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After meeting with officials from the federal Mine Health and Safety Administration (MSHA) on Wednesday, Senator Byrd expressed concern that the agency has lost sight of its safety mission.
"I still have lingering concerns about the culture of safety in our nation’s mines. I don’t believe that the federal government is doing enough to protect coal miners from future tragedies. There are not enough inspectors. There are not enough resources. The federal mine safety agency is understaffed, underfunded, and underequipped," Byrd said.
Byrd met on Wednesday in his U.S. Capitol office with officials from the federal Mine Health and Safety Administration about the investigation into last week’s fatal explosion at the Sago mine in Upshur County. The West Virginia lawmaker also focused on broader safety enforcement issues at coal mines across the country.
"After listening to the federal officials today, I remain very concerned about whether enough is being done to prevent more mining disasters from occurring," Byrd said.
The Senator planned to make the "culture of safety" a focus at the first Congressional mine health and safety hearing after the Sago explosion. That hearing is scheduled for January 19. Byrd, who has worked with Republican Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Democratic Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa to schedule the hearing, hopes that the testimony will provide some critical insight into initiatives that can make mines safer and improve response times to future disasters.
One area that Byrd knows can be addressed immediately is that of safety technology.
"We owe it to the Sago miners to bring better safety technology into the 21st century. The safety and rescue equipment is 30 to 40 years old," Byrd explained. "If we can put a man on the moon and communicate with him in an instant, we ought to be able to find ways to talk with miners trapped 260 feet below the earth. We ought to be able to use today’s technologies in this ages-old industry. There have been plenty of technological advances in mining equipment over the years, but safety and health have not been given the same priority."
While the investigation into the Sago explosion continues, Byrd pressed MSHA officials about the high number of safety violations that had been imposed on the International Coal Group, owner of the Sago mine, in 2005. The Senator questioned agency representatives whether they had done everything within their authority to maintain high standards of safety at the Sago mine.
"I am not convinced that everything possible was done to make sure that the men and women working at the Sago mine were given every protection under law. MSHA needs to remember that its mission is mine health and safety, and that mission must always come first," Byrd stated.
Federal mining officials, as well as representatives of labor, business, and academia with expertise in mine safety, will be invited to testify at the hearing.
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