Date: 2012-07-25
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

So. as for these workers who work in these dangerous conditions around all kinds of dust that explode on a moments noticewithout any notice. in factthey should rely on the idea that we would all be compassionate here. The subcommittee that reported this legislation asked people in the industry. and they immediately targeted this standard. This wont be about the compassion of Members of Congress. This will be about the interests and the lobbying by the special interests to keep this dust standard from going into effect. It will not meet the requirement of imminent danger because it happens all the time. We have about 18 of these a year. It happens all the time. People are killed all of the time in different settings and with different dust. This isnt about one size fits all. This is about dust that explodes and kills people and burns them to death on the job. It destroys the workplace. and in some cases its never rebuilt and the jobs are never brought back. In other cases. as in one of these cases. the employer is now saying. Give us this dust standard. Give us this dust standard. The workers in this country have a right to rely on the law to protect them. not on some notion of this committee or of this Congress sense of compassion and of whether it will be invoked on that given day or not against the lobbying efforts by these industries. Its about the law that protects workers and their familiesworkers who get up and go to work every day. whose families hope they get to come home at night. but it doesnt happen for a lot of workers. In these industries with combustible dust. it happens over and over and over again. They get killed on the job. Ive been here a long time working on combustible dust. Let me tell you. the industry doesnt say. Ah. gee. weve killed enough people. Lets all just kind of hold hands and see if we can come up with something. Its complicated. You must do it right. Its based upon science. Its based upon research so that you can isolate the dust so the explosions dont happen. But this legislation suggested by the committee notices in the committee that this is one of the regulations that they would target. They can use the old conundrum "one size fits all." Do you know what? If youre working around combustible dust. you want the dust that you have taken care of. So maybe we can whittle it down. Well take care of some of the dust but not all of the dust because we can get under the $100 million rule. What are you talking about? These are the lives of the American people. These are the lives of working people. This is an interesting notion you have. It just doesnt fit in the workplace. It just doesnt fit in the daily lives of these people who are threatened by these horrible. horrible. horrific incidents that take place usually through no fault of the workers. Other decisions were made about not keeping the plant clean. Other decisions were made about not installing equipment that could mitigate this under the old standards. Thats the reason we need the law. the reason the workers in this country need the lawnot some expression of compassion late at night in an empty Chamber of Congress. Tell them to rely on that. that one night in an empty Chamber of Congress the proponent of the legislation said. Well be compassionate when this comes to the floor. We understand this. Well grant you a waiver. Well figure it out.