National Mining Association spokeswoman Carol Raulston said Tuesday that the industry had seen an improvement in safety until the Utah accident. Raulston said the technology to get a communication system to move through a mountain is not ready yet, but in the areas the industry can make progress, it has done so.

"I think we have been moving pretty quickly," she said.

At least two bills now before the House and Senate would expand the MINER act and create new safety requirements.

But the National Mining Association told Congress on July 26 that it wants to focus on implementing the MINER act and that any other legislation passed at this point would be "premature and possibility counterproductive." Raulston said the industry needs time to assess what it has accomplished so far and what it is in the process of doing before having to face more changes.

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Contributing: Associated Press

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