[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Page 6608]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      KENTUCKY COAL MINE DISASTER

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, many Kentuckians awoke this morning 
to the sad news that one miner was killed and another is missing after 
a ceiling collapse in an underground coal mine in Webster County, which 
is in the western part of Kentucky.
  Right now, it is my understanding that MSHA officials are on the site 
and rescue teams are working to locate the missing miner. For now we 
can only hope their efforts are successful.
  I ask my colleagues and the American people to keep the miners, their 
families, and the rescue workers in their prayers.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority leader is recognized.
  Mr. REID. Madam President, for me, being a miner's son, having worked 
in the mines myself, these reports out of West Virginia and Kentucky 
are very troubling. Mining is a very dangerous occupation. I know that 
personally as a result of my dad having been ``blasted'' as we called 
it, and reflecting back on my childhood friend, Stan Hudgens, whose 
father was working in the blossom with my dad and a rock dropped on his 
head and killed him. My dad brought him out of the mine.
  So these reports out of the coal mines are troubling. I agree with my 
distinguished friend that we have to make sure that we act--not do 
anything harmful to the industry because it is a very important 
industry. Mining is the No. 2 industry in Nevada. It is not coal 
mining. And a lot of our mining now in Nevada is open pit, but not all 
of it is. We have a lot of underground mines too. The same with coal 
mining; coal mining is what we refer to as the hard rock business. It 
is open pit mining, but they have a significant amount of underground 
mining also.
  So I look forward to working with my friend, the Republican leader, 
and all of those who want to make mines safer and protect this most 
important industry.

                          ____________________