Lawmakers Pledge Mine Safety Reform
Congressional Committee Wants Oversight Boosted; W.Va. Takes Action
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Play CBS Video Video Senate Opens Mining Hearings As two communities grieve over mine deaths this month, a hearing at Capitol Hill discussed mine safety and West Virginia lawmakers voted to improve safety standards. Sharyn Alfonsi reports.
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Video Senate Seeks Mine Safety Laws Following two recent deadly coal mine tragedies in West Virginia, a Senate subcommittee held hearings on how to make the underground industry safer. Jennifer Donelan reports.
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Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, displays a digital two-way messaging device for use in mines as he questions coal industry officials about whether miners have essential safety gear, Monday, Jan. 23, 2006. (AP)
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Sen. Robert Byrd speaks about mine safety during a Senate committee hearing January 23, 2006 in Washington, D.C. in the wake of the Sago Mine disaster. (GETTY)
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Barbour County, W. Va., Deputy Sheriff Ron Gray affixes black ribbons to crosses set up earlier this month in memory of miners who died. (AP)
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Jesse Cole of the Mine Safety and Health Administration pauses during a press conference to announce that two miners were found dead in Melville, W.Va., Saturday, Jan. 21, 2006, at the Alma No. 1 mine. (AP)
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West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin at a news conference Saturday, Jan. 21, 2006. (CBS)
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Photo Essay Mine Fire Anxious families and friends gather as disaster once again strikes a coal mine in West Virginia.
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Interactive Mine Tragedy Here is a closer look at the miners who perished in West Virginia and the people who are mourning them.
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Photo Essay Mine Explosion Tragedy unfolds after a coal mine explosion in Tallmansville, West Virginia.
"These devices have proved to be reliable," McAteer said.
Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, whose father was a coal miner, said he would like to see the text-messaging device along with a tracking device underground that can locate trapped miners.
"Mr. Chairman, you hate to regulate everything, but doggone it if they won't do it we've gotta tell them to do it," Harkin said to Specter.
During the Capitol Hill hearing, mining expert Davitt McAteer showed the Senate sub-committee some of that equipment, Alfonsi reports.
"You say it's about 20 bucks?" Sen. Harkin asked.
"Something like that," McAteer replied.
"And with this $20 you could locate any miner that had it?" Harkin said.
"There's a transponder that's stationed throughout the mines and then you can locate any individual at any time," McAteer explained.
And if the Sago miners had carried radio receivers, they may not have waited for rescuers.
But experts say only about 14 mines currently use the technology. That's fourteen out of 15,000 mines in the country, Alfonsi reports.
The one-hour oxygen packs miners currently have are "grossly inadequate," Byrd said.
Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America, said providing more oxygen in the event of an emergency was a top priority.
Officials have said there was evidence some of the 12 miners killed at the Sago mine did use their breathing devices, but the rescue and recovery operation took more than 40 hours.
The mine safety agency began a review of the breathing devices coal miners rely on in the late 1990s, but the agency took that item off its regulatory agenda a few years ago. The agency decided last week to reconsider that decision, and the agency is now seeking public input on the matter.
Under questioning from lawmakers, Dye could not answer why it took agency officials two hours to learn of the Sago mine explosion.
Byrd said Congress must try to "determine what is wrong with MSHA and contemplate how to make sure that the leadership of that agency does its job."
©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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