Jun 20, 2006- Mine Safety -- Honoring the Miners of Harlan County

HON. MARCY KAPTUR
 OF OHIO
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
TUESDAY, JUNE 20, 2006 

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Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, this day of June 20, 2006, marks the 1-monthanniversary of the mining disaster in Harlan County, Kentucky, where fiveminers were killed in another mine accident.

I started thinking about the history of Harlan Countyand in paying tribute to these five brave Americans wanted to place in the RECORDthe fact that these miners are from a region of our country that has been hometo generations of coal miners with entire communities dependent on the mines.

While the coal mines have gotten somewhat safer with deaths steadilydeclining as a result of stricter safety laws passed by the Congress of the United States,coal mining remains one of our Nation's most dangerous professions.

This year has been a particularly deadly year. Our Nation held its breathbefore learning of the 12 deaths at the Sago Mine in West Virginia, and then we mourned with thefamilies in Harlan County, Kentucky, after learning of the deaths of fiveminers killed at the Darby Mine in May.

With the year just half over, we have already seen 33 coal mining deaths 6months into this year.

The names of Harlan County's most recent fatalities, Roy Middleton, Amon``Cotton'' Brock, Jimmy D. Lee, and George William Petra and Paris Thomas, Jr.,will now be added to a memorial honoring the ultimate sacrifice made by 1,200coal miners that were killed in Harlan County since 1912.

Harlan County has been the site of mammothlabor organizing battles between the United Mine Workers strike and theregion's coal mining companies. The bloody strikes of the 1930s and 1973 earnedHarlan County the nickname ``Bloody Harlan.''Coal miners from this region know all too well the dangers of this dirty anddangerous business.

The five miners from the Darby mine in Harlan Countyhave joined another 104,574 miners that perished in our Nation's coal minessince 1900. To put this into perspective, this number would be about equivalentto one-third of the entire population of the largest city I represent, Toledo, Ohio.And keep in mind this number only accounts for the actual deaths, not thecountless others that have been maimed in our Nation's dangerous mines.

On this 1-month anniversary of these horrific deaths, Congress can point torecently passed legislation. But you know, Mr. Speaker, a couple hours' oxygenwon't solve the problem either. This act certainly strengthens the mine safetyrequirements enforced by the Mine Safety and Health Administration, but whatgood does the law do for a grieving widow or an orphaned child?

As our Nation struggles with another coal mining tragedy, I would like toplace into the RECORD an old coal mining song, ``Come All You CoalMiners,'' sung by Sarah Gunning. Hopefully, some of the words in this song willremind us of those who have laid down their lives for us and the other 110,000miners that go into the mines every day in this country facing death everysingle one of those days.

Some of the words of the song read: ``They take your very lifeblood, and theytake our children's lives. They take fathers away from children and husbandsaway from wives. Oh, miner, won't you organize wherever you may be and makethis a land of freedom for workers like you and me.''