February 1 marked a new dawn in coal mine safety, but also a tragic ending for two more brave miners. On the same day I, along with the rest of the West Virginian Congressional Delegation, introduced the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 2006, two more miners perished while on the job in Boone County.

The shocking grief we have experienced in the past month must reinforce our commitment to provide miners every possible safety measure, and that is the simple goal of our legislation. We want to save lives. We want to put an end to the status quo. Sixteen mining deaths in one month are unacceptable. The death toll must stop.

Presently, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has the power to update, and enhance, underground coal mine health and safety regulations. However, as the coal communities and all those watching on television learned during the Sago and Melville tragedies, today's coal miners are not provided with 21st century technology to ensure every chance of survival in emergency situations.

Our legislation would change that deficiency and equip miners with electronic tracking devices and the ability to communicate with those above the surface. Mines would house locations with independent communications systems to the surface, and each operator would be required to maintain emergency air supplies and self-contained breathing equipment at strategic locations within the mine for persons awaiting rescue.

We also establish an Office of Science and Technology Transfer to conduct research and development to advance new technologies for underground coal miner health and safety. A periodic review of existing health and safety standards would be required to enable more modern technologies to be incorporated as they become available.

In addition to advancing new technologies, this bill will also enhance rescue requirements. When an accident happens deep in the mine, every second counts. This bill calls for the implementation of a number of new requirements aimed at improving notification of accidents, the speed and accuracy of emergency response teams, and the improvement of emergency air supplies and communications.

Finally, we also propose the creation of a position of Miner Ombudsman to ensure that coal miners may confidentially report mine safety and health violations. The ombudsman would provide this information to MSHA for investigation and the overall improvement of coal miner safety. Miners know best about the conditions in which they are working. We hope they will freely share their concerns.

I join in the conviction that these 16 West Virginians have not died in vain. We owe them, their brothers and sisters still in the mines, and those yet to don a miner's cap, nothing less