Less than one week after the West Virginia Congressional Delegation introduced legislation aimed at prompting the Federal agency charged with coal mine safety to use existing authorities under the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 to strengthen underground coal mine health and safety standards, the agency announced late yesterday it was using an emergency rulemaking to implement several new standards.

The "Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 2006" (H.R. 4695 and S. 2231) would compel the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) to issue regulations in a number of areas, such as requiring underground coal operators to maintain emergency supplies of self-contained breathing equipment in the mines and to require more rapid notification of emergencies in incidents where rescue work is necessary.

Late yesterday, MSHA announced it was pursuing an "emergency temporary standard" to require coal operators to maintain additional self-contained self rescue devices in storage areas within underground coal mines, and to require coal operators to notify the agency within 15 minutes of an accident.

"It took the ultimate sacrifice of 16 coal miners in West Virginia, the riveted attention of our Nation, and the determination of the West Virginia Congressional Delegation to finally get MSHA to get moving on improving underground coal mine health and safety rather than retrenching from it," observed U.S. Rep. Nick J. Rahall (D-WV) the lead House sponsor of the Delegation bill and Ranking Member of the House Resources Committee which has jurisdiction over mining interests generally.

He added, "The action MSHA took yesterday is but one step among many others in the Delegation bill the agency should, and must, take, and I call upon the Administration to expeditiously institute our other proposals."

Among those proposals are requirements to improve response measures to underground coal mine accidents; maintain emergency oxygen supplies in addition to self-contained self rescue devices (which only provide one-hour of air); enhance communications with, and the tracking of, underground coal miners in order to assist in their rescue; increase penalties for habitual violators; and deploy technological advances in all areas of coal mine health and safety.