I 
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5389 
To establish improved mandatory standards to protect miners during 
emergencies, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 16, 2006 
Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California (for himself, Mr. RAHALL, Mr. OWENS, 
Mr. CHANDLER, Mr. HOLT, Mr. DAVIS of Alabama, Mr. MOLLOHAN, Mr. 
BROWN of Ohio, Mr. COSTELLO, and Mr. MURTHA) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the 
Workforce 
A BILL 
To establish improved mandatory standards to protect miners 
during emergencies, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting America’s 
Miners Act’’. 
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that, because the Sec-
retary of Labor has failed in recent years to adequately 
fulfill the Secretary’s obligations under the Federal Mine 
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Safety and Health Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 801 et seq.) 
to help miners survive underground mining emergencies 
and has failed to adequately prepare for the significant 
losses to a highly-trained Mine Safety and Health Admin-
istration inspector workforce that are pending, Congres-
sional intervention is needed. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
For purposes of this Act, any term used in this Act 
that is defined in section 3 of the Federal Mine Safety 
and Health Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 802) shall have the 
meaning given the term in such section. 
SEC. 4. IMPROVED ESCAPE AND REFUGE REQUIREMENTS 
TO HELP PROTECT MINERS IN THE EVENT OF 
AN EMERGENCY. 
Section 101 of the Federal Mine Safety and Health 
Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 811) is amended by adding at 
the end the following: 
‘‘(f) IMPROVED MANDATORY SAFETY STANDARDS TO 
PROTECT MINERS IN THE EVENT OF AN EMERGENCY.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 
provision of this section regarding the promulgation 
of mandatory health or safety standards, and in ad-
dition to the requirements of any mandatory health 
or safety standards promulgated under this Act, the 
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following shall be mandatory safety standards that 
apply to all underground areas of coal mines: 
‘‘(A) EMERGENCY DETECTION, WARNING, 
AND MESSAGING SYSTEMS.—Not later than 180 
days after the date of enactment of the Pro-
tecting America’s Miners Act, an operator of an 
underground coal mine shall— 
‘‘(i) install atmospheric detection and 
warning systems, in all underground areas 
where miners normally work and travel, 
that provide real-time information regard-
ing methane levels, carbon monoxide levels, 
oxygen levels, air flow, and temperature 
and that can, to the maximum extent pos-
sible, withstand explosions and fires; 
‘‘(ii) provide each miner working in 
any underground area of the mine with a 
device that is designed to enable the oper-
ator to send a message to the miner pro-
viding instructions during an emergency; 
and 
‘‘(iii) as soon as the National Institute 
for Occupational Safety and Health cer-
tifies that portable devices providing 2-way 
communications between the surface and 
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underground are available and are capable 
of operation during some mining emer-
gencies, provide each miner working in any 
underground area of the mine with such a 
device, and, in addition, continue to pro-
vide the devices required under clause (ii) 
until such time as the 2-way communica-
tions devices required by this paragraph 
are certified by the National Institute for 
Occupational Safety and Health to be at 
least as effective as the other devices in all 
mining emergency circumstances. 
The Secretary shall establish procedures for 
regularly consulting with other Federal, State, 
and foreign agencies with respect to new com-
munications technologies for use in accordance 
with clauses (ii) and (iii) and for expediting the 
approval of such new technologies. 
‘‘(B) 
FACILITATING
EMERGENCY
ES-
CAPE.— 
‘‘(i) EMERGENCY CACHES.—Not later 
than 30 days after the date of enactment 
of the Protecting America’s Miners Act, 
each operator of an underground coal mine 
shall 
provide 
emergency 
underground 
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caches of air and self-contained breathing 
equipment, in amounts sufficient to enable 
all miners working anywhere in a par-
ticular mine to escape from the mine in an 
emergency in which any direct inhalation 
of the mine atmosphere by a miner would 
likely produce adverse health effects. The 
caches shall be located throughout the 
mine, including in escapeways. In order to 
determine the specific location of each 
cache in an escapeway, an operator shall 
develop a risk assessment plan that cal-
culates the necessary amount and place-
ment of the caches based on the travel 
time by foot from the deepest work area in 
the mine to the surface, taking into ac-
count the impact of emergency conditions 
and the demographics of the miners in the 
particular mine, except that such caches 
shall not be spaced further apart than the 
distance an average miner can walk in 30 
minutes. 
