December 7, 2007
Mine Safety

Although the November interim meetings were less than two weeks ago, legislators are returning to Charleston once again this weekend to convene the December interim meetings. With the 2008 regular session only a month away, there will be a lot to discuss.

In addition to the joint House-Senate committees that meet each month, there also is a special House of Delegates committee that has been gathering information and preparing for session. The House Select Committee on Mine Safety has spent the past several months hearing from mine safety experts, viewing demonstrations, even traveling underground to view a working mine.

The Select Committee on Mine Safety was created to consider all legislative proposals to propose, revise and recodify the statutory provisions related to mine safety, including, but not limited to response and recovery, state-supported disaster recovery teams, and technology currently available or to be available to assist in timely and effective recovery efforts.

During the 2007 session, the committee worked with the Manchin administration to adopt legislation to tighten up the state’s mine safety laws and to ensure better enforcement of those laws. The bill continued the West Virginia Mine Safety Technology Task Force, which is made up of three union representatives, three mining industry representatives, an educator and an attorney,and has been working on new mine safety technology. The legislation also stipulated that when a mine inspection finds imminent danger that the inspector not only shut down the mine, but also look for a history of violations. The law addressed other important safety issues such as "belt air" and safety training.

In September, House Select Committee members and 11 others spent four hours traveling seven miles into the Loveridge Mine to view longwall mining and observe the safety measures Consol has in place within the mine.

In November, the House Select Committee was able to view up close an example of the new safety technology that is emerging. Strata Safety Products of Sutton developed what is known as a Fresh Air Bay, a post-emergency inflatable chamber.

An explosion-proof skid stores all needed equipment – such as the scrubber, oxygen, food and water – and can be deployed in an emergency. A tent is inflated with compressed air and filled with breathable air, and the skid is connected to and accessible from the tent. The CO2 scrubber and oxygen sources can last more than 96 hours.

I joined Gov. Joe Manchin and members of the Select Committee in viewing the 60-foot inflated safety structure, which was located in one of the State Capitol’s parking lots. While we were there, Committee Chairman Mike Caputo, D-Marion, noted that while the federal government has for the past 38 years recommended that such technology be developed, it was not until the 2006 West Virginia mine safety legislation, adopted in response to the Sago mine tragedy, placed the requirement in state code that the equipment was developed.

I’m certainly hopeful that state and federal regulators and lawmakers, as well as mine company officials, will now be more proactive, rather than reactive. And I encourage members of the public to attend the House Select Committee on Mine Safety meetings.

On Tuesday, the committee will discuss the recent report of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Two months ago, the Institute released data showing that the rate of deadly black lung disease among United States coal miners has doubled in the last decade. This is in spite of the fact that the sweeping mine safety act passed by Congress in 1969 is supposed to ensure that dust levels are kept low enough to prevent black lung.

The Select Committee, which will meet 9 a.m. Tuesday in the House Government Organization Room, 213-E (East Wing), will hear from Dr. Lee Petsonk of NIOSH on the report. For more information, contact Megan Freeland at 304-340-3133.

I welcome and appreciate your input on these or any other legislative issues. Write to House Majority Leader Joe DeLong, Building 1, Room 228-M, 1900 Kanawha Blvd. E., Charleston, 25305, or joe@joedelong.com, or call 304-340-3220.