[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 13]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 19048]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          RECOGNIZING AMERICA'S MINERS ON NATIONAL MINERS DAY

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. NICK J. RAHALL II

                            of west virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 6, 2011

  Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, I submit the following.

       Watching coal-miners at work, you realize momentarily what 
     different universes people inhabit.--George Orwell.

  George Orwell was humbled by coal miners--brave and earnest 
individuals who work hard hours, often in cramped, damp, lamp-lit 
corners far below the surface of the Earth. He was shocked by the 
living and working conditions he witnessed while he boarded in the coal 
mining communities of Northern England, accompanying the miners 
underground to see, first-hand, the hot, horrible conditions under 
which they labored.
  ``Down there,'' he wrote, ``where coal is dug is a sort of world 
apart which one can quite easily go through life without ever hearing 
about. . . . It is so with all types of manual work; it keeps us alive, 
and we are oblivious of its existence. More than anyone else, perhaps, 
the miner can stand as the type of the manual worker, not only because 
his work is so exaggeratedly awful, but also because it is so vitally 
necessary and yet so remote from our experience, so invisible, as it 
were, that we are capable of forgetting it as we forget the blood in 
our veins.''
  Even now, in an age of Twitter and reality TV, when every aspect of 
life can be beamed around the world in an instant, it is too easy to 
forget about the miner and his daily digging chores, sequestered far 
from our view, though intimately connected to so many of our daily 
needs and desires.
  Yet, from time to time, something happens to remind us of that 
separate world. Unfortunately, that something is, too often, a tragedy, 
like the explosion at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch Mine in Southern 
West Virginia, on April 5, 2010, that took the lives, far too soon, of 
29 hardworking men.
  In the hours following that explosion, reporters from around the 
Nation flocked to the mine site, nestled in a rural mountain fold not 
far from my home. Every phase of the attempted rescue effort was 
captured and broadcast around the globe, and for many tense and 
worrisome hours, coal miners were very much on the minds of the world, 
holding its collective breath and hoping for a miracle--a miracle that 
was not be.
  Now, after the passing of many months, it is clear that the loss of 
those 29 miners was not due to one unpreventable, fateful incident, 
but, instead, it was the result of a pervasive, long-running, callous 
corporate culture that put production and profit far above people.
  It is no coincidence that, today, the Mine Safety and Health 
Administration is releasing its final report on the UBB disaster. This 
day, December 6th--the anniversary of the 1907 Monongah Mine disaster, 
the worst mining disaster in American history--is also the 
Congressionally designated ``National Miners Day.''
  I am proud to have been the author of the House Resolution that 
sought to establish this date as a milestone of national recognition 
and remembrance of America's miners. It is a shameful truth that each 
advance in our Nation's mine safety system has come only after a mine 
disaster. But I hope that this day might alter that tradition and serve 
to bring the miner out from the dark of the mines into the national 
light for at least one day each year. It seems to me far preferable 
that our national conscience be kindled not by tragedy, but, instead, 
by celebration.
  And so I urge that, at least on this one day each year, the Congress 
and all Americans will turn our attention to recognizing the 
contributions that miners have made to our Nation--its economic 
vitality and its military strength. And that we will take this annual 
opportunity to help ensure that these men and women are assured of 
safe, healthy, humane conditions in which to earn an honest living. 
America and American miners deserve no less.

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