http://www.theintelligencer.net/page/content.detail/id/508141.html

Keep Politics Out Of Mine Safety

By the News-Register
The safety of underground miners should not be used as a political football. Yet there is some evidence that precisely such use is being made of the issue.

A report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office this week suggested that the Mine Safety and Health Administration should be acting with more dispatch to help mine operators install newly mandated safety equipment.

Specifically cited by the GAO were supplies of air intended for use by miners in case of disasters, and “wireless” communications equipment. According to the GAO, the mine safety agency has “no immediate plans to issue guidance detailing what (communications) technology would be acceptable” under the law. That has prompted many mine operators to delay placing orders for new communications equipment — for the obvious reason that they don’t want to spend money on something that may not be acceptable to the MSHA.

After seeing the report, U.S. Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., launched an assault on MSHA — and President Bush’s administration in general. “Under the Bush administration, MSHA continues to fail to act despite the many promises made to miners and their families on the lessons learned from mining tragedies over the last two years,” Miller raged in a written statement.

But MSHA has its defenders — among them the West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training. It should be noted that the state office operates under the administration of Gov. Joe Manchin, a Democrat.

State agency Director Ron Wooten pointed out that our state is progressing well in installing new safety equipment in mines. All of the 150 underground mines in West Virginia are expected to have refuge chambers, equipment to track miners, and communications gear in place by the end of the year, Wooten noted.

Officials of Consol Energy Inc., which operates the Shoemaker and McElroy mines in Marshall County, told our reporter that both facilities have plenty of air supplies.

Wooten noted that installation of new safety equipment has been a cooperative process involving his agency, coal companies, miners — and MSHA. And he pointed out something that Miller and other Democrats eager to score political points against the Bush administration might prefer that the public not recognize.

“MSHA is behind West Virginia in no small part due to the fact that their law was passed significantly later than West Virginia’s,” Wooten told The Associated Press.

Indeed it was. Manchin and Mountain State legislators acted quickly after the terrible Sago Mine disaster more than two years ago, enacting specific, strict new rules regarding mine safety equipment. Congress, despite pushing by West Virginia’s delegation, was slower to follow suit.

Wooten’s point, then, appears to be that lawmakers who criticize MSHA to score political points are not accepting their share of the blame for delays. It is a valid point — one that miners and coal companies waiting for MSHA to act ought to consider.