Each 
cache 
located 
in 
an 
escapeway shall be marked with flame re-
tardant lifeline cords or similar devices, 
and reflective material shall be placed at 
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25-foot intervals along the route to the 
cache to indicate the cache’s location. 
‘‘(ii) 
ADDITIONAL
EMERGENCY 
CACHES.—Until the date that the require-
ment to provide refuges under subpara-
graph (C) is effective, each operator of an 
underground coal mine shall maintain, in 
addition to the caches described in clause 
(i), emergency supplies of air and self-con-
tained breathing equipment for miners 
awaiting rescue due to an emergency with-
in the mine. Such equipment shall be suffi-
cient to supply the highest number of min-
ers expected to be in the working areas of 
the mine for not less than 5 days. 
‘‘(iii) 
SELF-RESCUE
DEVICE
AP-
PROVAL AND INSPECTION PROCESS.— 
‘‘(I) EXPEDITED
APPROVAL.— 
The Secretary shall expedite the proc-
ess for approving any self-rescue de-
vice that permits the replenishment of 
oxygen without requiring the device 
user to remove the device. 
‘‘(II) INSPECTION
PROGRAM.— 
The Secretary shall— 
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‘‘(aa) establish a program to 
randomly check samples of any 
self-rescue devices used in an un-
derground coal mine on a regular 
basis, in order to ensure that the 
self-rescue devices in the coal 
mine inventories are working in 
accordance with the approval cri-
teria for such devices; 
‘‘(bb) require a manufac-
turer of a self-rescue device to 
contact 
the 
Secretary 
imme-
diately upon notification of any 
potential problem with such de-
vice; and 
‘‘(cc) notify immediately all 
operators of underground coal 
mines if the Secretary detects or 
is advised of any problems with 
the self-rescue devices. 
‘‘(iv) SELF-RESCUE DEVICE MAINTE-
NANCE
SCHEDULE.—Not later than 30 
days after the date of enactment of the 
Protecting America’s Miners Act, each op-
erator of an underground coal mine shall 
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develop and implement a maintenance 
schedule for— 
‘‘(I) checking the reliability of 
self-rescue devices; 
‘‘(II) retiring older self-rescue de-
vices first; and 
‘‘(III) introducing new self-rescue 
device technology, such as devices 
with interchangeable air or oxygen 
cylinders that do not require doffing 
to replenish airflow and devices with 
air or oxygen supplies of more than 1 
hour, as such devices are approved by 
the Secretary and become available. 
‘‘(v) SELF-RESCUE
DEVICE
TRAIN-
ING.—Not later than 30 days after the 
date of enactment of the Protecting Amer-
ica’s Miners Act, each operator of an un-
derground coal mine shall implement a 
program to ensure that all miners are 
trained in the proper procedures for don-
ning self-rescue devices, switching from 1 
self-rescue device to another, and ensuring 
a proper fit of the self-rescue devices. 
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‘‘(vi) 
FLAME-RETARDANT
LIFE-
LINES.—Whenever required by law to in-
stall lifelines, each operator of an under-
ground coal mine shall use flame-retardant 
lifelines exclusively. 
‘‘(C) REFUGES.—Not later than 1 year 
after the date of enactment of the Protecting 
America’s Miners Act, each operator of an un-
derground coal mine shall establish or provide 
refuges underground in sufficient locations to 
ensure that all miners working at any location 
in a mine can reach a refuge that can accom-
modate such miner within 15 minutes, should 
such miner determine that escape from the 
mine is not the best course of action to take 
during an emergency and without regard to the 
length of time it might take to escape the mine. 
Each such refuge shall be a stand-alone refuge. 
Each operator shall ensure that the locations of 
the refuges are marked and kept current on 
mine maps, and that mine rescue teams for the 
mine are regularly provided with information 
about the design and features of the refuges. 
Each such refuge shall be— 
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‘‘(i) equipped with adequate air, food, 
and water to accommodate the calculated 
number of miners for a period of not less 
than 5 days; 
‘‘(ii) constructed or designed in such a 
way as to seal out toxic mine atmospheres 
and to eliminate the buildup of toxic 
atmospheres or other hazardous conditions 
within the refuge; and 
‘‘(iii) equipped with telephone lines, or 
equivalent 2-way communications to the 
surface. 
