U.S. Senate sets date for mine accident hearing

A U.S. Senate Appropriations subcommittee will hold a hearing next week on the West Virginia coal mine accident that killed 12 miners, said Sen. Robert Byrd, a West Virginia Democrat, on Monday. Byrd, who has long represented the coal mining state in the Senate, said he had tough questions for the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration about the Sago mine accident.

"Are the regulations on the books today current enough to handle the challenges posed by twenty-first century coal mining? Are mine hazards being minimised?" Byrd said in a statement. "These and other issues demand scrutiny, and the miners' families deserve the answers."

The hearing will be held on January 19 by the labour and health subcommittee headed by Sen. Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican. Testifying at the hearing will be federal and state mining officials and representatives of labour and business groups, Byrd said. Also Monday, the Mine Safety and Health Administration announced it would join West Virginia mining officials in an investigation into the incident, where 13 miners were trapped in a tunnel for 42 hours. Only one miner survived and he remains hospitalised.

Rep. George Miller, a California Democrat, separately called for a congressional review. Miller said there was a conflict of interest in having the federal mine safety agency investigate the accident because the agency had been responsible for uncovering mine problems before the explosion. Miller also asked the Labour Department to turn over all documents and communications that the agency produced about the Sago mine in the three years before the accident. The Mine Safety and Health Administration issued 50 safety citations to the mine since October. Some written as recently as last month noted that the Sago mine had build-ups of combustibles such as coal dust.

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyid=2006-01-10T001344Z_01_YUE000773_RTRUKOC_0_UK-MINERALS-INVESTIGATION.xml

live in coal mining towns are not brave as soldiers. It is that in this technological age - it would seem the best equipment could give people twenty four hours. Even if it takes a full time job for a safety minor to prepare and maintain. Even if it cuts the number of mining days by a few days a month.

Coal is just getting more and more expensive. Surely some of the increased profits would fit nicely into security measures without reducing profits. There is money in coal. More and more.