[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 82 (Thursday, May 27, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4550-S4551]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. ROCKEFELLER (for himself and Mr. Byrd):
  S. 3450. A bill to require publicly traded coal companies to include 
certain safety records in their reports to the Commission, and for 
other purposes; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
Pensions.
  Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, it is time to take mining companies' 
safety records out of the darkness and bring some much-needed 
transparency and accountability to the industry.
  Today, I am introducing legislation that would require any publicly-
traded mining company to include critical mine safety information in 
its annual and quarterly filings with the Securities and Exchange 
Commission, SEC.
  Shareholders have a direct interest in the safety record of any 
company they invest in--because safety has as much of an impact on a 
company's long-term financial health as its mining production.
  But today, this safety information is not uniformly reported across 
the industry. My bill fixes this inconsistency and gives investors the 
information they need to hold corporate management responsible for the 
safety record of a company.
  That is what my bill is all about: providing shareholders with 
standard information that can be used to measure and compare safety 
records across the industry. Specifically, my legislation would require 
any publicly-traded mine company to report the following information in 
their annual and quarterly filings with the SEC:
  The total number of significant and substantial violations of 
mandatory health or safety standards;
  The total number of failure to abate orders issued under section 
104(b) of the Mine Act;
  The total number of citations and orders for unwarrantable failure of 
the

[[Page S4551]]

mine operator to comply with mandatory health or safety standards under 
section 104(d) of the Mine Act;
  The total number of flagrant violations under section 110 of the Mine 
Act;
  The total number of imminent danger orders issued under section 
107(a) of the Mine Act;
  The total dollar value of Mine Safety and Health Administration, 
MSHA, proposed penalties and fines;
  A list of the regulated worksites that have been notified by MSHA of 
a Pattern of Violation or a Potential to have a Pattern of Violations 
under section 104(e) of the Mine Act;
  Any pending legal action before the Federal Mine Safety and Health 
Review Commission.
  Any mining related fatalities.
  In addition, any publicly-traded mining company must immediately 
disclose to the SEC if it receives a shutdown order under section 
107(a) of the Mine Act, imminent danger, or receives notice that a mine 
site has a potential or actual pattern of violations.
  I have always said that, first and foremost, this is about a company 
doing the right thing to develop a true culture of safety. That 
includes everyone, from the miner at the coal face to the Chairman of 
the Board.
  If we are serious about making that culture a reality, shareholders 
need to be informed about safety too.
                                 ______