Gov. Rendell, Sen. Kasunic (D-Somerset) and Rep. Bastian (R-Somerset) this week announced legislation to strengthen standards for protecting Pennsylvania miners, taking lessons learned from the 2002 Quecreek Mine accident and generally upgrading the state Deep Mine Safety Act.

“Since the near disaster and dramatic rescue of nine miners at Quecreek, we have worked with industry and labor representatives to address various concerns and update antiquated rules,” the Governor said. “The end result, this legislative package, will make miners safer and enhance the reputation of our already renowned mining industry.”

“Pennsylvania’s mine safety program is a national model, but we want to make sure we have in place the highest standards to protect our miners and maintain our leadership in mining operations,” Gov. Rendell said. “While our mines are among the safest in the world with consistently high production, we want to make sure they remain safe work places for our 4,600 underground miners.

The initiative includes the creation of a three-member Mine Safety Board with the authority to promulgate regulations to keep pace with changing mine safety technology. The board could act more quickly to put in place necessary improvements and precautionary measures to keep miners safe as the industry continues to advance rapidly.

The changes also eliminate obsolete language in mine safety statutes, which were written in the late-19th century and last updated slightly in 1961. The changes remove references to animals and stables in mines, signals to “turn steam to the pumps” and “substituting approved gas detection devices in lieu of ‘flame safety lamps’” --- clearly outmoded language that demonstrates how outdated state’s mine safety statute has become.

Corporate responsibility also would increase under the proposed changes, which make the mine operator/owner primarily responsible for safety compliance at the mine. Only individual certified employees or supervisors, such as foremen, can be held responsible for an accident under today’s law, not the mine company or its executives. The initiative establishes criminal penalties with fines and incarceration, as well as civil enforcement actions and civil sanctions for certain violations of the coal mining act.

Among some of the other provisions of the initiative:

· Strengthening DEP’s Bureau of Deep Mine Safety’s role in the mine permitting process to review the application to ensure no health or safety threats exist (DEP enacted policy changes that accomplished this same goal shortly after the accident);

· Increasing to 500 feet from 200 feet the distance from which a bituminous underground operator must conduct advanced drilling when approaching an adjacent mine which may contain water or gas (this same requirement was put into effect through an executive order shortly after the Quecreek accident);

· Enabling DEP to promulgate rules and regulations that keep pace with technology to ensure continuous improvement with respect to mine safety;

· Authorizing DEP to enforce actions against mine owners who violate mine safety standards and allowing the department to assess fines and penalties for noncompliance;

· Making the mine owner the bearer of responsibility for mine safety. Existing mine safety laws preclude enforcement actions generally against the owners of mines;

· Strengthening the permit application review process to require the operators to demonstrate that all maps being presented are reliable (the department enacted policy changes that accomplished this same goal shortly after the accident);

· Granting the department statewide authority to copy all mine maps and increasing measures to ensure final mine maps are submitted in a timely manner;

· Authorizing the department to seek from a mine operator reimbursement for expenses incurred in responding to a mine emergency and other costs incurred as a result of a failure to submit an accurate certified, final map; and

· Authorizing the department to use emergency contracting provisions to pay for mine rescue and other mine safety activities.

Pennsylvania's bituminous underground coal mines are among the safest in the world while maintaining consistently high production rates. There has been one fatality in the past three years among the Commonwealth's 4,600 underground miners.

9/30/2005