[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 113 (Thursday, July 29, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6527-S6528]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. ROCKEFELLER (for himself and Mr. Goodwin):
  S. 3671. A bill to improve compliance with mine and occupational 
safety and health law, empower workers to raise safety concerns, 
prevent future mine and other workplace tragedies, establish rights of 
families of victims of workplace accidents, and for other purposes; to 
the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. ROCKEFELER. Mr. President, today I am proud to introduce with my 
colleague Senator Goodwin the Robert C. Byrd Mine and Workplace Safety 
and Health Act of 2010. This legislation is a first step to making sure 
that every miner in West Virginia can go to work each and every day 
without fearing for their safety. It also serves as a tribute to all 
miners who have lost their lives, and also to my dear friend and 
colleague, the late Senator Byrd, who devoted his career to improving 
the working condition of West Virginia's miners and worked diligently 
with me to develop this bill.
  It has been several months since the Upper Big Branch mine disaster, 
but for many of us, it feels like only yesterday that we were anxiously 
waiting to hear news about the missing miners. Shortly after that 
horrible accident I came to this floor and said that ``No words are 
adequate to describe the grief.'' I know that for the families of those 
29 miners that remains the case.
  Even as the investigation into the Upper Big Branch mine continues to 
move forward, we owe it to the victims' families and to the miners that 
still get up and go to work every day, to find real solutions to keep 
our miners safe.
  The legislation Senator Goodwin and I are introducing today has been 
a team effort--particularly with my colleague and friend Congressman 
Nick Rahall, who has introduced similar legislation in the U.S. House 
of Representatives. I would like to acknowledge Senators Harkin and 
Murray for their effort and their commitment to addressing mine and 
workplace safety.
  It gives teeth to existing whistleblower protections so that miners 
can come forward to report safety concerns. Miners should not fear for 
their jobs--their livelihoods--simply because they are trying to keep 
themselves and their coworkers safe. We have a responsibility to give 
them every protection necessary. Our bill gives miners up to 180 days 
to file a whistleblower retaliation complaint, it allows punitive 
damages and criminal penalties for retaliating against a whistleblower, 
and it makes sure that miners do not lose pay if their mines are shut 
down for safety reasons. It also allows miners to give private 
interviews with MSHA and exclude the operator or union representative 
from the room. I know that the industry and unions do not like this, 
but it is important for miners to be allowed to speak freely without 
intimidation or influence from anyone.
  Our legislation also gives MSHA additional tools to keep miners safe, 
including the ability to order additional safety training at mines 
where it is needed, expanded authority to seek injunctions to stop 
dangerous practices, and the ability to subpoena documents and 
testimony outside of the public hearing context. But this bill also 
takes a hard look at MSHA to make sure they are doing their job by 
creating an independent panel to investigate MSHA's role in serious 
accidents and it requires MSHA to conduct inspections during all hours 
and shifts so that every miner has the same level of protection.
  Importantly, this bill also fixes the broken ``pattern of 
violations'' process--which was meant to give MSHA authority to crack 
down on mines that repeatedly violate our laws, but has never been 
effectively implemented. Rather than the punitive process that exists 
under current law, our legislation focuses on rehabilitating unsafe 
mines so that miners can go to work confident that they will safely 
return home to their families at the end of the shift. Mines will have 
to implement safety plans, will be subject to additional inspections, 
and will be required to show substantial improvement in their safety 
records before being removed from pattern status.
  Our bill contains additional protections that will apply to workers 
across all industries under the jurisdiction of the Occupational Safety 
and Health Administration. These include expanded whistleblower 
protections for employees, the explicit right to refuse to perform 
unsafe work, greater rights for victims and their families to 
participate in the investigation process, updated civil and criminal 
penalties, and the requirement that hazardous conditions be abated 
immediately so that litigation does not delay safety. Deadly accidents 
occur in mines and throughout every industry. Everyone deserves to be 
safe on the job, and these provisions will go a long way toward 
achieving that goal.
  But our bill also has additional provisions that are not included in 
the House version. It requires an evaluation of whether MSHA has the 
experts it needs to effectively enforce our laws. It requires the 
Government Accountability Office to conduct an independent evaluation 
of MSHA's new ``pattern of violations'' criteria to make sure it is 
effective in preventing repeated violations at our most unsafe mines. 
It promotes greater coordination between the Department of Justice and 
Department of Labor in investigating criminal violations of our mine 
safety laws. It requires MSHA to improve its online database so that 
the public can more easily find out the full safety records of 
operators not just individual mines, and compare the safety records of 
various mines and operators. It requires MSHA to routinely develop 
long-term safety goals and strategic plans to meet those goals. These 
provisions will improve transparency, increase accountability, and set 
us on a path toward safety.
  We can never change what happened at the Upper Big Branch mine, but 
we can change the way we do business going forward. Americans deserve 
the peace of mind that comes from safe working conditions. Following 
the Upper Big Branch tragedy, this Senate chose to honor the fallen 
miners with a resolution--a gesture that Senator Byrd and I very much 
appreciated. I hope that my colleagues will work with Senator Goodwin 
and I to pass meaningful mine safety legislation in their honor as 
well.

[[Page S6528]]



                          ____________________