Coal Mine Safety Shortchanged by Years of Budget Cuts

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.ombwatch.org/article/articleview/4177/1/527

Congress created the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) in 1977, placing a new federal focus on miner safety and health. However, the agency's budget and staffing levels have been cut over the past three decades. The budget for MSHA's coal mine safety and health program has been particularly abused. In the past two years, a spike in coal mine fatalities and high-profile coal mine disasters have prompted many Americans and Congress to look to MSHA to improve miner safety, but years of budget cuts and the loss of qualified employees have left the agency struggling to fulfill its mission.

In 1977, Congress passed the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act (Mine Act), which created MSHA. MSHA is responsible for setting and enforcing regulations to protect workers in thousands of surface and underground mines across America.

In 1979, two years after the formation of the mine regulation agency, MSHA's budget peaked at an inflation-adjusted $355 million, when it became a fully operational agency. By 2007, despite recent increases in spending, the budget had dropped 15 percent to $294 million after adjusting for inflation.

After 1979, there was a steady decline in spending for MSHA. By 1986, spending had dropped 25 percent to $267 million, after adjusting for inflation. By 1997, when only $247 million after adjusting for inflation was appropriated, funding had dropped 30 percent. Starting in 1998, there were increases in spending for the agency, but not nearly enough to offset the massive drop in spending when compared to 1979. In fact, spending today is on par with 1984 levels. (See Graph 1.)

Graph 1



Unlike MSHA's budget, which has increased over the past several years, the number of MSHA employees (also known as "full-time equivalents," or FTEs) has experienced a virtually uninterrupted decline during the agency's existence. From its 1979 peak of 3,811 FTEs, the number of workers carrying out mine regulation and oversight declined by 45 percent to 2,161 FTEs in 2007. (See Graph 2.)



FULL story at link.