Some of the 12 coal miners who died following an explosion left notes behind assuring family members that their final hours trapped underground were not spent in agony, a relative said Thursday.

“The notes said they weren’t suffering, they were just going to sleep,” said Peggy Cohen, who had been called to a makeshift morgue at a school to identify the body of her father, 59-year-old mining machine operator Fred Ware Jr.

Cohen said a note was not left with Ware’s body, but that she planned to retrieve his personal belongings later Thursday to see if he left one in his lunch box. But she said the medical examiner told her notes left with several of the bodies all carried a similar message: “Your dad didn’t suffer.”

Ware was among a dozen miners who were found after 41 hours inside the mine. They were found at the deepest point of the Sago Mine, about 2½ miles from the entrance, behind a fibrous plastic cloth stretched across an area about 20 feet wide to keep out deadly carbon monoxide gas.

Dear Chairman Boehner:


In light of the tragedy at the International Coal Group's Sago Mine, in Upshur County, West Virginia, we are writing to respectfully request that the Committee on Education and the Workforce conduct a series of hearings on the effectiveness of law enforcement and safety inspections at the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). These hearings should begin immediately.


A cursory review of citations issued by MSHA against the Sago Mine reveals a workplace with a deteriorating safety record. In 2004, the mine had received 68 citations from MSHA. In 2005, the number of citations jumped to over 200. Of those over 200 citations, 46 resulted from an 11-week review just before the disaster, and 96 were considered "significant and substantial." Moreover, since 2000, the Sago Mine has had 42 injuries that resulted in lost work time. In 2004, the Sago Mine's injury rate was almost three times the national rate for this type of mine.


One might expect massive penalty assessments under federal law for such a dismal record. On the contrary, the 2005 violations by the International Coal Group by the Department of Labor resulted in just a few thousand dollars of penalties. These penalties included assessments for noncompliance with requirements related to mine ventilation plans, accumulation of combustible materials, and roof support. Most of the fines ranged from $60 to $440, despite what would appear to be repeat violations.


Oversight hearings should consider, among other things, whether the current fine schedule or application of that schedule provides a sufficient deterrent to companies that would otherwise treat law-breaking as a cost of doing business. The International Coal Group had revenues exceeding $136 million in 2004.


The hearings should also review recent Congressional actions on MSHA. The Labor-HHS-Education Conference Report for fiscal year 2006 that sets next year's MSHA budget included a $4.9 million cut in real-dollar terms in MSHA's budget compared to FY 2005. Since 2001, MSHA staffing has been downsized by 170 positions. The bill also included a $6.7 million cut in real-dollar terms in OSHA's budget between FY 2005 and FY 2006. That agency has been downsized by 162 positions since 2001.


The Committee should investigate whether the Bush Administration has employed people with proper regulatory experience in leadership positions at MSHA. Many senior MSHA officials have come directly from the mining industry, raising concerns about their ability to effectively oversee the industry and protect its workers. The United Mine Workers has compiled a list of MSHA officials' connections to the mining industry. For example, President Bush's first appointment to MSHA was Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health David Lauriski, a long-time management official in the mining industry. In addition, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for MSHA John Caylor held management jobs with Cyprus Minerals Co., Amax Mining Co. and Magma Copper Co. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for MSHA John Correll served in management posts at Amax Mining and Peabody Coal companies. Special Assistant for MSHA Mark Ellis served as legal counsel to the American Mining Congress. And Chief of Health for Coal Melinda Pon was a management official at BHP Minerals-Utah International.


Since Mr. Lauriski resigned his position in November 2004, the agency has been operating under an acting administrator. The President did not nominate a replacement for Mr. Lauriski until September 2005. That replacement has yet to take his seat.


With mining company officials at the helm of MSHA, the agency's focus has clearly shifted away from protecting miners. A 2005 report by the AFL-CIO found that "at MSHA, 17 standards to improve safety and health for miners have been withdrawn since President Bush took office, including the Air Quality, Chemical Substances and Respiratory standards...For the most part at MSHA, those standards that have been proposed during the Bush Administration favor industry by moving to roll back existing protections. There are no pending standards to protect miners from hazards on their job."


We are concerned that MSHA has also injected political considerations into its safety enforcement program. In April 2004, the Administrator for Coal Mine Safety and Health (through the issuance of Procedure Instruction Letter No. I04-V-01) changed investigative procedures in such a way that may allow high-level administrators at MSHA - who may have no experience in handling on-the-ground accident investigations - to inject themselves into the violation drafting process. Under the new procedures, the draft report and conclusion of professional investigators regarding a serious or fatal accident are now apparently subject to re-review by the Department of Labor's political appointees to determine what action, if any, to take against the mining company.


The Committee should consider whether this new procedure allows political considerations, rather than safety considerations, to be injected directly into the investigation and enforcement process. Indeed, this change in investigative procedure came after MSHA investigator Jack Spadaro publicly blew the whistle on changes made to his team's investigation report on the 2000 Martin County Coal sludge spill, reducing the number of violations MSHA would impose on the mining company from eight to two. Mr. Spadaro, a highly-regarded expert on mine safety, was transferred, demoted, and ultimately forced out of the agency.


The Committee has not held a single oversight hearing on MSHA since President Bush took office in January 2001. As you know, MSHA is responsible for the health and safety of tens of thousands of mine workers, who work in one of the nation's most dangerous occupations. In the last five years, the only legislative Committee hearing on any worker safety issue concerned proposals to weaken the Occupational Safety and Health Act. A Subcommittee hearing billed as "oversight" focused instead on new amendments to promote OSHA's voluntary compliance programs.


Mr. Chairman, we believe hearings should commence immediately on the effectiveness of law enforcement and inspection processes at MSHA and OSHA under current law and under current management. These hearings should provide ample opportunity for the Committee to hear from MSHA and OSHA officials, experts, worker advocates, as well as individual miners and their families.


On behalf of the tens of thousands of coal miners and their families and friends, we urge you to commence these oversight hearings right away. We greatly appreciate your immediate attention to our request.

Sincerely,


GEORGE MILLER
Senior Democratic Member
Committee on Education and the Workforce

MAJOR OWENS
Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Workforce Protections