Miller Statement on MSHA Internal Report on the Upper Big Branch Mine Tragedy
WASHINGTON – Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the senior Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce Committee, issued the following statement today after the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) released a report looking into the agency’s actions leading up to the Upper Big Branch Mine tragedy in April 2010.
“It is clear the entire system failed these 29 miners, from Congress’s failure to maintain adequate and experienced staffing at MSHA over the years, to the agency’s failures to fully enforce the Mine Act, to the inherent weaknesses in that law, to a company hell-bent on exploiting all of those weaknesses.
“The primary responsibility for miners’ health and safety falls to the company that employs them. But when the company fails, the safety agency must step in. Unfortunately, in this case, MSHA’s overwhelmed and inexperienced staff missed important enforcement opportunities even while citing the mine more than any other comparable mine. MSHA was no match for Massey’s masterful manipulation of the system, its obstruction of agency investigators and its intimidation of miners. When a company flouts the law like Massey did, MSHA must put the mine back on track or shut it down. Regrettably, that didn’t happen.
“There is broad agreement from multiple investigations on what caused this disaster and dozens of recommendations that merit timely consideration by Congress and the Department of Labor. The health and safety of America’s miners must not be held up by predictable partisan battles. It’s past time we get to work.”
Miller is the coauthor of the Robert C. Byrd Mine Safety Protection Act (H.R. 1579) and, as chairman of the Education and Labor Committee, Miller called the only congressional hearings into the tragedy that included the voices of the families and the miners of Upper Big Branch.
On December 16, Democratic members of committee urged Attorney General Eric Holder to vigorously pursue those who were responsible for the tragedy. A $209 million non-prosecution agreement was reached by the U.S. Attorney with Alpha Natural Resources on December 6, which acquired the Upper Big Branch mine and Massey Energy.
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