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Monday, February 25, 2008
Coal Mine Safety Shortchanged by Years of Budget Cuts
Congress created the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) in 1977, placing a new federal focus on miner safety and health. In the past two years, a spike in coal mine fatalities and high-profile coal mine disasters have prompted many Americans and Congress to look to MSHA to improve miner safety, but years of budget cuts and the loss of qualified employees have left the agency struggling to fulfill its mission.
A new article by OMB Watch, the latest in our Bankrupting Government series, tracks the history of budget and staffing cuts at the agency with a particular focus on MSHA's coal mine safety and health program.
Excerpts from the OMB Watch article, "Coal Mine Safety Shortchanged by Years of Budget Cuts":
In 1979, two years after the formation of the mine regulation agency, MSHA's budget peaked at an inflation-adjusted $355 million, when it became a fully operational agency. By 2007, despite recent increases in spending, the budget had dropped 15 percent to $294 million after adjusting for inflation.
After 1979, there was a steady decline in spending for MSHA. By 1986, spending had dropped 25 percent to $267 million, after adjusting for inflation. By 1997, when only $247 million after adjusting for inflation was appropriated, funding had dropped 30 percent. Starting in 1998, there were increases in spending for the agency, but not nearly enough to offset the massive drop in spending when compared to 1979. In fact, spending today is on par with 1984 levels. (See Graph 1.)
Graph 1
Unlike MSHA's budget, which has increased over the past several years, the number of MSHA employees (also know as "full-time equivalents," or FTEs) has experienced a virtually uninterrupted decline during the agency's existence. From its 1979 peak of 3,811 FTEs, the number of workers carrying out mine regulation and oversight declined by 45 percent to 2,161 FTEs in 2007. (See Graph 2.)
Graph 2
Coal Mine Safety and Health
In 2006 and 2007, the number of coal mine fatalities rose abruptly. From 2002-2005, the number of coal mine fatalities was at or below 30. The number of coal miner fatalities reached an all-time low in 2005 (22). But in 2006, the number of coal mine fatalities spiked to 47 — the highest number since 1995. In 2007, 33 coal mine workers died on the job.
Several high-profile coal mine disasters contributed to the rising fatality rate and thrust coal mine safety into the national spotlight. In January 2006, an explosion at the Sago mine in West Virginia killed 12 miners. Later that year, explosions at the Aracoma Alma mine in West Virginia and the Darby mine in Kentucky killed two and five miners, respectively. In August 2007, the Crandall Canyon mine in Utah collapsed , trapping and killing six miners. Three rescue workers were killed days later during a second collapse.
Despite the slowed progress in coal miner safety, past administrations and congressional appropriators have not made coal mine safety a high priority. From FY 1985 to FY 2006, MSHA's coal safety program budget was cut 18 percent when adjusted for inflation. (See Graph 6.) The consistent decline in coal program funding has reversed only recently. With national attention focused on high-profile mine disasters, Congress and President Bush have made efforts to bolster the program's budget. However, it is still lower than it was throughout the 1980s.
Graph 6
Read the rest of the article here.
Posted by Matt Madia
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