Mine-safety measures passed in appropriations bill

"With little notice, Sen. Robert Byrd (right) inserted language making key changes to the nation's mine-safety laws into a spending bill approved last month," The Courier-Journal reports. "The West Virginia Democrat won approval of provisions establishing rules restricting the use of conveyor- belt openings for ventilation, a practice considered hazardous by safety advocates."

"Byrd also included language in the omnibus appropriations bill -- signed into law by President Bush -- that is aimed at quick deployment of underground refuge chambers, which miners can use to protect themselves during emergencies," James R. Carroll writes for the Louisville newspaper. "Finally, he added $34 million to the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration's budget to hire more inspectors and implement the new rules."

The legislation requires MSHA to propose by June 20 and finalize by Dec. 31 rules that effectively ban the use of belt air entries for ventilation, "except in limited cases approved by the head of MSHA," Carroll writes. "Belt air can contain coal dust and toxic chemicals, and critics have said that using it for ventilation is a major fire hazard." It has been blamed for the 2006 fire that killed two miners at the Aracoma mine in West Virginia.

Regulations for refuge chambers "or facilities that afford at least the same measure of protection" must be proposed by June 15 and finalized by Dec. 31. Such a chamber would have saved miners who died in the Kentucky Darby mine in 2006, mine-safety lawyer and former regulator Tony Oppegard told Carroll. (Read more)