this Act through transfer of any responsibilities 
to another person’’; 
(2) in section 103 (30 U.S.C. 813)— 
(A) in subsection (b)— 
(i) by striking the first sentence and 
inserting the following: ‘‘For the purpose 
of enabling the Secretary to perform the 
functions under this Act, the Secretary 
may, after notice, hold public hearings and 
sign and issue subpoenas for the attend-
ance and testimony of witnesses and the 
production of information, including but 
not limited to relevant data, papers, books, 
documents and items of physical evidence, 
and administer oaths, whether or not in 
connection with a public hearing.’’; and 
(ii) in the last sentence by striking 
‘‘documents’’ and inserting ‘‘information, 
including data, papers, books, documents, 
and items of physical evidence’’; and 
(B) in subsection (h), in the first sentence, 
by striking ‘‘information’’ and inserting ‘‘data, 
papers, books, documents, and items of physical 
evidence’’; 
(3) in section 104 (30 U.S.C. 814)—
(A) in subsections (d)(1), (e)(1), (e)(2), 
(e)(3), and (e)(4), as amended by this Act, by 
inserting ‘‘or any provision of this Act’’ after 
‘‘standard’’ or ‘‘standards’’ each place either 
such term appears; and 
(B) in subsection (d)(1), as amended by 
this Act, by striking ‘‘while the conditions cre-
ated by such violation do not cause imminent 
danger,’’; 
(4) in section 105 (30 U.S.C. 815)— 
(A) in subsection (a), in the first sentence, 
by striking ‘‘, within a reasonable time after the 
termination of such inspection or investiga-
tion,’’; 
(B) in subsection (c)— 
(i) in paragraph (1)— 
(I) by inserting ‘‘or an injury or 
illness in a coal or other mine or that 
may be associated with mine employ-
ment,’’ after ‘‘of an alleged danger or 
safety or health violation in a coal or 
other mine,’’; and 
(II) by inserting at the end the 
following: ‘‘No miner shall be required 
to work under conditions he has rea-
sonable grounds to believe to be ab-
normally and immediately dangerous 
to himself beyond the normal hazards 
inherent in the operation which could 
reasonably be expected to cause death 
of serious physical harm before such 
condition or practice can be abated.’’; 
and 
(ii) in paragraph (2), by inserting 
after the fifth sentence the following: ‘‘No 
investigation or hearing authorized by this 
paragraph may be stayed to await resolu-
tion of a related grievance proceeding’’; 
and 
(C) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(e) Attorneys representing the Secretary are author-
ized to contact any miner or non-managerial employee of 
a mine operator for the purposes of carrying out the Sec-
retary’s functions under this Act and no attorney rep-
resenting the Secretary shall be disbarred or disciplined 
by any State bar or State court for making such contacts. 
No attorney representing a mine operator in a matter 
under this Act may concurrently represent individual min-
ers in the same matter.’’; and 
(5) in section 110 (30 U.S.C. 820)—
(A) in subsection (b)(2), by striking 
‘‘under’’ and inserting ‘‘of subsections (a) 
through (h) of’’; and 
(B) in subsection (c)— 
(i) by striking ‘‘Whenever a corporate 
operator’’ and inserting ‘‘Whenever a mine 
operator’’; 
(ii) by striking ‘‘safety standard’’ and 
inserting ‘‘safety standard or requirement 
of this Act’’; 
(iii) by inserting ‘‘partner, owner,’’ 
after ‘‘director,’’; and 
(iv) by striking ‘‘such corporation’’ 
and inserting ‘‘such mine operator’’. 
(l) FEDERAL
LICENSING.—The Secretary shall 
promptly establish an advisory committee to provide rec-
ommendations as to whether the Federal Mine Safety and 
Health Act of 1977 should provide for Federal licensing 
of mines, mine operators, mine controllers, or various mine 
personnel in order to ensure that those engaged in mining 
activities are not frequent violators of safety and health 
requirements, and establish a national registry in connec-
tion therewith. The advisory committee shall be estab-
lished pursuant to the Advisory Committee Act, and shall 
conduct a review of existing State licensing requirements
and registries, assess their effectiveness, and shall provide 
its recommendations to Congress not later than 2 years 
after the date of enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 6. SUPPLEMENTING RESCUE, RECOVERY, AND INCI-
DENT INVESTIGATION AUTHORITY. 
(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 per day, 7 days per week, by 1 
or more employees of the Mine Safety and Health Admin-
istration. All calls placed to the emergency call center shall 
be answered by an individual with adequate experience 
and training to handle emergency mine situations. A sin-
gle national phone number shall be provided for this pur-
pose and the Secretary shall ensure that all miners and 
mine 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. 
