Capito Meets With Committee on Education and the Workforce Chairman John Kline and Assistant Secretary of Labor For Mine Safety and Health Joe Main to Discuss Mine Safety

Press Release

Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, R.-W.Va., released a statement following today's meeting with Committee on Education and the Workforce Chairman John Kline and Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health Joe Main to discuss what additional tools MSHA needs to successfully improve mine safety, as well as what steps they have taken to improve enforcement under existing law. To view Capito's letter requesting the meeting, click here:

"Mine safety is a personal issue to West Virginia. For generations, our families and our friends have worked in the mines. When West Virginia loses even a single miner it affects all of us. The disaster at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch mine made all of us question whether the laws on the books were sufficient to protect the lives of our miners. Since the explosion that ripped through the mine, significant state and federal resources have been invested to determine the cause of the explosion, with several investigations still ongoing.

"Chairman Kline, Assistant Secretary Main and I share a common goal of protecting miners. We had a lively discussion about MSHA's enforcement mechanisms. As I have said multiple times before, improved mine safety can only happen when all parties involved work together to achieve better results. I look forward to working together to pass effective mine safety laws in order to prevent future disasters."

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