Robert C. Byrd Mine Safety Protection Act of 2010

Floor Speech

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Mrs. CAPITO. In the past few years, my home State, West Virginia, has walked with a heavy heart. On numerous occasions, we have bowed our heads in solemn reverence for miners that we have lost in tragedy. We have watched as our small towns and their citizens have been thrust into the Nation's eye for the most unfortunate reasons. As we've heard, in fact, on April 5 of this year, we suffered the worst mine disaster in more than a generation. An underground explosion swept through at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch mine, claiming 29 lives, which my colleague from West Virginia just enumerated very eloquently.

Let me be clear, the issue of mine safety is a very personal one to every West Virginian. Our families and our friends are in the mines. When West Virginia loses even a single miner, it affects all of us.

Currently, multiple investigations into the Upper Big Branch mine are still searching for answers and following each small detail that could uncover the answer to a larger mystery. And it is just that, an unsolved investigation. Even today, investigators are hampered by water and are working to clear the mine before they can continue their work.

With these investigations still in progress, we do not know which laws were not followed by the operator, which laws MSHA failed to enforce, and which health and safety laws were simply inadequate. And yet Congress intends to lay out its heavy hand again before our questions are answered and before we know exactly what happened.

The late Senator Robert C. Byrd was a leader in mine safety. After the Sago mine tragedy in my district, the West Virginia delegation gathered in Senator Byrd's office, and we sat together to reach a common agenda. The Senator believed that we were there for a purpose of protecting our miners and that all ideas were welcome at the table.

I wish this Congress would heed the late Senator's values. This bill was rushed to the floor in the last days of this Congress with little notice and some changes made at the last minute. I was heartened a few months ago when Congress began a new discussion on miner safety. I appreciate the chairman of the committee having a field hearing in Beckley and allowing me to attend. So I appreciate that. In fact, there were many bills introduced as a part of that discussion. And, unfortunately, this discussion has been too short and a single bill was green-lighted by a select few.

This bill has been rushed to the floor so it can be checked off a list of accomplishments. I wholeheartedly support the legislation's goal to better protect the health and safety of our Nation's miners, but in this case, we haven't gotten close to the goal. Improving mine safety can only happen when all parties work to get involved or are working together to achieve better results. It is shortsighted and, in essence, a shot in the dark before we see the true facts.

The bill being considered today takes harsh and punitive measures that does little to address mine safety but, rather, introduces dramatic regulatory changes and promotes unnecessary litigation which will hurt those mines and miners operating in good faith on behalf of worker safety. It imposes vague new standards for criminal liability, potentially criminalizing most infractions and subjecting officials to sanctions over which they have no direct control.

Any legislation should look at the industry in total, from the companies to the agencies regulating them, and this bill does not do that. If we are to truly get this right, we need to let the investigations move forward and work for a true mine safety bill that would secure the safety of our miners for generations to come.

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