Each mine operator shall ensure that the Secretary is pro-
vided with completely current information required to be 
maintained by the Secretary pursuant to paragraphs (1), 
(3), and (6). The Secretary shall give due consideration 
to the information collected by the joint government-indus-
try Mine Emergency Operations database. 
(c) MINE
LOCATIONS; REPOSITORY
OF
MINING 
MAPS.—
(1) MINE LOCATIONS.—The Secretary shall es-
tablish, maintain, and keep current, on the Depart-
ment of Labor’s website, a detailed map or set of 
maps showing the exact geographic location of each 
operating or abandoned mine in the United States, 
as determined by a global positioning system. Such 
map or maps shall— 
(A) 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; 
(B) be available to members of the public; 
(C) allow a user to find the geographic lo-
cation of a particular mine, or the geographic 
locations of all mines of a particular type in a 
county, congressional district, State, or other 
commonly used geographic region; and 
(D) provide the geographic location of any 
mining waste impoundments with links to asso-
ciated emergency contact information and avail-
able emergency response plans. 
(2) REPOSITORY OF MINING MAPS.—The Sec-
retary shall establish a national repository for pre-
serving a digital archive of mining maps to be acces-
sible directly and without delay from the Depart-
ment’s web site. The mining maps shall include cop-
ies of all historic maps that can be obtained, as well 
as copies of currently approved mining maps, which 
the Secretary shall arrange to copy and preserve in 
digital form. The Secretary may coordinate the oper-
ation of such repository with the Secretary of the In-
terior provided the other requirements of this para-
graph are observed. In addition, the Secretary shall 
include in this repository copies of the most cur-
rently available mine emergency response plan, roof 
plans, ventilation plans, and such other plans re-
quired for any type of mine, following any required 
approval, so that they may be immediately accessed 
in an emergency, in a manner consistent with the re-
quirements of section 312(b) of the Act. 
(d) REQUIRED NOTIFICATION OF EMERGENCIES AND 
SERIOUS INCIDENTS.—Section 103(j) (30 U.S.C. 813(j)) 
is amended— 
(1) in the first sentence, by inserting ‘‘or re-
portable event’’ after ‘‘accident’’; 
(2) in the second sentence— 
(A) by inserting ‘‘of accidents’’ after ‘‘the 
notification’’; and 
(B) by inserting ‘‘, or in the case of a re-
portable event that is not required to be re-
ported as an accident, within 1 hour of the time 
at which the operator realizes that the event 
has occurred’’ before the period; and 
(3) by inserting at the end the following: ‘‘For 
the purposes of this subsection, a reportable event 
shall include— 
‘‘(1) a fire not required to be reported more 
promptly; 
‘‘(2) a sudden change in mine atmospheric con-
ditions in a sealed area; 
‘‘(3) a coal or rock outburst that causes the 
withdrawal of miners; or 
‘‘(4) any other event, as determined in regula-
tions promulgated by the Secretary, that needs to be 
reported within 1 hour in order for the Secretary to 
determine if the working conditions in the mine are 
safe.’’. 
(e) ENHANCING THE CAPABILITIES OF MINE RES-
CUE TEAMS.— 
(1) 
AMENDMENT
TO
FMSHA.—Section 
115(e)(2)(B) (30 U.S.C. 825(e)(2)(B)) is amended 
by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(v) The provision of uniform credentials to mine res-
cue team members, support personnel, or vehicles for im-
mediate access to any mine site.
‘‘(vi) The plans required at each mine to ensure co-
ordination with local emergency response personnel and 
to ensure that such personnel receive adequate training 
to offer necessary assistance to mine rescue teams in the 
event such assistance is requested. Such local emergency 
response personnel shall not perform the duties of any 
mine rescue team. 
‘‘(vii) Requirements to ensure that operators are pre-
pared to facilitate the work of mine rescue teams during 
an emergency by— 
‘‘(I) storing necessary equipment not brought 
on site by mine rescue teams in locations readily ac-
cessible to mine rescue teams; 
‘‘(II) providing mine rescue teams with a park-
ing and staging area adequate for their needs; 
‘‘(III) identifying a space appropriate for co-
ordinating emergency communications with the mine 
rescue team; and 
‘‘(IV) identifying and maintaining separate 
spaces for family members, community members, 
and press to assemble during an emergency so as to 
facilitate communications with these groups while 
ensuring the efforts of the mine rescue teams are 
not hindered.’’.