Washington — Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) plan to reintroduce legislation intended to “empower miners to raise safety concerns” and “prevent future mine tragedies.”
Announced in an April 3 press release, the Robert C. Byrd Mine Safety Protection Act, named for the former senator from West Virginia, would:
- Expand the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s authority to strengthen safety regulations and enforce penalties against mines with repeat violations.
- Increase penalties for mines violating health and safety standards.
- Provide MSHA with better enforcement tools to allow proper inspection and investigation.
- Protect whistleblowers from retaliation and loss of income.
- Update mine safety standards to prevent explosions.
- Increase accountability for MSHA to ensure inspectors are independent and qualified to provide quality oversight.
The lawmakers’ announcement comes 15 years after an explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine in Montcoal, WV, killed 29 miners.
“Coal miners, mine safety regulators and the UBB families have asked Congress to address long overdue reforms to the nations’ mine safety laws,” Scott said in the release. “The reforms in this bill would ensure that all miners are able to return home safely to their families at the end of their shift.”
In a separate release, the United Mine Workers Association calls the legislation “a crucial step toward ensuring that MSHA has the resources and authority to do its job – protecting miners’ lives.”
In its annual Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect report, the AFL-CIO calls on Congress to pass the bill.
Doing so will “strengthen the federal Mine Safety and Health Act (of 1977) related to mine incident investigations, standards, miners’ rights and protections, and training for miners,” the labor federation states.
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Original article published by Safety+Health an NSC publication