Date: 2011-12-07
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

I want to thank the ranking member for yielding. The legislation before us today would really destroy the ability of the Congress to create new regulations. to create laws to protect the health and safety of the American citizens. It would also provide a great second bite at the apple for every special interest in this country that doesnt like the regulations to protect clean water and safe drinking water and the health and safety of our workers and our children at play. If youre wondering what it would look like when we wipe out the health and safety protections for Americans. you need to look no further than the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia. where an explosion ripped through the mine and killed 29 miners in April of this year. That mine was operated as if there were no safety regulations. They treated their workers as if there were no mine safety rules at all because they overruled all of those regulations through criminal activity. through illegal activity. and those miners were forced to work with essentially none of the value of health and safety regulations designed to protect their lives. And what happened in that mine without those regulations and without the benefit of those safety protections? An explosion ripped through that mine. traveling 2.000 feet per second. and it consumed the lives of 29 miners. Twentynine workers died. and their families will never be the same. Thats what happens when you take away the basic worker protections intended to make our economy function and to keep our workers safe. And thats what this bill on the floor today would do. Now its even more interesting that the man who broke the laws. created that system of no regulations for the miners in the Upper Big Branch Mine for his own personal benefit and the benefit of that of the corporation and at the expense of his workers. may be getting back into the mining business. Donald Blankenship got an $86 million "golden parachute" after 29 mine workers died in West Virginia. And now he wants to open a new mine. People who live in coalmining States like Kentucky should be aware that a serial violator of basic mine safety laws is coming to your State soon seeking to operate a mine. Mine companies under his leadership have engaged in dangerous and deadly practices that would pose a threat to mine workers in your State. In the 2 years preceding the explosion of the Massey Company mines. they were cited over 10.000 times a year for violations. Under this provision. the coal mines come into Congress. they get the regulations. they cease to exist. and they can go on their way. and there wont be 10.000 citations for the violation of occupational health and safety to protect those miners. and other miners will lose their lives like those in the Upper Big Branch Mine. I say to my colleagues in this House. you must defeat this incredibly offensive bill for every American. and you must do so in the name of these 29 mine workers who were killed in the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia. They died because a ruthless mine owner gamed the system. Let us not have them game the system in the Congress of the United States.