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Senator Byrd hopes that a Senate hearing later this month will begin to shed some light on the federal government’s response to the fatal Sago mine explosion.
"Those miners perhaps could have been able to be saved. We’ve got to find out what went wrong, and look to save lives in the future," Byrd said.
The Senate Appropriations Committee panel with expertise on mine health and safety will hold a hearing on January 19, 2006, to examine the federal response to the Upshur County tragedy. 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.
"We’ve got to do better," Byrd said. "The Sago families paid the dearest price in this tragedy. We have an obligation to them to find out what happened to their families. We also have a responsibility to coalfield families in West Virginia and across the country to make sure that mine safety is not ignored."
On Wednesday, Byrd will meet with officials from the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) to learn the latest on the investigation into the explosion. MSHA will be a key part of the hearing later this month.
"Mining is a very hazardous occupation. We need to be sure that the federal agency with responsibility for mine safety is doing its work. Does it have enough resources? Is it enforcing the laws on the books? Do the laws need to be updated? What went wrong in this response? How do we apply those lessons to future disasters? Those are some of the questions that need to be answered," Byrd stated.
The West Virginia lawmaker noted that laws and regulations may not be the only areas needing to be upgraded. He suggested that technology should play a greater role in mine safety.
"We must use new technologies -- 21st century technologies -- in mine safety. We can send machines to Mars and communicate with them almost instantaneously. We ought to be able to talk with miners trapped 400 feet below ground. We create boxes that can withstand a plane explosion; we ought to be able to build emergency survival kits that can withstand a mine explosion and help miners to stay alive. It’s time to bring mine safety into the modern technology age," Byrd said.
Federal and state 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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