Conservative Lawmakers Shaft Mine Safety

31 coal miners have died on job this year, compared with 22 deaths in all of 2005. The House is set to take up the Senate-passed mine safety bill, but conservative lawmakers are resisting inserting three amendments offered by Rep. George Miller (D-CA) that would strengthen workplace safety for miners:

– Require the Federal Mine Safety and Health Administration to randomly check self-rescuer devices upon which miners’ lives depend in an emergency to ensure they are in working order;

– Provide that the air stored underground for trapped miners under the Senate legislation last for a minimum of 48 hours through a chamber or cache; and

– Provide that communication and tracking devices required under the Senate legislation be required in 15 months rather than the 3 years specified.

Rep. Charlie Norwood (R-GA) attacked Miller for “delaying” the bill, Rep. Shelly Moore Caputo (R-WV) called the amendments “totally unreasonable,” and Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA) said Miller is being “irresponsible.”

These amendments target key weaknesses in mine safety. For example, only one miner in the Sago mine died in the initial blast. The other 11 died waiting for rescue. The Senate verison of the bill currently requires only enough breathable air to last miners for a vague “sustained” period of time. The West Virginia Mine Safety Technology Task Force, like Miller, recommends 48 hours worth of air.

The WV task force has concluded Miller’s amendments are feasible with existing technology and the families from the Sago disaster support them. The only thing “irresponsible” in this situation is the conservative resistance to strengthening legislation that would save miners’ lives.

Confined Space has more.