Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 13, 1993 TAG: 9305130051
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Virginia General Assembly formed the committee after the explosion at the Southmountain Coal Co. No. 3 mine in Wise County that killed eight miners. The committee will make recommendations by the end of this year for a complete rewrite of the safety laws.
The citizens chosen by the governor to join legislators on the committee are: John H. Bouhan of Luck Stone Corp. in Richmond; A.F. Cone of Sutherland; W. Thomas, executive director of the Virginia Coal Association; and Donnie Lowe, president of Virginia United Mine Workers District 28.
Del. Alson Smith, D-Winchester, who will chair the study, said he plans to have a report ready to present the General Assembly no later than early December.
"This is going to be a thorough and in-depth study of mine safety," Smith said. "We're going to tighten up the mine-safety law and still let the [mine] owners compete, but safety is going to be the No. 1 thing."
Smith said the last total rewrite of the state's mine-safety laws was in 1953. Some of those approaches may still be appropriate, he said.
He plans to have at least five meetings of the committee in Richmond and two public hearings in Southwest Virginia, probably in the Wise and Richlands areas, Smith said.
"We all know some work needs to be done on the mine-safety law," Smith said. The law needs to address both the responsibilities of mine operators and of coal miners themselves, he said.
The study won't be one in which everybody involved knows everybody else, Smith said. "This isn't one of the good ol' boy studies."
by CNB