IIB 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 2768 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
JANUARY 22 (legislative day, JANUARY 3), 2008 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 
Labor, and Pensions 
AN ACT 
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, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Supplemental Mine Improvement and New Emergency 
Response Act of 2007’’ or the ‘‘S–MINER Act’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Findings. 
Sec. 3. Definitions; references. 
Sec. 4. Supplementing emergency response plans. 
Sec. 5. Supplementing enforcement authority. 
Sec. 6. Supplementing rescue, recovery, and incident investigation authority. 
Sec. 7. Respirable Dust Standards. 
Sec. 8. Other health requirements. 
Sec. 9. Mine safety program fund. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds that— 
(1) while the MINER Act of 2006 (Public Law 
109–236) was an essential first step in addressing 
the many health and safety hazards that miners still 
face, supplemental action is necessary and feasible to 
better protect miners in coal and other mines; 
(2) essential standards to protect miner health 
established by the Federal Mine Safety and Health 
Act of 1977 are out of date after 40 years, posing 
a significant threat to miner health; and 
(3) the Secretary of Labor has failed in recent 
years to adequately fulfill the Secretary’s obligations 
under the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 
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1977 (30 U.S.C. 801 et seq.), additional Congres-
sional intervention is needed. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS; REFERENCES. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this Act— 
(1) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ refers to the Sec-
retary of Labor; and 
(2) any other term used in this Act that is de-
fined 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. 
(b) REFERENCES.—Except as otherwise expressly 
provided, whenever in this Act an amendment or repeal 
is expressed in terms of an amendment to, or repeal of, 
a section or other provision, the reference shall be consid-
ered to be made to a section or other provision of the Fed-
eral Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 801 
et seq.). 
SEC. 4. SUPPLEMENTING EMERGENCY RESPONSE PLANS. 
(a) POST
ACCIDENT
COMMUNICATIONS.—Section 
316(b)(2)(F)(ii) (30 U.S.C. 876(b)(2)(F)(ii)) is amend-
ed— 
(1) by striking ‘‘Not later than’’ and inserting 
the following: 
‘‘(II) Not later than’’; and 
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(2) by inserting after the clause designation the 
following: 
‘‘(I) Not later than 120 days 
after the enactment of the S–MINER 
Act, a plan shall, to be in approved 
status, provide for a post accident 
communication system between under-
ground and surface personnel, and for 
an electronic tracking system permit-
ting surface personnel to determine 
the location of any persons trapped 
underground, that utilizes a system at 
least as effective as a ‘leaky feeder’ or 
wireless mesh type communication 
and tracking system currently in use 
in the industry. These systems shall 
be enhanced physically, electronically, 
or redundantly, to improve their sur-
vivability in the event of a mine dis-
aster. In addition, to be in approved 
status, an emergency response plan 
must be revised promptly to incor-
porate new technology which the Na-
tional Institute for Occupational Safe-
ty and Health certifies can be added 
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to the existing system to improve its 
ability to facilitate post-accident com-
munication with or tracking of min-
ers. No miner shall be disciplined 
based on information obtained from 
an electronic communications and 
tracking system.’’. 
(b) 
UNDERGROUND
REFUGES.—Section 
316(b)(2)(E) (30 U.S.C. 876(b)(2)(E)) is amended— 
(1) in clause (iii)(I), by inserting before the 
semicolon the following: ‘‘and such requirement may 
not be satisfied by placement of an order with any 
company for future delivery of a portable refuge 
chamber or other means of providing such emer-
gency supplies of breathable air’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(vii) Not later than June 15, 2008, 
the Secretary shall issue interim final reg-
ulations, consistent with the design criteria 
recommended by National Institute for Oc-
cupational Safety and Health in its report 
pursuant to section 13(b)(1) of the 
MINER Act, and subject to the require-
ments of the next sentence, requiring each 
emergency response plan to provide for the 
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