Senators called for immediate improvements to mine safety on Monday, and asked government and coal industry officials why it took so long for rescue workers to arrive at the scene to help 13 miners trapped early this month deep underground in West Virginia.Correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't Bobby Byrd been the distinguished Senator from West Virginia since the earth cooled? These mines were just about the only thing in the state not named after him. West Virginia gets huge amounts of Federal port for projects with his name attached - how come they haven't been using some of the funds to improve mine safety? And to be honest with you, why is that the Federal government's job in the first place?
"It took 11 hours before the first team could even begin the rescue effort at Sago," said West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing. "These deaths, I believe, were entirely preventable, and we owe the families of these noble, great and deceased men a hard look at what happened and why."
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At the hearing, Byrd criticized budget cuts by the Bush administration to the MSHA, the regulatory agency that oversees safety enforcement and health conditions in the nation's mines. The Democrat said President Bush called him at home this weekend on another matter, and then asked the senator if there was anything he could do regarding the mines. Byrd said he told the president, "Yes, stop cutting the coal health and safety enforcement budget."
Byrd is running for reelection again this year for the eleventy-hundredth time, and I'm sure he wants to impress the home folks with his concerns about mine safety, but he's had plenty of opportunities to work on these things during his 110 years in the Senate. It's a little late now.
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