Date: 2011-04-05
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. 1 year ago today. a massive explosion ripped through the 2mile area of the Upper Big Branch Mine in Montcoal. West Virginia. The explosion bent railroad tracks like pretzels and killed 29 miners. This disaster laid bare the loopholes that riddle our mine safety laws. These loopholes allowed dubious mine operators. like Massey Energy. to violate mine safety rules repeatedly and with impunity. In fact. the Upper Big Branch Mine was allowed to remain open even though it had been ordered to stop operations 51 times in the previous year because of severe safety hazards. After the disaster. there were proclamations made from both sides of the aisle about taking meaningful action to honor the victims so that something like this would never happen again. However. standing here a year later. miners still face many of the same dangers as they did the morning before the tragedy in West Virginia. Unscrupulous mine operators are still gaming the system by clogging it with thousands of appeals as a way to avoid paying strong penalties. Miners are still paralyzed with the fear of being fired for speaking out because of weak whistleblower protections. Decisions made in the boardrooms to maximize coal production at the expense of miners safety remain unchallenged. Management practices of illegally giving advance warning of pending inspections are still a mere misdemeanor. Shortly after the Upper Big Branch tragedy. the Education and Labor Committee held the only hearings where Congress heard from families and miners affected by this tragedy. Many were reluctant to testify because they feared retaliation. For others. there was a strong desire to tell their stories to prevent another tragedy in the coal mines of America. Eddie Cook told us about the dangerous practices he heard from the miners at the Upper Big Branch Mine after the explosion. He lost his 21yearold nephew. Adam Morgan. Adams father. Steve Morgan. said that when he spoke to his son about the unsafe conditions. management told him that he might just have to find another job. They did nothing about the unsafe conditions. Gary Quarles lost his only son at Upper Big Branch. Gary asked us to make a commitment to make sure that it doesnt happen again. Alice Peters testified about how her soninlaw. Dean Jones. was afraid to work in the mine because of the ventilation problems. but Dean needed the job in order to keep health insurance coverage for his specialneeds son. Clay Mullins lost his brother Rex at Upper Big Branch. Clay testified how the management would give advance warning of an impending mine safety inspection so that they could quickly cover up any violations before the Federal inspectors got to that part of the mine. And Stanley "Goose" Stewart was working at the Upper Big Branch Mine the day it exploded. He testified twice before the committee about the persistent fear and intimidation faced by workers from Massey management. Every mine law has been written with the blood of miners. and savvy political interests know that. as attention to the tragedy fades. so does the willingness of the Congress to act decisively. Families and miners also expressed their concern about this skepticism. Looking back now. a year later. their skepticism was entirely justified. Congress has utterly failed to respond to the real problems that miners. themselves. have identified as safety hazards in their workplace. A toxic political environment has failed these families. The paytoplay nature of our politics has failed these families. While congressional action was stymied. the Mine Safety and Health Administration has been working hard to make adjustments in the limited ways it can to help prevent rogue mine operators from recklessly putting lives at risk. but even with these measures. we are hearing the familiar cries from Big Coal to maintain the status quo while they continue to game a legal system designed to protect the miners who go to work in those mines every day. They cry about their socalled "due process". but what about the due process for the 29 miners who died in the Upper Big Branch Mine explosionand their families? What about the miners who went to work today in the coal mines of Americaand their families? Is Congress just going to sit here and simply wait for the next explosion? the next tragedy? the next loss of life? Are we going to let the special interests continue to paralyze this institution? These should not be hard questions for the Congress of the United States. Our ability to respond goes to the heart of who we are as a Nation. There are things that Congress can and must do right nowand that only Congress can doto better ensure that every coal miner who goes to work is able to return safely to their families at the end of their shifts. Congress has an obligation to make sure that that is the case. It is long overdue to honor our promises to the families of the 29 miners who perished a year ago for doing the job that our Nation relies on to provide its energy. and it is also long overdue to give the rest of our Nations miners modern health and safety protections.