U.S. Rep. Nick J. Rahall (D-WV), joined by his colleague, U.S. Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV), has called on Congress to convene hearings on the Sago Mine tragedy that killed 12 coal miners and hospitalized another in Upshur County.

"The Congress must more vigorously exercise its oversight of the Mine Safety and Health Administration. The long list of citations issued by MSHA against the Sago Mine in Upshur County has been well publicized in the last few days," Rahall and Mollohan wrote to Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), who chairs the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. "How those violations were addressed and whether MSHA sufficiently followed up to ensure that those violations were being remedied are questions that beg scrutiny."

Rahall said the record of MSHA in recent years is concerning, pointing to a 2005 AFL-CIO report that states "17 standards to improve safety and health for miners" had been withdrawn by MSHA since the beginning of the Bush Administration.

In addition, the Agency has suffered from insufficient funding levels, Rahall said. The recently-passed Labor-HHS-Education Conference Report for fiscal year 2006 cut $4.9 million in real-dollars from MSHA's budget for FY 2006, compared to FY 2005. Since 2001, MSHA staffing has been downsized by 170 positions.

"Too often in recent years, miners have expressed fears that the agency's safety mission has been diluted by concerns about cost to business, and that the agency is, in fact, rolling back safety and health gains made since its creation," Rahall said.

Rahall and Mollohan hope the requested hearings will provide ample opportunity for the Committee to hear from MSHA officials, health and safety experts, miners and their families.

"We owe much to our miners, who toil deep beneath the earth to provide Americans with a better way of life," Rahall said. "The Sago Mine community-and miners across the nation-deserve a full, fair and expeditious look into these critically important issues."