Delays on MINER Act bemoaned

WASHINGTON — Ten days before a Utah mine collapse that left six miners trapped underground, the national miners' union told Congress that current safety rules — even reforms passed just last year — are not enough to protect workers.

President Bush signed the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act, known as the MINER Act, last year, but union leaders and mining-industry experts have complained that not all of the new requirements have been put into place and that mines are not following the rules.

"The job is not done," said Dennis O'Dell, administrator of Occupational Health and Safety for the United Mine Workers of America at a House Subcommittee on Workplace Protection hearing July 26.

Congress passed the safety reforms after a dozen miners were killed in an underground explosion in West Virginia. The reforms were meant to protect miners in the event of a fire, explosion or cave-in like last year's disaster at the Sago Mine. But government-mandated changes involving communication and tracking equipment do not take effect until 2009.

Phil Smith, spokesman for the United Mine Workers of America, said Tuesday that even with the MINER Act in place, the situation for miners is "no better" than it was when the Sago accident occurred because key rules are taking too long to be finalized.

Smith said that if communications and tracking tools mandated by the MINER law had been in place at the Utah mine, rescue crews looking for the six miners would know "exactly where they are and how they are." He added that the mining companies are not likely to put the stronger safety requirements in place "unless and until someone tells them to," so it is up to the government to move the process along.

Among other requirements, the new law calls for mines to install wireless two-way communications and an electronic tracking system, permitting rescuers on the surface to locate miners trapped underground. The law also requires mines to have two experienced rescue teams available and capable of a one-hour response time.

Also waiting to go into effect are rules dealing with refuge chambers, additional mine rescue teams and stronger seals between active and inactive mine shafts. The law gives the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) until the end of this year to deal with these issues.

MSHA had issued 33 citations this year for health and safety violations at the Crandall Canyon Mine in Utah, a dozen of which were considered significant and substantial. Among those, the mine was cited for not having at least two mine rescue teams available at all times when miners are underground.