Mining Industry Pushing for Rollback of Rescue Rules

[Divernan]

www.post-gazette.com/pg/06142/692109-85.stm
Pittsburgh, Pa.
Mining industry pushing for rollback of rescue rules
Monday, May 22, 2006

By Don Hopey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



BOULDER, Colo. -- Although the anguish and anger remain raw from January's fatal accidents at the Sago and Aracoma mines in West Virginia, the coal industry wants to roll back or amend most of the federal emergency rescue rules adopted in response to them.In testimony over the past month at four federal Mine Safety and Health Administration hearings around the country, industry officials and lobbyists offered condolences to the families of the 14 miners who lost their lives in January and voiced general support for safer mining practices, but they challenged the core provisions of the emergency rules aimed at helping miners escape after an underground fire or explosion.

Miners union representatives said even tougher rules were needed and were long overdue.The emergency regulations, imposed by MSHA in March, require mines to notify the agency of a serious accident within 15 minutes, improve evacuation training and install more and better-situated oxygen supplies and lifelines. The agency also is requiring mine operators to report all unplanned underground mine fires instead of only those that burn for longer than 30 minutes.

Edgar Oldham, a United Mine Workers of America leader in Kentucky, testified in Lexington that miners were losing faith in the agency's ability to protect their safety underground."As always, good hardworking miners had to shed their blood in order to get additional protections from MSHA and the Bush administration. It wasn't that many years ago that these same issues were out there for the miners' benefit but were laid to the side until the Sago Mine disaster rekindled them," Mr. Oldham said. "What trust they had in this agency is fading fast."

"I believe the 15-minute notification must be strictly enforced. Two hours, like at Sago, is unacceptable," said Ron Bowersox, a safety representative with the UMWA who testified in Charleston. "Timing is everything in a rescue mission."Tony Oppegard, a lawyer who represents miners for the Appalachian Citizens Law Center in Kentucky, cited a case in Knott County, Ky., where a miner's hand was partially torn off when a water hose snagged on a moving belt line. By the time investigators arrived, the belt had been equipped with side guards, altering the accident scene, he said.

[jarab]

1. How soon they (we) forget! eom

...O...

[XemaSab]

2. Totally disgusting!

:o

[gratuitous]

3. Tell you what, mining industry

You get the families of the Sago disaster and the families in Harlin County to sign off on these "amendments," and I'll go along with it. But until the miners, their families and survivors say it's okay, no dice. In fact, why don't you send your company executives and goons down in one mine under your rules and we'll send the professional miners down under their rules and see who comes out at the end of the day, and who mines more coal. Deal?

[Judi Lynn]

4. Mining industry pushing for rollback of rescue rules

Mining industry pushing for rollback of rescue rules
Monday, May 22, 2006

By Don Hopey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

BOULDER, Colo. -- Although the anguish and anger remain raw from January's fatal accidents at the Sago and Aracoma mines in West Virginia, the coal industry wants to roll back or amend most of the federal emergency rescue rules adopted in response to them.

In testimony over the past month at four federal Mine Safety and Health Administration hearings around the country, industry officials and lobbyists offered condolences to the families of the 14 miners who lost their lives in January and voiced general support for safer mining practices, but they challenged the core provisions of the emergency rules aimed at helping miners escape after an underground fire or explosion.

Miners union representatives said even tougher rules were needed and were long overdue.

The emergency regulations, imposed by MSHA in March, require mines to notify the agency of a serious accident within 15 minutes, improve evacuation training and install more and better-situated oxygen supplies and lifelines. The agency also is requiring mine operators to report all unplanned underground mine fires instead of only those that burn for longer than 30 minutes.
(snip/...)

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06142/692109-85.stm

[Ezlivin]

5. Time for that coal-miner's daughter, Loretta Lynn, to pen a protest song

How 'bout it, Loretta?

[Acadia Blue]

6. These mining companies have no decency or shame

[struggle4progress]

7. "Profits uber alles!" is the national anthem of The Ownership Society