W.Va. lawmakers pass mine safety legislation

updated 9:22 p.m. ET Jan. 23, 2006

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - After 14 coal mining deaths in three weeks, West Virginia lawmakers passed a bill Monday that would require mines to use electronic devices to track trapped miners and stockpile oxygen to keep them alive until help arrives.

The Senate and House both acted at the urging of Gov. Joe Manchin, who pressed lawmakers to pass the legislation by the end of the day.

“We can’t afford to wait any longer,” Manchin said after two miners were found dead over the weekend in a mine fire in Melville. Three weeks ago, 12 miners died after an explosion at the Sago Mine.

The Senate passed the bill without debate, 32-0, with two absences. The vote in the House of Delegates was 93-0, with seven absences. Because of slight changes, the bill was sent back to the Senate, where it was again accepted and sent on to Manchin.

“These 14 miners have not died in vain,” Manchin said.

Coal companies would have to comply by the end of February.

The governor’s legislation would require improved communications and the electronic tracking of coal miners underground, as well as faster emergency response and the storage of additional air supplies underground.

If the 14 miners who died in two accidents since Jan. 2 had been wearing a tracking device, “we could have concentrated all our efforts, all our resources on that one location,” Manchin said.

Victims' bodies found over weekend
The bodies of the latest two victims were found over the weekend after a fire deep inside a mine in southern West Virginia. Twelve others died in early January following an explosion in the northern part of the state.

“These deaths, I believe, were entirely preventable,” Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., said Monday at a hearing in Washington. “And we owe the families of these deceased and noble and great and brave men a hard look of what happened and why.”

“I think it’s a very important message to send to those grieving families across the state of West Virginia, and across the nation, that we are serious about mine safety,” state Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin told senators after the bill was introduced. Tomblin’s district includes Aracoma Coal’s Alma No. 1 mine at Melville, site of last week’s mine fire.

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