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Dems push GOP to bolster mine safety
A damning new mine-safety report is fresh evidence that Congress needs to act to protect the nation's miners, according to several senior House Democrats.
Reps. George Miller (D-Calif.), Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) and Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) say the Labor Department's findings that last year's deadly coal mine explosion in West Virginia was preventable are an indication that stricter protections are required to avert the next catastrophe.
"We still need to pass legislation to shore up the inefficiencies that still exist," Rahall told The Hill. "I just as strongly, if not more so, feel the need for that legislation."
More than 20 months after a blast at the Upper Big Branch mine in southern West Virginia killed 29 miners, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) released the results of its investigation Tuesday, finding that the mine owner, Massey Energy, systematically violated federal safety standards that might have prevented the disaster.
Massey, the investigators wrote, "promoted and enforced a workplace culture that valued production over safety, including practices calculated to allow it to conduct mining operations in violation of the law."
In a separate move, the Department of Justice fined Massey's new owner, Alpha Natural Resources, $209 million for violations surrounding the disaster.
Republicans in Congress have resisted new mine-safety legislation since the April 2010 explosion, arguing that Congress shouldn't intervene before the cause of the blast was known.
Rahall said the damning nature of Tuesday's MSHA report, combined with similar findings by several other investigative teams, should be plenty to convince even skeptical Republicans that Congress needs tougher laws to ensure miner safety.
"Republicans have been saying we need to wait for the results of the investigations. Well, we have the results of the investigations — three reports now," Rahall said. "I don't know what more they need to wait on."
The Democrats have a tough road ahead, as Republicans in both chambers have been wary of saddling new restrictions on the powerful mining industry, citing the effect the rules could have on jobs. Indeed, the House on Wednesday is poised to pass legislation that would require the White House to get Congress's approval before installing any regulations estimated to cost more than $100 million — effectively shifting a vast amount of regulatory power from the executive branch to the legislative.
Miller said Wednesday that the MSHA findings are good reason to oppose such a move.
"It was 29 dead coal miners because the Massey corporation was basically allowed to, by their board of directors, evade the basic regulations that were in place to protect the miners," Miller said on the House floor. "That's what it looks like when you don't have regulations."
Democrats are pushing legislation, sponsored by Miller, to hike penalties for mine operators who violate safety rules, expand whistleblower protections for miners who report hazards and grant subpoena power to federal inspectors conducting investigations into accidents.
The proposal passed out of the Education and Labor Committee last year, when Democrats were in the majority, but was shot down by the full House, which didn't provide the two-thirds majority needed under the suspension of the rules governing the vote. Rep. Walter Jones (N.C.) was the only Republican to support the measure, while 27 Democrats opposed it.
Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.), chairman of the Education and Workforce Committee, hammered Massey Tuesday for a "failure to make safety a top priority [that] forced miners to face greater danger in an inherently hazardous profession."
Kline said he'll be holding a hearing on the MSHA findings, though he didn't indicate when.
Meanwhile, Democrats aren't holding their breath for the Republicans to act, with Miller conceding Tuesday that he is “not very optimistic at all" about his bill's chances under a GOP majority.
"This is out of mind until another explosion takes place," he said.
