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Sago Mine Disaster and an Overview of Mine Safety Hearing

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Sago Mine Disaster and an Overview of Mine Safety Hearing S. HRG. 109–534 SAGO MINE DISASTER AND AN OVERVIEW OF MINE SAFETY HEARING BEFORE A SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION SPECIAL HEARING JANUARY 23, 2006—WASHINGTON, DC Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/index.html U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 27–461 PDF WASHINGTON : 2006 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi, Chairman TED STEVENS, Alaska ROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont CHRISTOPHER S. BOND, Missouri TOM HARKIN, Iowa MITCH MCCONNELL, Kentucky BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland CONRAD BURNS, Montana HARRY REID, Nevada RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama HERB KOHL, Wisconsin JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire PATTY MURRAY, Washington ROBERT F. BENNETT, Utah BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota LARRY CRAIG, Idaho DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois MIKE DEWINE, Ohio TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana WAYNE ALLARD, Colorado J. KEITH KENNEDY, Staff Director TERRENCE E. SAUVAIN, Minority Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania, Chairman THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi TOM HARKIN, Iowa JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii LARRY CRAIG, Idaho HARRY REID, Nevada KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas HERB KOHL, Wisconsin TED STEVENS, Alaska PATTY MURRAY, Washington MIKE DEWINE, Ohio MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois ROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia (Ex officio) Professional Staff BETTILOU TAYLOR JIM SOURWINE MARK LAISCH SUDIP SHRIKANT PARIKH CANDICE NGO LISA BERNHARDT RACHEL JONES ELLEN MURRAY (Minority) ERIK FATEMI (Minority) ADRIENNE HALLETT (Minority) (II) CONTENTS Page Opening statement of Senator Arlen Specter ........................................................ 1 Statement of Senator Robert C. Byrd .................................................................... 2 Statement of Senator Tom Harkin ......................................................................... 5 Statement of Senator Mike DeWine ....................................................................... 7 Statement of Hon. David G. Dye, Acting Assistant Secretary, Mine Safety and Health Administration, Department of Labor ............................................ 8 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 9 Statement of Ray McKinney, Administrator for Coal Mine Safety and Health, Mine Safety and Health Administation, Department of Labor ........................ 11 Statement of Cecil E. Roberts, International President, United Mine Workers of America, Fairfax, Virginia .............................................................................. 21 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 22 Statement of Bennett K. Hatfield, President and CEO, International Coal Group, Ashland, Kentucky .................................................................................. 28 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 29 Statement of Chris R. Hamilton, Senior Vice President, West Virginia Coal Association, Charleston, West Virginia .............................................................. 32 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 34 Statement of Davitt McAteer, Vice President of Sponsored Programs, Wheel- ing Jesuit University, Shepherdstown, West Virginia ...................................... 38 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 39 Statement of Bruce Watzman, Vice President, Safety and Health, National Mining Association, Washington, DC ................................................................. 43 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 45 Prepared statement from the National Stone Sand & Gravel Association ......... 63 Responses of David G. Dye to committee questions ............................................. 65 Responses of Bennett K. Hatfield to committee questions ................................... 78 Responses of Cecil E. Roberts to committee questions ......................................... 80 (III) SAGO MINE DISASTER AND AN OVERVIEW OF MINE SAFETY MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 2006 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, EDUCATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES, COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met at 11 a.m., in room SH–216, Hart Senate Office Building, Senator Arlen Specter (chairman) presiding. Present: Senators Specter, DeWine, Harkin, and Byrd. OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR ARLEN SPECTER Senator SPECTER. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. The Ap- propriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education will now proceed with this hearing, which will in- quire into mine safety on coal mines. This hearing is prompted by the disaster at the Sago Mine on January 2. There have since been two more fatal accidents in West Virginia. I thank the distinguished ranking member of the full committee former president pro tempore Senator Byrd for his re- questing the hearing. This subcommittee has been active on the in- vestigation of mine disasters in the past, notably the Quecreek, which occurred in Pennsylvania in the year 2002, and there are very, very important questions on the issue on what has happened at these mine incidents, focusing on Sago. The Pittsburgh Post Gazette set the stage for our consideration here in a very poignant statement as follows: ‘‘The rest of the world will move on—in their reference to the Sago Mine Accident. In the weeks and months to come, there will be other disasters, other wars, other political scandals. But for the families of the 12 men who died in the mine at Tallmansville, West Virginia, for the one who survived and their relatives and friends, for the investigator searching for the cause of the mine explosion, for the people of these coal-rich hills 100 miles south of Pittsburgh, Sago will be a daily litany. Some questions about the January 2 accident may never be answered, but there is understanding to be gained by re- constructing what happened’’. We all know that mining is a very dangerous business. As I noted a moment ago, two underground coal mine incidents this January after the Sago disaster. On January 10, there was a miner killed in Kentucky after a roof cave-in. On January 19, two miners became trapped in the Aracoma Mine in Melville, West Virginia. Both of them were fatalities. Last year, the safest year on record, (1) 2 there were 22 fatalities in underground coal mines in 20 separate accidents. Four deaths in my home State, Pennsylvania, three in West Virginia, eight in Kentucky and seven in other States. The Sago Mine had some 208 citations, orders and safeguards issued against it last year, 2005, with nearly half of these viola- tions categorized as ‘‘significant and substantial’’. The budget for mine and health safety has increased by some 42 percent over the past 10 years, but these increases have barely kept up with infla- tionary costs. This has forced the agency to reduce staffing, we’re told, by some 183 positions over that period of time. Coal mine staffing has declined by 217 enforcement personel in the last 5 years. One of the grave difficulties we have had in maintaining funding for mine safety is the fact that the Department of Labor, which this committee has jurisdiction over for appropriations pur- poses, is grouped with the Department of Education and the De- partment of Health and Human Services, and there are many de- mands on this subcommittee. Senator Harkin, the distinguished ranking member, Senator Byrd, and I, as well as others on this subcommittee have advocated a more realistic budget through this subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over worker safety, jurisdic- tion over education and jurisdiction over healthcare. We were un- derfunded in the last budget resolution, and then we sustained a 1 percent across-the-board cut, and I’ve already put the leadership on notice in the Senate that I’m not going to support a budget reso- lution that does not adequately fund this department next year or not adequately fund this subcommittee next year. Of course, I hadn’t anticipated the Sago Mine Disaster, but we saw from Quecreek, and we’ve seen from other disasters the importance of having adequate funding. Now, let me yield at this time, it’s always a difficult matter whether to recognize the ranking member or the senior member, but I’ve already had a note here from the generous ranking member, Senator Harkin, asking or instructing that I rec- ognize Senator Byrd first. Senator Byrd, will you accept that rec- ognition? STATEMENT OF SENATOR ROBERT C. BYRD Senator BYRD. Mr. Chairman, I do. First, let me compliment you, and Senator Harkin. Let me thank you and Senator Harkin for the great work you
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