[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 20 (Thursday, February 16, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1429-S1430]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. SPECTER (for himself, Mr. Byrd, Mr. Cochran, Mr. Harkin, 
        Mr. Inouye, Mr. Kennedy, and Mr. Santorum):
  S. 2308. A bill to amend the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 
1977 to improve mine safety, and for other purposes; to the Committee 
on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, today, I am introducing legislation to 
overhaul the Mine Safety and Health Act to make this Nation's mines the 
safest in the world. The recent events at the Sago mine in 
Tallmansville and the Alma Mine in Mellville, WV, and the death of a 
miner of Pikeville, KY, demonstrates that improvements need to be made 
in all areas of mine safety. The West Virginia disasters remind us of 
the one at the Pennsylvania Quecreek mine where on July 24, 2002, a 
mining machine broke through an abandoned section of the mine, 
unleashing 60 million gallons of groundwater and trapping 9 miners. 
Some 78 hours after the accident, all 9 miners were pulled safely from 
the mine. Unfortunately, the 12 men at the Sago mine were not as lucky.
  A recent article in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette stated: ``The rest of 
the world will move on. In the weeks and months to come, there will be 
other disasters, other wars, other political scandals. But for the 
families of the 12 men who died inside the mine in Tallmansville, WV, 
for the one who survived, for their relatives and friends, for the 
investigators searching for the cause of the mine explosion, for the 
people of these coal-rich hills 100 miles south of Pittsburgh, Sago 
will be a daily litany. Some questions about the January 2 accident may 
never be answered.''
  Mining is a dangerous business. There have already been 4 coal mine 
accidents since the January 2, 2006, Sago disaster. One on January 10, 
when a miner was killed in Kentucky after a mine roof cave-in, another 
on January 19, when 2 miners became trapped at

[[Page S1430]]

the Alma mine in Melville, West Virginia, and two more accidents on 
February 1, 2006, where a miner was killed at an underground mine when 
a wall support popped loose, and a second fatality when a bulldozer 
struck a gas line at a surface mine sparking a fire and killing the 
operator. Last year, the safest year on record, there were 22 
fatalities in underground coal mines, in 20 separate accidents with 4 
men killed in my home State of Pennsylvania; 3 in West Virginia; 8 in 
Kentucky and 7 in other States.
  The Sago mine had 208 citations, orders and safeguards issued against 
it in 2005, with nearly half of these violations cited as ``significant 
and substantial''. Eighteen of the violations were cited as 
``withdrawal orders'', which shut down activity in specific areas of 
the mine until problems were corrected.
  While the budget for mine safety and health has increased by 42 
percent over the past 10 years, these increases barely keep pace with 
inflationary costs. This has forced the agency to reduce staffing by 
183 positions over that same time period. In FY 2006, the final 
appropriation was $2.8 million below the budget request and $1.4 
million below the FY 2005 appropriation due to the 1 percent across-
the-board reduction that was required to stay within the budget 
resolution ceiling.
  I chaired a hearing on January 23, 2006, that included testimony from 
Federal mining officials and mine safety experts from labor, business, 
and academia, which resulted in many of the proposals in my 
legislation.
  Specifically, the legislation that I am introducing today amends the 
Mine Safety and Health Act by requiring: 1. MSHA to release the 
internal review and accident investigation reports to the House and 
Senate authorizing and appropriating committees, within 30 days of 
completing their investigation of a mine disaster. 2. MSHA to publish 
formal rules for conducting accident investigations and hearing 
procedures. 3. That fines for a flagrant violation be increased from 
$60,000 to $500,000; defining that violation as a reckless or repeated 
failure to make reasonable efforts to eliminate a known violation of a 
standard that substantially and proximately caused, or reasonably could 
have been expected to cause death or serious bodily injury; and 
prohibiting the reduction of penalties by an administrative law judge 
for any violation termed as ``flagrant or habitual''. 4. That no fine 
less than $10,000 can be assessed for a safety violation that could 
cause serious illness or injury, and no less than $20,000 can be 
assessed to a habitual violator for a violation that could 
significantly and substantially contribute to a safety or health 
hazard. 5. MSHA inspectors to follow-up on all violations no later than 
24 hours. 6. MSHA to ensure that the ventilation and roof control plans 
are reviewed on a quarterly basis. 7. That mining companies be subject 
to a fine of no less than $100,000 if MSHA officials are not informed 
of a disaster within 15 minutes of an accident. The MSHA Director may 
waive the penalty if it is found that failure to give notice was caused 
by circumstances outside the control of the mine operator. 8. That mine 
representatives not be present during accident investigation interviews 
with miners. 9. MSHA to train all mine personnel in the proper usage of 
wireless devices and do refresher training courses during each calendar 
year. 10. That rescue teams do training exercises twice a year and 
conduct emergency rescue drills at operating mines--on a surprise, 
unannounced basis. 11. That communications between rescue teams be 
strictly confined between the command center and the team members. 12. 
MSHA to have a central communications Emergency Call Center--which 
includes manned telephone operation with all calls answered by a live 
operator, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This provision will apply 
to all types of mining operations. To assist in implementing and 
operating the Emergency Call Center, MSHA shall--on a quarterly basis--
provide the Center with a mine emergency contact list. 13. That 
wireless Emergency Tracking Devices be made available to each miner by 
the operator which will enable rescuers to locate miners in case of an 
accident. 14. That wireless text messaging or other wireless 
communications devices be made by the operator and shall be worn by 
underground personnel to enable rescuers or mine operators to 
communicate with underground personnel. 15. MSHA to place secondary 
telephone lines in a separate entry in order to increase the likelihood 
that communications could be maintained between miners and those on the 
surface in the event of an emergency. 16. That strategically placed 
oxygen stations be provided to miners with four days of oxygen--in the 
section of the mine where miners are working. 17. That fines will be 
increased from $5,500 to $55,000 for operators who fail to correct a 
violation. 18. That an operator who knowingly exposes workers to 
situations likely to cause death or serious bodily injury or willfully 
violates a mandatory health or safety standard will have fines 
increased from $25,000 to $250,000. 19. That if any person gives 
advance notice of the mine inspection the fine will be increased from 
not more than $1,000 to not more than $20,000. 20. That if any person 
makes a false statement regarding complying with the MSHA Act the fine 
will be increased from $10,000 to $100,000.

  All metal, non-metal and coal mines as defined in section 3 of the 
Act, shall be subject to a user fee of $100.00 for each penalty 
assessed, to be collected by MSHA and deposited into its account to 
augment funding above fiscal year 2006 enacted appropriations, for the 
following activities: reimburse operators for the costs of training, 
research and development, rescue teams, safe rooms, and other miner 
safety supplies and equipment, and supplement MSHA funding of technical 
support, educational policy and development, and program evaluation and 
information activities.
  These amendments that I have proposed to the Mine Safety and Health 
Act will improve the conditions in this Nation's mines. The provisions 
set forth in this legislation will provide increased protections for 
miners; put in place new equipment and technology to locate miners 
working underground; increase their oxygen supplies and speed up rescue 
operations so that the tragedy of the last few months will be not be 
repeated. I ask that you join me in cosponsoring this legislation.
                                 ______