Legislation will set highest safety standards to protect 4,600 underground
miners
HARRISBURG, Pa., Sept. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Governor Edward G. Rendell today
announced the introduction of legislation to strengthen standards for
protecting Pennsylvania miners and ensuring the state's world-class mining
operations continue to excel in a changing industry. The legislative package
includes some of the most significant changes in decades to the commonwealth's
mine safety laws.
"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," Governor 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.
"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."
The Governor said Sen. Richard A. Kasunic and Rep. Bob Bastian will
introduce the legislation.
The Governor's proposed legislation encompasses all bureaus within the
Department of Environmental Protection's mining program and includes far-
reaching changes to Pennsylvania's Bituminous Coal Mine Act to enhance the
role of DEP safety experts in permit reviews, increase corporate
responsibility and broaden the department's authority to issue regulations,
impose penalties and hold mine operators responsible for safety compliance
issues.
"All of us want Pennsylvania's mining industry to be successful -- we are
home to four of the most productive underground mines in the United States --
but there is no compromise when it comes to the safety of our miners,"
Governor Rendell said. "We need laws that give us more flexibility in
responding to a crisis and increase our ability to prevent accidents to begin
with."
The changes eliminate obsolete language in Pennsylvania's 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.
The Governor's 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.
Corporate responsibility also would increase under the proposed changes,
which make the mine operator/owner primarily responsible for safety compliance
at the mine. Currently, only individual certified employees or supervisors,
such as foremen, can be held responsible for an accident, not the mine company
or its executives. The maximum penalty DEP can enforce is revoking a
certification, which can be reapplied for after one year. Governor Rendell's
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.
-- 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.
CONTACT:
Kate Philips
717-783-1116
Kurt Knaus
717-787-1323
SOURCE Pennsylvania Office of the Governor
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Related links:
http://www.state.pa.us
CONTACT:
Kate Philips, Pennsylvania Office of the
Governor, +1-717-783-1116, or Kurt Knaus, Pennsylvania Department
of Environmental Protection, +1-717-787-1323
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