Senate Approves Mine Safety Bill Based on Durbin Proposal

SENATE APPROVES MINE SAFETY BILL BASED ON DURBIN PROPOSAL

The U.S. Senate today unanimously approved a bipartisan bill to help protect the lives of miners in Illinois and throughout the nation. Major provisions in the bill were based on mine safety legislation introduced in March by U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL). Today's measure, the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act will improve enforcement of safety regulations, raise minimum and maximum penalties for serious violations and provide funding for safety training grants.

"The tragic events at coal mines in West Virginia and Kentucky captured the nation's attention and exposed the serious dangers our miners face every day. Safety violations often result in life-threatening and fatal injuries to miners. Safety inspectors tell me that the fines need to be higher when a company violates our safety laws and that we need to put more resources into training inspectors," said Durbin. "We have more than 3,500 miners in Illinois. We owe it to them and to their families to ensure all 25 mines in Illinois are being held to the highest standards of safety."

Durbin said the legislation approved today will:

# Give the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) the power to shut down a mine if it refuses to pay a fine,

# Require mine owners to install wireless communications and tracking equipment in all mines within three years,

# Require coal mines to create new emergency response plans and require that these plans be continuously reviewed, updated and re-certified by MSHA every six months,

# Require each mine to make available two experienced rescue teams capable of responding to an emergency within an hour,

# Substantially raise minimum fines for serious safety violations,

# Raise the maximum fine to $250,000 for first offenses and $500,000 for second offenses, as well as raise the maximum civil penalty for flagrant violations to $220,000,

# Create grant programs to improve safety training.

Durbin's original bill, S. 2448, also called for increased fines for mine safety violations, improved mine safety training grant programs and a tightened fines collection process. "I commend my colleagues for addressing these issues in the largest overhaul of mine safety legislation in 30 years," said Durbin. "With over 50 mine related deaths in the past two years, the Senate recognized the need to act. I urge the House to approve these critical reforms as soon as possible."

According to recent reports, since 2001, almost half of all fines have not been collected. Federal records also show that in the last two years the federal mine safety agency has failed to hand over any delinquent cases to the Treasury Department for further collection efforts, as is supposed to occur after 180 days. Today's mine safety bill tightens up fine collections and authorizes MSHA to close mines that don't pay.

Over the years, funding for education/health and training grants has steadily declined -- seriously impacting the agency's ability to meet the training needs of the Illinois mining industry. Nationally, MSHA awards up to $10 million in grants annually. Last year, Illinois received $209,250 - down from $274,781 approximately ten years ago. The Illinois Office of Mines and Minerals (OMM) uses the funds it receives from MSHA to purchase safety vehicles, rescue training equipment and to help train new coal mine employees. Not only is OMM unable to purchase new equipment as old equipment wears out, but the agency is having trouble purchasing modern mine rescue training equipment. Today's Senate passed legislation includes a new grant program for education and training, authorizing "such sums that may be necessary" which allows the Illinois Office of Mines and Minerals to apply for grants as they see fit.

Durbin has also written to state and federal agencies responsible for overseeing mine safety asking them for a review of mine safety records in Illinois and elsewhere. In his letters he asked the agencies to examine two issues - the impact funding cuts for mine safety inspections have had on mine safety, and a status report on safety conditions at all of Illinois' mines. President Bush has proposed cuts to the federal coal safety inspection budget in four of the five years he has been in office. Analysts say that those reduced budget numbers have accounted for the loss of 130 mine inspectors since 2000.

The State of Illinois recently passed legislation that would require mine operators to install communications technology that tracks miners below ground and requires the miners to wear oxygen canisters. The bill is awaiting the Governor's signature.

http://durbin.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=256066&&