Date: 2010-12-08
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the members of our committee. the Education and Labor Committee. who spoke today. Ms. WOOLSEY. who is the subcommittee chair. Mr. HARE. and Ms. SHEAPORTER. for their commitment to worker safety. whether it is in mines. or construction sites. or factories. or anywhere else in America. They have demonstrated over and over again their commitment to these workers. I also want to thank Mr. RAHALL for his support of this legislation. He has taught me a great deal. not just about mine safety. but about the culture of the communities that engage in this industry and in this employment and the impact that it has on them and their families when things go so very wrong in the mines with accidents. explosions. fires. and other incidents that take place. Time and again when I have visited miners they have told me how he has stood with them and their families at the mine site and the accident site. if you will. in their churches. in their homes. out in their cars as they have slept overnight waiting to hear what the impact of the accident might be on their loved ones who are still inside of the mine. and I want to thank him for that kind of concern and for the help in drafting this legislation. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. I appreciate that the time is never right for my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to engage in worker safety legislation. The fact is. they or their staff were invited numerous times to participate in the drafting sessions. All they wanted to do was see the language. not participate. This is over an 8month period of time. the consideration of this legislation. where we met with groups all across the mining community. employers. employees. communities. governors. enforcement agencies. Federal. State and local. and all of that together. We worked with the mining companies themselves. I am very honored to have two letters. one from Patriot Coal. the CEO of Patriot Coal. and one from the CEO of CONSOL Energy. reflecting on the process that we went through to arrive at this legislation and the improvements that were made. They were grateful for the extent to which they had been included in this process. I dont say they support this legislation and every item in it. But the fact of the matter is. this was a very open process. and it was open for one reason: Because we wanted the best answers to provide for the safety of these miners and the security of their families. This bill has the support of those who go into the mines every day. This bill has the support of the families of those who go into the mines every day. Why? Because they know how badly the system has been gamed by mine owners who really dont care about the safety of their workers. of their miners. of the members of their communities. Unfortunately. it is too many mine owners. It is a small number. but it impacts a huge number of miners who work in those mines. where they disregard the law. where they instruct people to do things that are in violation of the law. where they disrupt the inspection process. where they disrupt the enforcement process. That is how they run their companies. We have watched it play out on the financial pages of the newspapers. One of the very large mining companies. Massey Energy. struggled with the idea of whether or not they could keep their CEO. who was so strongly identified. so strongly identified. with being against the interests of miners. of working people in violation of the law. of overlooking the safety concerns of their miners. Finally. they decided that he should retire. Unfortunately. they also decided he should go with a very big golden parachute. But the fact of the matter is. this is about protecting miners. I want to also thank Chairman CONYERS of the Judiciary Committee and