Six decades before the OSHA law was enacted, the federal government began fashioning a system and a set of rules that have succeeded in reducing death and disease in the nation's mines. This bill would be the first federal statute ever to weaken protections for miners. As one hazard is corrected, another may appear. Miners still die in explosions. Miners still die in roof falls.
Miners still die in blasting accidents.
But I won't forget. On the fortunate occasion of Davitt McAteer's swearing in as Assistant Secretary, I had the opportunity to go into the mines. There, far below the earth's surface, I saw the work miners do . . . At the same time, productivity has soared. But H.R. 1834 would reverse much of this progress.