Date: 2006-03-01
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. earlier today the Education -and the Workforce Committee had a subcommittee hearing dealing with the mine safety issues aroufd the recent tragedies that happened in the Sago mine disaster in January of this year. Unfortunately. that hearing was arbitrarily gaveled to adjournment at a time before members could have exercised their rights to ask questions of -the witnesses that were there from the Mine Safety Administration. - the United Mine Workers. and the mine association of the companies. Had we had the opportunity without the arbitrary adjournment of the hearing. we would have tried to ask the Mine Safety Administration how they have come to delay and weiken and scrap the 18 regulations that were put forth to protect the miners in the coal mining industry of this Nation and. in fact. regulations that may very well have been able to save the miners. the 12 miners who died in the Sago mine disaster. But we were not allowed to ask that question because of the adjournment by the chairman of. the committee. We would have asked them whether or not*they have ignored the requirements of the law that no standard put in place be. less protective than the existing standard. as they have continued to chisel away at the safety standards for the miners working in deep coal mines of this Nation. meeting our energy demands for this Natioh. for the miners and their families.-who every day make the decision to go into the mines in this hazardous occupation. We would have also asked them whether or not..when they see the failure of the regulations to protect these miners. whether or not this shift of enforcement and the loss of enforcement personnel to a compliance assistance philosophy to work voluntarily with the mining companies. whether or. not that led to this mine accident. especially when this particular mine. the Sago mine. had 208 violations in 2005. It is clear that the owners were interested in maximizing their profits and not complying with safety. laws. and it is clear that the penalty system that we have in place does not deter repeat violations. .because the Sago mine. had many repeat violations. serious violatiQns of the safety rules dealing with combustible gases in the mine and the protection of these miners. We would have also tried to ask them whether or not they felt that Congress had exercised its oversight authority. since this was the first oversight hearing on mine safety in 5 years.. We would have also asked them to stop shutting out the public in the decisionmaking proce�s. We would have asked the administration to open up all of itsrecords. including the inspectors notes. to public scrutiny around the Sago mine disaster so that we can be able to do the work to determine whether or not we could have prevented this disaster that took these lives. We also would have made sure that they would have put in place commonsense rules dealing with the ability to communicate with the miners who were in the mine. We now think we are learning that it might have.been possible for those miners to walk out of the mine had they known where they were and had we been able to communicate with them. And wlile communications devices are available.. they are used in some American mines. they are used in some Canadian mines. they are used in Australian mines. they are not very well used. if at all. in the U.S. coal mining industry. and yet the government has done nothing to try to push this technology so we could have had communications with these miners. 0.].1600 Also the idea of locators. so that we would have been able to send a message to these miners about what their situation was and what they might have done to prolong their lives. because we now know they were down in that mine for a very long time waiting to be rescued. but that did not happen. As we heard from Amber Helms. the 23yearold daughter of Terry Helms. who died in the explosion. he died in the explosion. she asked us why if she can set up a Web page in her computer. if we can communicate to the solar system. if -we can communicate around the world. why couldnt we havecommunicated to her father and those other men down in that mine that lost their lives? Why wasnt this put in place when the cost of the itens to protect their lives ranged from apparently $20 to $200? It means nothing in terms of the profits of these mines. the revenues they generate and. the overriding concern for the safety of their miners. But. no. we didnt have a chance to ask these questions. because after one round of questioning. the chairman decided that enough was enough. that we were not going to have the opportunity to ask the Mine. Safety Administration. Where have you been for 5 years on the issue of rescue chambers in mines and the protection of these miners. and when are their families going to get these answers? Well. they didnt get them today. and apparently they are not going to get them from the Congress for a very long time. This Congress has been blind to the need to maintain even the protections that already exist under the law. It was not long ago that some members of our committee. including its former chairman. were actively seeking legislation to abolish MSHA and NIOSH andto cut back critical enforcement provisions. Under that legislation. 3 outof the 4 mandatory annual inspections at every underground mine would have been eliminated. Inspectors would have needed a warrant before entering mine property. Only miners in unionized mineswould have had the right to accompany inspectors as they examined the mine. The circumstances in. which an inspector could shut down an unsafe section of a mine would have been restricted. Mine operators would not have had to pay fines for typical citations as long as the hazards were abated. And on and on. That legislation was defeated. But that apparently hasnt deterred Administration officials from trying to gut MSHA anyway. Now theyre just dismantling it and taking it out the back door. where they think no one is watching. Well. we are watching. and legislation must be enacted to ensure that changes are made. changes that make the safety and health of these mine workers a priority. and that prevent the industry from being allowed to get away with further abuses. I want to commend my colleagues. Congressman RAHALL of West Virginia. and the West Virginia delegation for their prompt hearings and action on these issues. on February 1st. they introduced H.R. 4695. the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 2006. which enhances and reinforces the original purpose of the landmark Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969. as amended by the Federal Mine - Safety and Health Act of 1977. This legislation is a vital step in this process. and an effort that I am hoping will be a catalyst for change. Ambers testimony. and the powerful and courageous testimony provided by all The witnesses at the forum is documented on DVD. I strongly urge all members of this subcommittee to watch the footage. of the forum. and the incredibly important questions posed by these witnesses. questions that have unfortunately. been asked before. but that have not been answered. not by the administration. and not by MSHA. As Amber said: I understand that nothing that I say today or nothing that happens in the future is going to bring my Dad back. But my Uncle Johnny. my Uncle Mike. my cousin Rocky. as well as every other miner that is underground and every other son whos getting ready to go into the coal minesbecause thats where the jobs are in West Virginia and maybe some .of these other stateswe can prevent their families from going through this. We owe it to Amber and every other American who has lost a loved one in a mining accident to learn what more we can do to make mines safer. And then. just as Amber says. we must take action to prevent more familibs from going through the hell that she has had to go through.