[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 55 (Friday, April 4, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E522-E523]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   IN DEFENSE OF AMERICA'S COAL MINERS ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE UBB 
                                DISASTER

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. NICK J. RAHALL II

                            of west virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, April 4, 2014

  Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, I stand here today, on the eve of the 4th 
Anniversary of the tragic explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in 
Raleigh County, West Virginia--a disaster that took the lives of 29 
miners. I take this opportunity to remind my colleagues and all 
Americans of that terrible day, of the good men we lost far too young, 
of those injured, of the families that still mourn and the communities 
that were forever altered.
  I come here, also, to remind my colleagues that the Upper Big Branch 
miners are still owed our full energies and every effort to ensure that 
such a tragedy will never occur again.
  And I take this time to caution my colleagues--and the public--not to 
be duped by the self-serving sack of utter baloney being circulated on 
the internet. The so-called documentary ``Never Again'' is nothing more 
than a piece of carefully crafted fiction--a transparent attempt to 
white wash history and revise reality.
  Four separate studies found that Massey Energy, with Don Blankenship 
at the helm, created a callous corporate culture in which production 
was valued over safety, in which profit was valued over people. The 
families of the victims of UBB are rightly livid over the release of 
this fantasy film, and I stand with them, sharing their complete 
disdain.
  Failing to legislate to close safety loopholes exploited by Massey is 
akin to condoning that corrupt culture and its fatal results. And Mr. 
Blankenship is not alone in his dangerous, fantasy view of mine safety. 
There are deep-pocketed individuals who have funded studies which 
actually suggest that mine safety rules are un-needed. Nothing could be 
further from the truth and it is immoral that the Congress has not 
acted to protect coal miners further.
  So many of my colleagues in this body are defenders against what we 
sagely see as a war on coal. It is common these days for us to come to 
this floor, red-faced with anger to shout about the unfair treatment of 
coal by an overzealous and ideological EPA. We are disgusted and 
rightly so.
  But I believe that to be a champion for coal, one has to be a 
champion for the coal miner.
  Defense of the coal miner cannot stop at the mouth of the mine. It 
must follow him into the mine, ensuring that working conditions are as 
safe and healthy as we possibly can make them.
  Defense of the coal miner must follow after a miner leaves the mine, 
so that the promises of retirement and health benefits made to miners 
and their families are honored. And so that the opportunities every 
American is entitled to are made available to every coal miner as well.
  This Congress, however, has yet to take up a package of reforms I 
worked on with the late great Senator Robert C. Byrd--reforms that we 
know are necessary to save lives in the wake of the UBB tragedy. It 
has, frustratingly, yet to act on legislation to protect the health and 
retirement security of miners.

[[Page E523]]

  What this Congress has done, and it has done it over and over again, 
is tried to repeal the law containing the reforms I fought for over 
many years to better enable our miners stricken with black lung--and 
their spouses and widows--to get the benefits they are owed.
  I believe that the fight for the coal miner should not end when a 
miner retires. That has been the long-time policy of our government--
during both Republican and Democratic Administrations going all the way 
back to Harry Truman and Franklin Roosevelt. But this Congress seems 
utterly indifferent and ignorant of that commitment.
  This Congress is bent on cutting budgets for the agenices that help 
to provide medical care and monthly benefit payments to miners stricken 
with black lung. It seems content to allow black lung victims to 
languish for years in a legal limbo, waiting for review of their 
claims.
  This Congress is bent on cutting funds for the health and safety 
protections that ensure miners return home after every shift.
  This Congress, which boasts about its commitment to the future of 
coal, is bent on cutting funds for the research and development of new 
technologies critical to ensuring coal's place in our Nation's long-
term energy portfolio.
  This Congress, in the worst and most callous way, has been utterly 
indifferent to the plight of retired miners whose health and retirement 
benefits are stripped away in bankruptcy proceedings.
  The closure of the mine research facility in Pennsylvania, the 
rewrite of grant guidelines for black lung clinics, the denial of 
sufficient funding for long-time organizations providing essential mine 
rescue team training required by Federal and State laws--these are all 
priorities that have fallen by the wayside in the bureaucracy of this 
Administration and, apparently, in this uncaring and indifferent 
Congress.
  I have always felt that fighting for our miners meant fighting for a 
decent wage, fighting to ensure that they could retire with dignity, 
fighting to ensure that they had access to medical care, and that their 
children had access to the opportunities afforded by a college 
education.
  But the leadership in this House is blocking an increase in the 
minimum wage. It is promoting cuts to Medicare and is prepared to put 
Social Security on the chopping block. It is axing worker training and 
college grants. It is refusing to close the loopholes that allow 
unscrupulous operators to walk away from the health and retirement 
benefits promised to their workers.
  Where is all the anger when it comes to the coal miner now? Where is 
all the rage?
  There is much more to defending coal country than fighting against 
the EPA.
  I say to all my colleagues who regularly come to this floor and raise 
the roof in defense of coal, we must recommit ourselves not just 
fighting the anti-coal zealots of this Administration, but also to the 
intense and long-term battle for the well-being of America's coal 
miners.
  We should start by moving meaningful mine health and safety 
legislation that honors the memories of the 29 miners who perished in 
the Upper Big Branch Mine on April 5th, 2010. Our obligation to them is 
long overdue.

                          ____________________