[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 1]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 696-697]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             THE FEDERAL MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH ACT OF 2006

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO

                            of west virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 1, 2006

  Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. Speaker, in the month of January, two major mining 
accidents took place in West Virginia, killing 12 miners at the Sago 
mine in Upshur County and 2 at the Alma mine in Logan County. Today the 
West Virginia congressional delegation on a bipartisan basis, 
introduced the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 2006. This mine 
safety legislation will require the Mine Safety and Health 
Administration to issue regulations to provide for immediate 
notification of mine accidents, new regulations for mine safety teams 
to ensure a quick response, and improved technology to keep miners 
safe.
  Specifically, the bill requires that mine rescue teams employed by 
the mine operator and familiar with an individual mine be available to 
respond immediately. Regulations require that three mine safety teams 
be present--two in a mine and one standing by outside--prior to a 
rescue operation beginning. It is important that the necessary rescue 
teams be in place as soon as possible so that the rescue can begin as 
soon as mine conditions allow.
  This legislation creates an MSHA Office of Science and Technology, 
and requires MSHA

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to examine new mine safety and rescue technologies, including refuge 
chambers. The world watched as tragedy was averted in Canada this past 
weekend because 72 trapped miners were able to escape to a designated 
safe haven with a supply of oxygen and communications technology.
  The Federal Mine Safety Act would require that emergency supplies of 
oxygen and breathing equipment be placed in strategic locations in the 
mine. Each of these locations would also include communications 
equipment so that miners can provide information about their location 
and condition to rescuers, and miners can receive information from the 
outside. The legislation also calls for miners to be provided with 
emergency tracking devices.
  Other provisions of the legislation, including a miner ombudsman in 
the Department of Labor to take reports of safety violations from 
miners, will also help to make our mines safer.
  It is important that this House act on legislation to improve the 
safety of our coal mines. I spent time with the friends and families of 
the Sago mine victims, both as we awaited news on the rescue effort and 
after we knew the tragic result. I do not want to watch more families 
endure what the families of the Sago victims went through.
  I urge my colleagues, whether your State is a major producer of coal 
or not, and regardless of your party affiliation, to join the West 
Virginia delegation in helping to prevent future mining tragedies.

                          ____________________