreated from many advances in health and 
safety standards over the recent years.
  I aim to ensure that the legacy of the Sago and Alma Miners will be 
the certainty that those laws are not left to idle on the shelf, but 
are, instead, enforced to the fullest extent. We owe them, their 
brothers and sisters still in the mines, and those yet to don a miner's 
cap, nothing less.

                 West Virginia Congressional Delegation


               Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 2006

       The landmark Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 
     1969, as amended by the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 
     1977, contains sufficient authority for the Secretary of 
     Labor to update, and enhance, underground coal mine health 
     and safety regulations. Instead, as the unfortunate incidents 
     of last month at the Sago and Melville mines in West Virginia 
     underscored, current Mine Safety and Health Administration 
     regulations and policies are woefully inadequate on several 
     fronts, such as their neglect of advances in technologies 
     that could be deployed to increase the survival of coal 
     miners involved in emergency situations. The ``Federal Mine 
     Safety and Health Act of 2006'' mandates action to end the 
     status quo. The legislation would----
     Sense of Congress
       The legislation provides that the Mine Health and Safety 
     Administration should strictly enforce health and safety 
     standards as required under the Federal Mine Safety and 
     Health Act of 1977.
     Enhanced Rescue Requirements
       Require the Secretary of Labor, within 90 days of 
     enactment, to implement the following:
       (1) Better notification--Require underground coal mine 
     operators to expeditiously provide notification of any 
     accident where rescue work is necessary, and require that the 
     Mine Health and Safety Administration implement a system to 
     immediately receive these notifications.
       (2) Rapid emergency response--Each operator would be 
     required to maintain mine rescue teams whose members are 
     employed by the operator and who are familiar with the 
     workings of the coal mine to ensure ``an immediate and rapid 
     response to an emergency.'' This requirement would be in 
     addition to existing practice, in which rescue teams from 
     other mining operations are also used to respond to a given 
     emergency. Operators would also be required to have a 
     coordination and communications plan between mine rescue 
     teams and local emergency response personnel, who, under the 
     legislation, would be eligible to receive appropriate 
     training to be familiar with mine rescue work. In addition, 
     the Secretary is directed to issue regulations to address the 
     adequacy of rescue team training and member qualifications, 
     the type of equipment used by the teams, the structure of 
     teams including the number of each team's members and the 
     use of contractor teams, as well as liability and 
     insurance issues.
       (3) Emergency air and communications--Each operator would 
     be required to maintain emergency supplies of air and self-
     contained breathing equipment at strategic locations within 
     the mine for persons awaiting rescue. These devices would be 
     in addition to the rescuers worn by miners and would provide 
     air to maintain life for a ``sustained'' period of time. 
     Operators would also be required to maintain, at these 
     locations, independent communications systems to the surface 
     for persons awaiting rescue, including, secondary two-way 
     telephone or equivalent communication devices to the surface.
       (4) Emergency tracking--Each operator would be required to 
     implement an electronic tracking device for rescue and 
     recovery, and each person in an underground coal mine would 
     be provided with a portable device calibrated to communicate 
     with the surface and with mine rescue teams.
     Penalties
       Within 90 days of enactment, the legislation requires the 
     Labor Secretary to prescribe minimum civil penalty of up to 
     $10,000 for a violation of the health and safety standards in 
     instances where an operator displays ``negligence or reckless 
     disregard'' of the standards. This penalty would be assessed 
     in addition to the Act's existing penalty for failure to 
     correct a violation. The Secretary is also directed to 
     provide for a penalty of up to $100,000 in instances where an 
     operator fails to expeditiously provide notification of any 
     accident where rescue work is necessary.
     Prohibited Practices
       The bill reaffirms the existing statute's prohibition on 
     using entries which contain conveyor belts to ventilate work 
     areas in underground coal mines. When mines are arranged this 
     way, and a fire breaks out on a belt, the belt tunnel can 
     carry flames and deadly gases directly to the miners' work 
     area, or to vital evacuation routes. This long-standing 
     prohibition was skirted by an April 2004 Mine Safety and 
     Health Administration rulemaking.
     Technological Advances
       Under the bill, an Office of Science and Technology 
     Transfer would be established within the Mine Health and 
     Safety Administration to conduct research and development to 
     advance new technologies for underground coal miner health 
     and safety. A periodic review of existing health and safety 
     standards would be required to enable more modern 
     technologies to be incorporated as they become available.
     Miner Ombudsman
       Proposed to be established within the Labor Department's 
     Office of Inspector General, the legislation would create the 
     position of Miner Ombudsman to ensure that coal miners may 
     confidentially report mine safety and health violations. The 
     ombudsman would also be charged with the collection of safety 
     information, providing information on violations to the Mine 
     Safety and Health Administration for investigation and the 
     overall improvement of coal miner safety.

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