Dems' draft reforms would bolster mining safety rules

House and Senate Democrats on Tuesday outlined reforms designed to bolster the worker safety protections governing the nation's mines.

The changes, floated by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), would hike penalties on safety violators, enhance whistleblower protections for workers who complain about unsafe conditions, and grant subpoena power to federal regulators investigating problem mines.

The draft reforms — written with help from officials at Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), a branch of the Labor Department — would also empower federal regulators to close mines more easily when patterns of safety problems are identified. To address complaints that MSHA inspectors have been reluctant to find themselves at fault for mining accidents, the Democrats are also promoting mandatory independent investigations of mine accidents. 

The sponsors argue that the changes are needed to rein in mine operators with a history of disregarding safety measures in order to increase production.

"Bad actors have put profits ahead of people," Harkin, chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said in a statement. "As a consequence, workers have lost vital protections, suffered significant injuries and, in too many cases, lost their lives. 

"We are determined to put sharper teeth in our workplace safety laws and to step up federal enforcement."

The reforms arrive in direct response to an April explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine in Montcoal, W.Va., which killed 29 miners and maimed a 30th. Investigators have yet to determine the cause of the blast, but the mine owner, Virginia-based Massey Energy, had violated hundreds of mine safety rules in the months leading up to the accident. Dozens of those citations targeted problems with ventilation systems and the accumulation of combustible materials — the very conditions thought to be responsible for the explosion.

Despite the problems inherent at the mine, however, MSHA officials have insisted that current law left them powerless to shutter the operation in the name of worker safety. Such claims have only fueled the Democrats' push for stricter mine safety rules. 

"Mine operators who callously and repeatedly put their workers in danger must be held accountable," said Miller, chair of the House Education and Labor Committee. "It is clear that current law does not provide sufficient protections to miners who go underground every day."

In 2008, Miller was the driving force behind mine safety legislation that would have installed many of the reforms introduced Tuesday. Although the bill passed the House, it was killed in the Senate, largely due to the opposition of coal-country lawmakers, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.).

In one sign that the latest mine safety bill might stand a better chance, Rockefeller on Tuesday threw his weight behind the new reforms, arguing that Congress shouldn't wait for the UBB investigation to act. 

"Too much hurt and tragedy has touched the lives and families of hard-working coal miners in West Virginia," Rockefeller said in a statement. "We must pass laws that put a higher priority on safety day in and day out."