As of October 13, 2006, 63 U.S. miners have died in mining accidents, including 40 coal miners.  In comparison, in 2005, 22 U.S. miners were killed on the job.  Mine workers face increasingly unsafe workplace conditions due to Bush administration rollbacks of health and safety regulations, appointments of former mining industry executives to oversee the mining industry, and underfunding and understaffing of the Mine Safety and Health Administration.

The mine safety bill President Bush signed on June 15th is a step in the right direction, but must more needs to be done. Other needed safety provisions include ensuring at least two days of oxygen for trapped miners, communications and tracking devices in the mines, and improved mine safety inspections. These measures are supported by Sago and Jim Walters' mine victims' families and mine safety activists, and are consistent with the recommendations of a new joint industry-labor report from West Virginia. Our goal should be to reduce the number of mining deaths to zero.

Read, listen and watch miners and their families talk about mine safety.

See Congressman Miller on ABC News (video, text) and CNN (video, text) calling for Congressional action on mine safety.