‘‘(D) TRACKING DEVICES TO FACILITATE 
RESCUE.—Not later than 180 days after the 
date of enactment of the Protecting America’s 
Miners Act, each operator of an underground 
coal mine shall provide each miner working in 
an underground location with an electronic 
tracking device that permits the continuous 
tracking of the location of the miner within the 
mine, for the purpose of facilitating the miner’s 
rescue in an emergency. 
‘‘(2) MODIFICATION AND SUPERSESSION.—The 
provisions of this subsection may be superseded in 
whole or in part by improved mandatory safety 
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standards promulgated by the Secretary under this 
section, and may be modified with respect to a par-
ticular mine only in accordance with the require-
ments and procedure described in subsection (c). 
‘‘(3) IMMINENT DANGER.—Any violation of a 
mandatory safety standard under this subsection, or 
a mandatory safety standard promulgated by the 
Secretary that supercedes a standard under this 
subsection, shall be deemed to create an imminent 
danger to miners for the purposes of section 107.’’. 
SEC. 5. FACILITATING THE PROMPT INITIATION OF RES-
CUE AND MINE RECOVERY EFFORTS. 
(a) EMERGENCY CALL CENTER.—Not later than 30 
days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 
shall establish, within the Mine Safety and Health Admin-
istration, a central communications emergency call center 
for all coal or other mine operations that shall be staffed 
and operated 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, by 1 or more 
employees of the Mine Safety and Health Administration. 
All calls placed to the emergency call center shall be an-
swered by an individual with adequate experience and 
training to handle emergency mine situations. A single na-
tional phone number shall be provided for this purpose 
and the Secretary shall ensure that all miners and mine 
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operators are issued laminated cards with emergency call 
center information. 
(b) CONTACT INFORMATION.—The Secretary shall 
provide the emergency call center with a contact list, up-
dated not less often than quarterly, that contains— 
(1) the contact phone numbers, including the 
home phone numbers, for the members of each mine 
rescue team responsible for each coal or other mine; 
(2) the phone numbers for the local emergency 
and rescue services unit that is located nearest to 
each mine; 
(3) the contact phone numbers, including the 
home phone number, for the operator of each mine; 
(4) the contact phone numbers, including the 
home phone numbers, for the national and district 
officials of the Mine Safety and Health Administra-
tion; 
(5) the contact phone numbers, including the 
home phone numbers, for the State officials in each 
State who should be contacted in the event of a mine 
emergency in such State; and 
(6) the contact phone numbers, including the 
home phone number, for the authorized representa-
tive of the miners at each mine. 
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(c) MINE LOCATION MAPS.—The Secretary shall es-
tablish, maintain, and keep current on the Department of 
Labor’s website a detailed map or set of maps showing 
the exact geographic location of each operating or aban-
doned mine in the United States. Such map or maps 
shall— 
(1) be presented, through links within the 
website, in such a way as to make the location of a 
mine instantly available to the emergency personnel 
responding to the mine; 
(2) be available to members of the public; and 
(3) allow a user to find the geographic location 
of a particular mine, or the geographic locations of 
all mines of a particular type in a county, congres-
sional district, State, or other commonly used geo-
graphic region. 
(d) REQUIRED NOTIFICATION OF EMERGENCIES AND 
SERIOUS INCIDENTS.— 
(1) REPORTING.—An operator of a coal or 
other mine shall report any emergency or serious 
mine incident to the emergency call center not later 
than 15 minutes after becoming aware of any such 
emergency or serious mine incident, regardless of 
whether miners remain at risk. 
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(2) EMERGENCIES OR SERIOUS INCIDENTS.— 
For the purposes of this subsection, an emergency or 
serious mine incident includes— 
(A) a mine fire; 
(B) a roof fall, unplanned inundation, col-
lapse, or unplanned explosion; 
(C) a sudden change in mine atmospheric 
conditions; 
(D) a rib fall that impairs ventilation or 
impedes passage; 
(E) a coal or rock outburst that causes the 
withdrawal of miners; 
(F) the failure of an impoundment; 
(G) damage to hoisting equipment in a 
shaft or slope that endangers an individual; 
(H) any incident that leads to the death, 
serious injury with a reasonable potential to 
cause death, or entrapment, of a miner; and 
(I) any other emergency or incident, as de-
termined in regulations promulgated by the 
Secretary, that needs to be examined in order 
to determine if the working conditions in the 
mine are safe. 
