On the recordDecember 8, 2010
In the past few years, my home State, West Virginia, has walked with a heavy heart. On numerous occasions, we have bowed our heads in solemn reverence for miners that we have lost in tragedy. We have watched as our small towns and their citizens have been thrust into the Nation's eye for the most unfortunate reasons. As we've heard, in fact, on April 5 of this year, we suffered the worst mine disaster in more than a generation. An underground explosion swept through at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch mine, claiming 29 lives, which my colleague from West Virginia just enumerated very eloquently. Let me be clear, the issue of mine safety is a very personal one to every West Virginian. Our families and our friends are in the mines. When West Virginia loses even a single miner, it affects all of us. Currently, multiple investigations into the Upper Big Branch mine are still searching for answers and following each small detail that could uncover the answer to a larger mystery. And it is just that, an unsolved investigation. Even today, investigators are hampered by water and are working to clear the mine before they can continue their work. With these investigations still in progress, we do not know which laws were not followed by the operator, which laws MSHA failed to enforce, and which health and safety laws were simply inadequate. And yet Congress intends to lay out its heavy hand again before our questions are answered and before we know exactly what happened.
