On May 23, the Senate approved by unanimous agreement the first major overhaul of mine safety in 28 years. The bill aims to increase the safety of miners in response to recent coal mining accidents that have resulted in 31 fatalities to date this year.

The bipartisan legislation, the "Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006" (MINER Act), S. 2803, was introduced by Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) with cosponsors Sens. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), Employment and Workplace Safety Subcommittee Chairman Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), the subcommittee's senior Democrat Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), and Mike DeWine (R-Ohio).

While most of this legislation addresses coal mining, those provisions of the MINER Act that apply to all mining sectors would codify the Mine Safety and Health Administration's (MSHA) recent 15-minute emergency notification requirement when an incident or accident poses a reasonable risk of death; and penalty provisions, which propose a minimum $2,000 fine for Section 104 (d) (1) violations, as well as increasing the fine for "flagrant" violations to a maximum $220,000.

House Education Subcommittee on Workforce Protections Chairman Charlie Norwood (D-Ga.) has promised to move a mine safety bill and is working in concert with Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) to achieve bipartison agreement on a bill. Negotiations are ongoing. The situation remains very fluid with the hope that something will be able to be worked out prior to the upcoming Memorial Day recess. The House is likely to include a mandatory drug and alcohol testing program that was dropped from the Senate bill. Another possible provision in the legislation being shaped in the House could give MSHA power to subpoena witnesses in the investigation of accidents.

NSSGA is satisfied that the bill passed by the Senate fairly takes into account the differences between coal and other non-metal mining as S. 2803 applies primarily to the coal industry. NSSGA will continue to closely monitor progress on this legislation and work to make sure that Congress does not take a "one size fits all" approach that lumps all mining sectors together.