House panel approves increased safety measures for coal mines

The Democratic-controlled House Education and Labor Committee voted along party lines, 26-18, to approve the Supplementary Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act, or S-MINER, a follow-up to last year's MINER Act, reports Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette. Introduced by Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., the new legislation "would speed up deadlines for several mine rescue requirements passed by Congress last year after the Sago Mine disaster," Ward wrote.

The bill drew criticism from U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration chief Richard Stickler who released a statement that said the bill "would cause serious administrative problems for MSHA." The National Mining Association, the lobby of coal companies, also released a statement which said the bill “is far more likely to impede rather than improve our ongoing efforts to enhance mine safety."

The bill's provisions include: requiring operators to submit plans for installing better underground communications within 120 days, forcing MSHA write regulations mandatin rescue chambers or shelters by June 2008, generally outlawing conveyor belt tunnels that bring fresh air underground and commissioning studies about retreat mining, the practice used Crandall Canyon Mine in Utah. (Read more)

Rep. Bob Bishop, R-Utah, voted against the measure and told the Deseret Morning News the legislation comes too soon after the original MINER Act. "Bishop said the original MINER Act, passed 2006 in wake of the Sago Mine disaster, needs time to be fully implemented before Congress should act to change it," writes Suzanne Struglinski from Washington, D.C. "He said some of the provisions in Miller's bill are already in place, and some of the bill's proposed new safety rules could harm Utah's mining industry."

The new bill would add a full-time position at MSHA for communicating with miners' families and the media after an accident, but Bishop said such a measure was "superfluous." The MINER Act did call for increased communication, but the way Crandall Canyon Mine owner Bob Murray handled the briefings this summer led Miller to seek a full-time position. (Read more)