Manchin weighs in at mine hearing
From: The Register-Herald.com
By Taylor Kuykendall, Register-Herald Reporter
During a Senate hearing on mine safety nearly a year after the Upper Big Branch explosion, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., asked safety officials for more coordination between state and federal officials.
In addition to eliminating redundancy and contradictory orders, Manchin also hinted that it may be a good idea to split safety offices in two, one to focus on inspections, and the other on training.
“Everyone is trying to do everything, and I am sometimes finding out that we are not doing either one as well as we could or should,” Manchin said.
Currently, regulatory authority of the state’s coal mines falls in the hands of the Mine Safety and Health Administration and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.
Joseph Main, assistant secretary of MSHA, said that splitting the responsibilities between the two agencies — inspection at the state level and safety training at the federal level — may not be in the best interest of miners. He said his experience has shown value in both state and federal agencies.
Main said he agreed federal and state officials need to work together to improve regulatory processes. He said currently there are six or seven states with their own mining safety organizations, and in May, district MSHA officials will be meeting with state department heads to work on cooperative regulatory efforts.
“What I hear a lot from both the miners themselves and the operators is that there are two inspections going on, and one might contradict the other, and they might get very confused,” Manchin said. “And I’ve even had miners tell me, ‘We’re told to do one thing one way, and then either the state or federal follows up, and they’re looking for something different.’”
Manchin said the two conflicting sources of regulation can cause unsafe conditions “where they are both intending to create a safer condition.”
“I found a lack of sharing of information,” Manchin said. “I know that from the federal and our state in West Virginia — and I am sure other states might have the same concerns — they’re not sharing what they should be, and we don’t know who’s coordinating inspections.”
Increased coordination between state and federal officials, Manchin said, would allow for the “best bang for our buck.”
If there is a conflict between state and federal law, federal law has primacy, Main explained after Manchin posed the question.
