From: Courrier-Journal.com
Mine-safety bills were introduced early this year by Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., and Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., but neither has left the committees where they were assigned for consideration. The 15 co-sponsors of Miller’s bill are all Democrats, as are the three co-sponsors of Rockefeller’s measure.
A tight calendar and political differences are combining to block movement on the legislation.
Lawmakers have only a few weeks before the end of the first session of the 112th Congress, time most likely to be consumed by debate and votes on government spending bills, expiring tax cuts and, possibly, jobs legislation.
Congress last passed major mine-safety legislation in 2006 after accidents in West Virginia and Kentucky killed 19 men.
“Unfortunately, we have a majority that believes that any regulation is a job-killer, even though there’s no evidence to support that,” Rep. John Yarmuth, D-3rd District, said in an interview. “Even something as basic as mine safety — they won’t pass ‘job-killing’ mine-safety regulations even though it may kill miners.”
Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., is chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, whose jurisdiction includes mine-safety
legislation. He offered a different view of the delays.
“Republicans and Democrats both want to enhance the safety of America’s miners,” Kline said in a statement to The Courier-
Journal. “However, we hold different views on how to achieve that goal.”
safety initiatives stall: one lost on the House floor last year, while an earlier bill cleared the House but not the Senate.
Not even last year’s Upper Big Branch Mine accident in West Virginia, which killed 29 miners, created congressional momentum
for action.
The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration’s coming report on the disaster might change that, said Justine Sessions, spokeswoman for Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
“Chairman Harkin hopes that the forthcoming MSHA report on the tragedy at the Upper Big Branch mine will spur renewed attention on both sides of the aisle to the dangers facing America’s miners and the need to strengthen the laws on the books to make sure that a disaster like Upper Big Branch never happens again,” Sessions said in an email.
Both the Miller and Rockefeller bills would give MSHA subpoena power, protect whistleblowers, close loopholes in safety enforcement and increase penalties for certain violations.
“Congress has been put on notice several times since the Upper Big Branch tragedy,” Miller said in a statement to The Courier-
Journal. “Investigations have revealed loopholes in the law. It’s Congress’ job to plug those loopholes. We owe it to the families of Upper Big Branch and all other American miners to act before another tragedy hits.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., co-sponsored the 2006 mine-safety law and believes that “ensuring the safety of Kentucky’s coal miners remains a top priority,” said spokesman Robert Steurer.
He pointed out that Democrats control the Senate, and Democratic leadership determines what the body will take up.
“Senator McConnell hopes his Republican colleagues will get a chance to debate and amend the legislation if it comes before the
Senate to ensure it takes the necessary steps to protect our coal miners,” Steurer said.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., did not respond to a request for comment.
“We are on record supporting legislation …to fix the problems,” MSHA chief Joseph Main said in a recent interview. “We still
believe that.”
The mine agency has taken administrative steps to increase surveillance of problem mines and close operations that do not address chronic patterns of violations.
“To make MSHA truly effective in cracking down on serial violators who seem indifferent to miners’ health and safety, MSHA needs additional tools that only Congress can provide,” Main told a House subcommittee in March.
The National Mining Association opposes the Miller and Rockefeller measures. Spokesman Luke Popovich said the bills were “intended to be punitive, not improve mine safety.”
“We’ve testified that MSHA has proper authorities … commensurate with their responsibilities to enforce safety rules,” Popovich said in an email. “They are now, belatedly, using these authorities and are calling attention to their effectiveness.”
“Hopefully, the GOP committee leadership, along with the leadership in the full House, will see the need for additional protections
for miners and pass reform legislation soon,” Smith said in an email. “We pray it will not take even more tragedies to spur
them to do so.”
Kline was among the majority of lawmakers in the House and Senate who passed the landmark 2006 mine-safety law.
But Kline opposed a 2008 follow-up bill and called Miller’s bill last year “ill-advised” and “a much more expansive
approach” than was needed. Kline also wrote a column in The Washington Times advocating “restrained federal involvement”
in workplace issues.
“As I’ve said time and again, the toughest laws on the books will not protect miners if the agency charged with enforcing the law
doesn’t do its job,” Kline said in his statement. “It is important we work to find common ground on responsible mine safety policies that include MSHA aggressively using the tools in its arsenal to protect workers and hold bad actors accountable.”
“The lack of action is frustrating,” Rockefeller said in a statement to The Courier-Journal. “A small group of my colleagues are blocking comprehensive mine safety reform for reasons that only they can explain.”
Through a spokesman, he declined to be specific about the identity of his adversaries.
“I remain determined to make mining safer, I will continue pushing this bill and appreciate that at least MSHA has taken
administrative steps to make things safer for miners,” Rockefeller said.
It appears Rockefeller doesn’t think he has the votes for his bill, Smith said.
“I think that if he had the votes, he would have moved on his bill and it would have already passed the Senate,” Smith said.
Sessions, Harkins’ spokeswoman, said that “historically, strengthening our mine-safety laws has been a bipartisan effort.”
progress can be made,” she said.
