|
WASHINGTON, DC -- Representative George Miller (D-CA), the senior Democrat on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, issued the following statement today on mine safety.
***
Today we learned dramatic new information about the Sago Mine disaster. Mr. Randal McCloy, the sole survivor among the 13 miners trapped last January, has written a letter describing what went on underground in the hours following the blast at Sago.
We learned that at least four of the self-contained self-rescue units that provide miners with just an hour’s worth of oxygen were not working. The miners were forced to share the remaining working units among themselves.
We learned that, in a throwback to the 19th Century, miners were banging on the walls, trying to communicate with the outside world, waiting to hear some kind of response, and heard nothing.
How does this square with what we know here in Washington?
We know that the Bush Administration killed a proposal in 2001 that could have required the more frequent replacement of these self-contained self-rescue units, required more inspections of these units, and provided more adequate training on how to use them – all with an eye to ensuring that, when an emergency happened and miners needed these units to work, they would work.
We know that the United States has fallen behind other countries when it comes to mine safety technology. We know that Australian miners use tracking devices and one-way communication devices to communicate with the outside world. In the United States, our miners are forced to knock on rocks.
We know that a bill was introduced shortly after the Sago disaster to require communication devices for all American miners. My colleague, Nick Rahall, introduced this bill with the endorsement of the entire West Virginia congressional delegation.
We know that bill has been languishing in Education and Workforce Committee, where the Republican leadership has refused to let it budge. We have demanded hearings and a bipartisan investigation and markup of the bill by the full Committee – and so far there has been none.
Meanwhile, miners continue to die at an alarming rate this year.
If the Rahall legislation were in place at the Sago Mine the following would be true:
- Trapped miners would have tracking devices with them to make their location known to rescuers – certainly a more reliable approach than banging on the walls;
- Trapped miners could receive messages from the surface, and with technology now coming on line for underground mine use, actually communicate back.
- Trapped miners would have caches of food and water, as well as air, to maintain them for a sustained period of time.
- Trapped miners would have the assurance that MSHA had been promptly notified of the accident, and that qualified rescue teams who know how to find their way through the mine to their location are nearby and on the way – instead of knowing, as future miners will, how long it took to get these efforts off the ground for the Sago miners.
Two years ago, when Janet Jackson had a wardrobe malfunction at the Super Bowl, the House of Representatives marked up and passed a bill to deal with that travesty just 40 days later. It’s been almost 4 months since the Sago mine disaster and there has been no action.
It’s time for Congress to act.
It’s time for a bipartisan, full Committee investigation into the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s performance over the last few years – its law enforcement and regulatory practices – and it’s time for a markup of the Rahall bill and a vote on the House floor.
Thank you.
### |