(e) ENHANCING THE AVAILABILITY AND CAPABILI-
TIES OF MINE RESCUE TEAMS.— 
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(1) COAL
MINE
RESCUE
TEAM
REQUIRE-
MENTS.— 
(A) OPERATORS WITH LESS THAN 36 EM-
PLOYEES.—Not later than 30 days after the 
date of enactment of this Act, an operator of an 
underground coal mine for which the total num-
ber of employees employed in the underground 
areas of the mine, at any time during the pre-
vious year, did not exceed 35 employees, shall 
ensure that— 
(i) each mine rescue team that is re-
quired under section 115(e) of the Federal 
Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (30 
U.S.C. 825(e)), and the regulations pro-
mulgated pursuant to such section, in-
cludes miners who are employed by the op-
erator and who are familiar with the work-
ings of such mine; 
(ii) all members of the mine rescue 
team can reach the mine in not more than 
1 hour; and 
(iii) each mine rescue team conducts 
at least 2 mine rescue drills each year in 
the mine for which the rescue team has 
mine rescue responsibilities. 
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(B) OPERATORS WITH 36 OR MORE EM-
PLOYEES.—Not later than 30 days after the 
date of enactment of this Act, an operator of an 
underground coal mine that employed, at any 
time during the previous year, a total of 36 or 
more employees for work in the underground 
areas of the mine shall ensure that— 
(i) each mine rescue team that is re-
quired under section 115(e) of the Federal 
Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (30 
U.S.C. 825(e)), and the regulations pro-
mulgated pursuant to such section, con-
sists exclusively of miners who are em-
ployed by such operator and who are famil-
iar with the workings of such mine; and 
(ii) all members of the mine rescue 
team are available for immediate deploy-
ment. 
(C) ADDITIONAL TEAMS.—Nothing in this 
paragraph shall be construed to preclude an op-
erator of a coal mine from contracting for the 
services of other mine rescue teams in addition 
to the mine rescue teams required by section 
115(e) of the Federal Mine Safety and Health 
Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 825(e)). 
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(2) MINE RESCUE TEAM REGULATIONS.— 
(A) INITIATION
OF
RULEMAKING.—Not 
later than 30 days after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary shall initiate rule-
making activity to revise the Secretary’s regula-
tions under section 115(e) of the Federal Mine 
Safety and Health Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 
825(e)) regarding mine rescue teams, and shall 
in this regard directly contact and solicit the 
participation of— 
(i) all existing mine rescue teams; 
(ii) organizations representing other 
types of rescue workers (such as fire-
fighters); 
(iii) State and local emergency au-
thorities; and 
(iv) others whom the Secretary deter-
mines may have information relevant to 
this rulemaking. 
(B) INTERIM
FINAL
RULES.—The Sec-
retary shall issue the regulations revised under 
subparagraph (A) as interim final rules not 
later than 270 days after the date of enactment 
of this Act. 
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(C) 
CONTENT
OF
REVISED
REGULA-
TIONS.—In revising the regulations under sub-
paragraph (A), the Secretary shall address, at 
a minimum— 
(i) the training and qualifications for 
mine rescue team members; 
(ii) the equipment and technology 
used in mine rescue; 
(iii) the structure and organization of 
mine rescue teams; 
(iv) the identification of qualified sur-
face personnel to communicate with mine 
rescue teams during rescue efforts; 
(v) the provision of uniform creden-
tials to mine rescue team members, sup-
port personnel, or vehicles for immediate 
access to any mine site; 
(vi) the plans required at each mine to 
ensure coordination with local emergency 
response personnel and to ensure that such 
personnel receive adequate training in 
mine rescue needs and in coordinating with 
the mine rescue teams at each mine; and 
(vii) requirements to ensure that oper-
ators are prepared to facilitate the work of 
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mine rescue teams during an emergency 
by— 
(I) storing necessary equipment 
in locations readily accessible to mine 
rescue teams; 
(II) providing mine rescue teams 
with a parking and staging area ade-
quate for their needs; 
(III) identifying a space appro-
priate for coordinating emergency 
communications with the mine rescue 
team; and 
(IV) identifying and maintaining 
separate spaces for family members, 
community members, and press to as-
semble during an emergency so as to 
facilitate communications with these 
groups while ensuring the efforts of 
the mine rescue teams are not hin-
dered. 
