House Expected to Vote on Mine Safety Reforms Today
The House is expected to take up legislation to protect nation's miners. Despite progress over the last several decades, more than 600 miners have been killed in the last ten years.
On April 5, 2010, a massive explosion ripped through Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia, killing 29 miners and injuring others. Tools the Mine Safety and Health Administration could use to hold bad mine operators like Massey accountable were rendered ineffective because of indiscriminate mine operator appeals of violations and weak laws.
H.R. 6495, The Robert C. Byrd Mine Safety Protection Act, will bring our nation’s mine safety laws up to date, give MSHA the ability to effectively protect miners’ lives, and hold mine operators accountable for putting their workers in unnecessary danger. The bill essentially contains the mine safety reforms approved by the committee in July.