II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2308 

To amend the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 to improve 

mine safety, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 16, 2006 

Mr. SPECTER (for himself, Mr. BYRD, Mr. COCHRAN, Mr. HARKIN, Mr. 

INOUYE, Mr. KENNEDY, and Mr. SANTORUM) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 

to improve mine safety, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Mine Safety and 

5 Health Act of 2006’’. 
2 

•S 2308 IS

1 SEC. 2. IMPROVED MANDATORY HEALTH AND SAFETY 

2 STANDARDS. 

3 Section 101 of the Federal Mine Safety and Health 

4 Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 811) is amended by adding at 

5 the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(f) ESTABLISHING IMPROVED MANDATORY HEALTH

7 AND SAFETY STANDARDS.—Notwithstanding any other 

8 provision of this section regarding the promulgation of 

9 mandatory health and safety standards, and in addition 

10 to the requirements of any mandatory safety and health 

11 standard promulgated under this Act, the following shall 

12 be mandatory health and safety standards that apply to 

13 all coal or other mines: 

14 ‘‘(1) OXYGEN STATIONS.—An operator shall 

15 strategically locate, within each area of an under16 ground coal or other mine where miners are work17 ing, not less than 1 oxygen station that can provide 

18 the average number of miners expected to be work19 ing in such area with not less than a 4-day supply 

20 of oxygen. 

21 ‘‘(2) WIRELESS EMERGENCY TRACKING DE22 VICES.—An operator shall make available to each 

23 miner a wireless emergency tracking device that will 

24 enable rescuers to locate the miner in the event of 

25 an accident or emergency. 
3 

•S 2308 IS

1 ‘‘(3) WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS DEVICES.— 

2 An operator shall require that each miner working 

3 in an underground coal or other mine carry a wire4 less text messaging or other wireless communications 

5 device that will enable rescuers or mine operators to 

6 communicate with the miner. 

7 ‘‘(4) COMMUNICATIONS AMONG RESCUE WORK8 ERS.—In the event of a rescue operation, the oper9 ator of a coal or other mine shall ensure that com10 munications relating to the rescue are transmitted 

11 only to the individuals participating in the rescue op12 eration. 

13 ‘‘(5) SECONDARY TELEPHONE SERVICE.—For 

14 each area within an underground coal or other mine 

15 where a miner is working, an operator shall provide 

16 secondary telephone service, or equivalent 2-way 

17 communication facilities, between the surface and 

18 the underground mine at an entry separate from the 

19 location of existing telephone service or equivalent 

20 facilities, in order to increase the likelihood of main21 taining communications between the miner and sur22 face or rescue personnel in the event of an accident 

23 or emergency.’’. 
4 

•S 2308 IS

1 SEC. 3. REPORTS, PLAN REVIEWS, AND CITATIONS. 

2 (a) ACCIDENT INVESTIGATIONS AND INTERNAL RE3 VIEWS.—Section 103 of the Federal Mine Safety and 

4 Health Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 813) is amended— 

5 (1) in subsection (a), by adding at the end the 

6 following: ‘‘In the case of an investigation of an acci7 dent or other occurrence relating to health or safety 

8 in a coal or other mine, the Secretary, or the author9 ized representative of the Secretary, shall conduct 

10 interviews of the miners regarding the accident or 

11 occurrence without having a representative of the 

12 operator present.’’; and 

13 (2) in subsection (b), by adding at the end the 

14 following: ‘‘The Secretary shall promulgate regula15 tions establishing rules for conducting an investiga16 tion of any accident relating to health or safety in 

17 a coal or other mine and for holding hearings relat18 ing to such investigation. Not later than 30 days 

19 after completing such investigation or a review re20 garding the Administration’s response to such acci21 dent, the Secretary shall submit the report regarding 

22 the investigation or review to the Committee on Ap23 propriations and the Committee on Health, Edu24 cation, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate and the 

25 Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on 
5 

•S 2308 IS

1 Education and the Workforce of the House of Rep2 resentatives.’’. 

3 (b) QUARTERLY REVIEW OF CERTAIN PLANS.—Sec4 tion 103 of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 

5 1977 (30 U.S.C. 813) is amended by adding at the end 

6 the following: 

7 ‘‘(l) QUARTERLY REVIEW.—Notwithstanding any 

8 mandatory safety and health standard promulgated under 

9 this Act, the Secretary or the Secretary’s authorized rep10 resentative shall review the ventilation system and meth11 ane and dust control plan and the roof control plan of 

12 an operator at least once every 3 months.’’. 

13 (c) PROGRESS CHECK.—Section 104(a) of the Fed14 eral Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 

15 814(a)) is amended by adding after the third sentence the 

16 following: ‘‘Not later than 24 hours after an operator has 

17 received a citation under this subsection, an authorized 

18 representative of the Secretary shall contact the operator 

19 to ensure that the operator is taking steps to abate the 

20 violation in the reasonable time specified in the citation.’’. 

21 SEC. 4. EMERGENCY CALL CENTER. 

22 Section 104 of the Federal Mine Safety and Health 

23 Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 814) is amended by adding at 

24 the end the following: 

25 ‘‘(l) EMERGENCY CALL CENTER.— 
6 

•S 2308 IS

1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall estab2 lish, within the Administration, a central commu3 nications emergency call center for all coal and other 

4 mine operations that shall be staffed and operated 

5 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All calls placed to 

6 the emergency call center shall be answered by an 

7 individual. 

