Apr 5 - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News - The Dominion Post, Morgantown, W.Va.

An extra $35 million could soon be available for mine safety.

U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, DW.Va., the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, pressed for the money as part of emergency funding legislation., The committee approved the measure Tuesday.

"We need quick action to improve mine safety, and that requires quick cash," Byrd said.

"This $35 million, designated as emergency funding, would kickstart the efforts to help fix the hazards that put miners' lives at risk. More mine inspectors and better rescue technology won't happen on their own," Byrd said.

Byrd included $35.6 million in the emergency supplemental appropriations bil. The legislation provides emergency funding for the current fiscal year for high-priority needs, including military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma relief efforts.

The funding would provide $25.6 million to allow the Mine Safety and Health Administration to hire 217 mine safety inspectors to replace the inspectors lost since 2001.

The amendment also would add $10 million to the mine safety research-and-development budget at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

The funds would also support grants to outside agencies that work with the federal government to develop underground safety equipment, including mine rescue chambers and emergency breathing, tracking, and communications devices.

"Already this year, 16 West Virginia miners have been killed on the job. Eight more have died in coal mines across the country. Congress must act to ensure that there are enough safety inspectors in our mines and to hurry the installation of critical mine safety equipment," Byrd said.

"Significant advances have been made in communications, robotics, chemistry, and other sciences that can have a direct impact on mine safety. It is time for those improvements to move from the laboratory to the coal mine," he added.

The $35.6 million emergency funding for mine safety is separate from the broader West Virginia Congressional Delegation mine safety bill, introduced in February, which so far has been slowed in the authorization process.

Byrd urges the Senate leadership to move forward with the West Virginia bill.

"The clock is running," he said. "Miners continue to enter the coal mines every day without the emergency communications, tracking, and breathing equipment that could have saved the lives of 16 coal miners in my state.

"What more needs to happen to spur the safety changes that everyone knows need to occur? How many more lives must be sacrificed before real action is taken to protect coal miners?" Byrd asked.

 

With committee approval on Tuesday, the emergency funding legislation should come before the Senate later this month.