SEC. 6. ENHANCING THE INVESTIGATION OF MINE ACCI-
DENTS. 
(a) INVESTIGATIONS BY THE SECRETARY.—Not later 
than 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
Secretary shall initiate rulemaking activity to establish 
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regulations regarding the investigation of accidents, and 
shall in this regard directly contact and solicit the partici-
pation of— 
(1) individuals identified by the Secretary as 
family members of miners who perished in mining 
accidents of any type during the preceding 10-year 
period; 
(2) organizations representing miners; 
(3) mine rescue teams; 
(4) Federal, State, and local investigation and 
prosecutorial authorities; and 
(5) others whom the Secretary determines may 
have information relevant to this rulemaking. 
(b) INTERIM FINAL RULES.—The Secretary shall 
issue the regulations revised under subsection (a) as in-
terim final rules not later than 270 days after the date 
of enactment of this Act. 
(c) CONTENT OF REVISED REGULATIONS.—In revis-
ing the regulations under subsection (a), the Secretary 
shall require that— 
(1) public hearings are held in connection with 
any fatal accident and in connection with an acci-
dent that could have resulted in multiple fatalities; 
(2) the recommendations of an investigation of 
an accident undertaken in accordance with sub-
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section (a) are made public at such time as the rec-
ommendations are provided to the Secretary; 
(3) the Secretary designate an employee as a 
family advocate to act as the liaison between the 
Secretary and the family of any miner killed or in-
jured in any accident that is the subject of an inves-
tigation; 
(4) the family of a miner killed or injured in an 
accident that is the subject of an investigation is in-
cluded in all phases of the investigation (including 
witness interviews) in which a representative of the 
operator or the miners is included; and 
(5) the Secretary is the coordinator of rescue 
operations and communications with the public and 
families during any investigation of an accident. 
(d) INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATIONS.—After an acci-
dent and upon the timely request of the authorized rep-
resentative of the miners at a mine, or representatives of 
a majority of the families of the miners killed or who could 
have been killed in such accident, the Secretary shall con-
tract with the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation 
Board or other appropriate independent Federal investiga-
tive authority to conduct an independent investigation of 
the accident and provide recommendations to the Sec-
retary. Such investigation shall be in addition to any inves-
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tigation conducted by the Secretary, and shall be con-
ducted pursuant to whatever procedures such authority 
determines are appropriate for the investigation. The Sec-
retary shall provide such authority with all information 
and expertise requested, and shall pay for such authority 
to conduct the authority’s investigation, including the 
costs of obtaining the services of independent experts re-
quired for any such investigation. 
SEC. 7. ENHANCING OPERATOR AND OWNER INCENTIVES 
TO AVOID SERIOUS RISKS TO MINERS. 
(a) PATTERN OF VIOLATIONS.— 
(1) PROMPT IDENTIFICATION OF PATTERN.— 
Not later than 30 days after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary is directed to revise the 
regulations issued by the Secretary under section 
104(e) of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act 
of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 814(e)) as in effect on the day 
before such date of enactment, so that the regula-
tions provide that— 
(A) when a potential pattern of violations 
is identified by any inspector or district man-
ager of the Mine Safety and Health Adminis-
tration, the operator of the coal or other mine 
and the authorized representative of miners for 
the mine shall be notified by the inspector or 
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district manager not later than 10 days after 
such identification; and 
(B) after receiving the notification de-
scribed in subparagraph (A), the appropriate 
Administrator of the Mine Safety and Health 
Administration shall promptly review any such 
potential pattern of violations and, not later 
than 45 days after receiving such notification, 
make a final decision as to whether a citation 
for a violation of section 104(e) of such Act 
should be issued. 
(2) FINE FOR A PATTERN OF VIOLATIONS.— 
Section 110 of the Federal Mine Safety and Health 
Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 820) is amended— 
(A) 
by 
redesignating 
subsections 
(i) 
through (l) as subsections (k) through (n), re-
spectively; and 
(B) by inserting after subsection (h) the 
following: 
‘‘(i) PATTERNS OF VIOLATION.— 
‘‘(1) ADDITIONAL
PENALTIES.—If the Sec-
retary determines that a pattern of violations under 
section 104(e) exists, the Secretary shall assess a 
penalty, in addition to any other penalty authorized 
in this Act for a violation of such section, of not 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
00:31 May 20, 2006
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