8 ‘‘(2) CONTACT LIST.—To assist in the oper9 ation of the emergency call center, the Secretary 

10 shall provide the emergency call center with an 

11 emergency contact list that contains the contact in12 formation for all coal or other mines subject to this 

13 Act and shall update the contact list on a quarterly 

14 basis.’’. 

15 SEC. 5. PENALTIES. 

16 (a) INCREASED PENALTIES AND USER FEES.—Sec17 tion 110 of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 

18 1977 (30 U.S.C. 820) is amended— 

19 (1) in subsection (a)— 

20 (A) in the first sentence, by inserting be21 fore the period ‘‘, except that a flagrant viola22 tion may be assessed a civil penalty of not more 

23 than $500,000’’; 
7 

•S 2308 IS

1 (B) in the second sentence, by inserting ‘‘, 

2 other than a flagrant violation,’’ after ‘‘safety 

3 standard’’; and 

4 (C) by adding at the end the following: ‘‘In 

5 this subsection, the term ‘flagrant violation’ 

6 means a reckless or repeated failure to make 

7 reasonable efforts to eliminate a known viola8 tion of a mandatory health and safety standard 

9 that substantially and proximately caused, or 

10 reasonably could be expected to cause, death or 

11 serious bodily injury.’’; 

12 (2) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘$5,000’’ and 

13 inserting ‘‘$55,000’’; 

14 (3) in subsection (d)— 

15 (A) by inserting ‘‘knowingly exposes min16 ers to situations likely to cause death or serious 

17 bodily injury,’’ after ‘‘operator who’’; 

18 (B) by striking ‘‘$25,000’’ and inserting 

19 ‘‘$250,000’’; and 

20 (C) by striking ‘‘$50,000’’ and inserting 

21 ‘‘$500,000’’; 

22 (4) in subsection (e), by striking ‘‘$1,000’’ and 

23 inserting ‘‘$20,000’’; 

24 (5) in subsection (f), by striking ‘‘$10,000’’ and 

25 inserting ‘‘$100,000’’; 
8 

•S 2308 IS

1 (6) by redesignating subsections (i) through (k) 

2 and subsection (l) as subsections (j) through (l) and 

3 subsection (o), respectively; 

4 (7) by inserting after subsection (h) the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘(i) FAILURE TO INFORM.—Any operator who fails 

7 to inform the Secretary of a disaster relating to a coal 

8 or other mine within the 15-minute period following the 

9 occurrence of the disaster shall be subject to a civil penalty 

10 of not less than $100,000. The Secretary may waive the 

11 penalty under this subsection if the Secretary determines 

12 that the failure to inform within the time period was 

13 caused by circumstances outside the control of the oper14 ator.’’; and 

15 (8) by inserting after subsection (l) (as so re16 designated by paragraph (6)) the following: 

17 ‘‘(m) MINIMUM FINE OR PENALTY.— 

18 ‘‘(1) SERIOUS ILLNESS OR INJURY HAZARD.—A 

19 fine or civil penalty assessed under this section for 

20 a violation of a mandatory health or safety standard, 

21 or other provision of this Act, that could cause seri22 ous illness or injury shall be in an amount of not 

23 less than $10,000. 

24 ‘‘(2) HABITUAL VIOLATOR.—A fine or civil pen25 alty assessed under this section, to any operator of 
9 

•S 2308 IS

1 a coal or other mine who habitually violates this Act, 

2 for a violation of a mandatory health or safety 

3 standard, or other provision of this Act, that could 

4 significantly and substantially contribute to a safety 

5 or health hazard shall be in an amount of not less 

6 than $20,000. 

7 ‘‘(n) USER FEES.—An operator who incurs a civil 

8 penalty or fine under this section shall, in addition to the 

9 amount of such penalty or fine, be assessed a user fee 

10 of $100 for each such penalty or fine. Such fees shall be 

11 collected by the Secretary to be deposited in an Adminis12 tration account and shall be used to augment the amounts 

13 appropriated to the Administration for carrying out the 

14 following activities: 

15 ‘‘(1) To reimburse operators for the cost of 

16 training, research and development, rescue teams, 

17 safe rooms, or other supplies or equipment for miner 

18 safety. 

19 ‘‘(2) To enable the Administration to provide 

20 technical support, educational policy and develop21 ment, and program evaluation and information ac22 tivities in accordance with this Act.’’. 

23 (b) NO REDUCTION OF CERTAIN FINES.—Section 

24 105(d) of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 

25 (30 U.S.C. 815(d)) is amended in the first sentence by 
10 

•S 2308 IS

1 inserting ‘‘, except that the Commission shall not decrease 

2 a civil penalty assessed for a flagrant violation, as defined 

3 in section 110(a), or for a habitual violation’’ after ‘‘ap4 propriate relief’’. 

5 SEC. 6. MANDATORY HEALTH AND SAFETY TRAINING. 

6 Section 115(a) of the Federal Mine Safety and 

7 Health Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 825(a)) is amended— 

8 (1) by redesignating paragraph (5) as para9 graph (7); and 

10 (2) by inserting after paragraph (4) the fol11 lowing: 

12 ‘‘(5) all miners shall receive initial training in 

13 the proper usage of wireless communications devices 

14 and shall receive refresher training courses on such 

15 usage not less often than once each calendar year; 

16 ‘‘(6) each rescue team for the mine shall par17 ticipate in a surprise, unannounced emergency res18 cue drill at an operating mine not less often than 2 

19 times each calendar year; and’’. 

Æ