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"Last month we celebrated a milestone in Illinois -- the third
consecutive year Illinois mines have been fatality-free,"
Blagojevich said. "This is due in large part to strong safety
standards for mine operations, but there's more we can do. The
legislation that passed today provides for even stricter standards
and will help Illinois remain a leader in mine safety. I'm proud of
the work we've done with the General Assembly on this bill, and I
look forward to signing it into law."
Illinois' coal and aggregate mines have been fatality-free since
April 2003, marking the first time in state history Illinois has
gone three consecutive years without a fatality. [Related
article]
"The recent disasters in coal mines have served as a wake-up call
to update the safety standards in our mines," said Rep. Dan Reitz,
D-Sparta. "With these changes, it is my hope that if there is an
accident at one of our mines, we will be prepared to respond, and
our miners will have the tools they need to survive."
"It is imperative that we do everything in our power to ensure
the safety of Illinois miners," said Sen. Deanna Demuzio,
D-Carlinville. "This legislation provides common-sense actions, such
as requiring lifelines in our mines to make sure that miners can
find their way to the surface even if their vision is impaired from
an accident. We should do all that we can to ensure that all of
Illinois' miners return home to their families each night."
"With this new law, Illinois will double its efforts to protect
those who make their living going underground to mine coal," said
Sen. Gary Forby, D-Benton. "Updating mine rescue stations, like the
ones in Benton and Harrisburg, using transponders to locate trapped
miners and ensuring there are extra supplies of oxygen available in
case of an emergency will give our miners a better chance at
surviving an accident. This new law and the safeguards that it
brings will go a long way in making sure that our coal miners leave
their job safe and secure at the end of the day."
Senate Bill 929 includes:
SCSRs are designed to supply an individual
with one hour of oxygen for use in an emergency situation and
are currently required by federal regulation to be available to
miners. While SCSRs can provide some protection, more than an
hour of travel is required to reach the surface of many of
Illinois' mines. Therefore, every miner will be required to wear
an SCSR while underground, and companies will be required to
place caches of SCSRs throughout the mine for use during a
longer escape.
Emergency
communication and tracking system: The new legislation
requires the installation of a wireless communication device
capable of receiving emergency communications from the surface
to any location throughout a mine. Mine operators will be
required to install in or around the mine any and all equipment
necessary to transmit emergency communications. In addition, a
tracking system providing real-time monitoring of the physical
location of each person underground will be required. Operators
must install the wireless tracking equipment necessary for such
monitoring and provide every miner with a tracking device to be
worn while underground.
Mine Technology
Task Force: In order to ensure that the best available mine
safety technologies are in use underground, the legislation
calls for the formation of a task force consisting of
representatives of the United Mine Workers of America, coal
operators, academia and the communications industry. The task
force will review the existing technologies and submit its
findings to the State Mining Board. The mine safety technologies
must be provided in each underground mine once this equipment is
approved by the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration
and is commercially available.
Mine rescue
stations: Illinois currently operates mine rescue stations
in Springfield, Benton, Harrisburg and Sparta. However, only two
of those stations are certified by the Mine Safety and Health
Administration. Additionally, the state has agreements with all
the underground mines to provide personnel to staff the
stations, but there are no stipulations on how many people each
company must provide. The new legislation mandates reasonable
participation in mine rescue teams by coal companies and
requires certification of all mine rescue stations.
Lifelines and tag
lines: State law already requires that each mine have two
different ways of exiting a mine in the event of an emergency,
each marked with reflectors. However, these reflectors can be
impossible to locate in the event of a fire. To ensure that all
miners can escape quickly, this provision requires lifelines
along the escape routes. The lifelines will be required to have
cones indicating the direction to the surface. This will allow
miners to hold the lifeline and find their way to the surface,
avoiding any disorientation due to impaired visibility. The
legislation also requires tag lines, which miners will be
required to use in the event of an emergency. The tag lines
connect a group of miners, preventing individual miners from
becoming lost.
Return entry to
aid in egress: In addition to the two escape routes mandated
by state law, every mine has a third passageway that is used as
a return. The new legislation requires that the return entry be
marked with reflectors or other signage to give a clear
indication of an alternative path to the surface in the event
the mandated ways of escape are blocked.
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Transportation of
workers: While mine operators must maintain a vehicle
suitable to transport sick or injured workers, transportation is
not mandated in any other circumstance. Therefore, an entire
unit or group of miners could be left without mechanical
transportation for a distance of many miles underground. In most
instances, this distance would far exceed a miner's ability to
walk out of a mine while using an SCSR. In order to remedy this
situation, the legislation mandates that mechanical
transportation be available on each working section of a mine
and that this transportation be of adequate size to transport
all miners working in that section to the surface.
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Independent
contractor supervisor: Illinois mining operations routinely
use contractors for specialized projects or to assist the
regular work force. Unlike the mining work force, contractors
are not certified by the state and may not have received
adequate training. This legislation requires mine operators to
have at least one certified independent contractor supervisor to
oversee independent contractors or their employees.
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General surface
supervisor: The new legislation amends the Coal Mining Act
to require that individuals who supervise underground mine
surface facilities, coal preparation plants and independent
contractors engaged in the construction, demolition or
dismantling of facilities obtain competency certification from
the Office of Mines and Minerals.
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Methane
extraction: In order to ensure the safety of miners, the
legislation prohibits methane extraction from sealed areas of
active mines, as well as from abandoned mines that are attached
to active workings, unless specific safety measures are in
place.
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Rescue chambers:
The new legislation requires the construction of a rescue
chamber in underground mines to protect miners against potential
hazards in case of an emergency. The chamber is to be equipped
with first-aid materials, an oxygen-generating device and proper
accommodations for people underground awaiting rescue.
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Telecommunications
center: In order to ensure a quick and efficient means of
disseminating duties and responsibilities to those involved in
response to a mining emergency, the legislation permits the
Illinois Department of Natural Resources to use the
telecommunications center maintained by the Illinois Emergency
Management Agency.
"I commend Governor Blagojevich and the General Assembly for
making miner safety a top priority," said Joe Angleton, director of
the Office of Mines and Minerals. "As a former coal miner, I know
the risks these men and women take every day. Since my time
underground, safety measures have improved greatly, and this
legislation builds upon those measures already in place to ensure
additional safety for the miners of this state."
Illinois coal miner safety is the No. 1 priority of the state
Office of Mines and Minerals. State law requires that a mine be
inspected once a month; however, state mine inspectors often visit
mining operations with more frequency to ensure compliance. Routine
inspections of coal mines include checking for proper ventilation
and for hazardous conditions underground and on the surface of a
mine, ensuring roof and rib control procedures are being followed
and making sure miners are working safely and properly.
Three new mines are expected to come on line in Illinois in 2006
-- further evidence that the coal industry is making a comeback in
Illinois. The industry began to decline in the 1990s, after tougher
federal sulfur emission standards were put in place. Since then,
advances in clean-coal technology have made it possible to burn
Illinois coal and still meet the strictest air-quality standards in
the nation.
Illinois now has the most aggressive package of incentives in the
nation to spur clean-coal-fueled power plant development and provide
other support for the Illinois coal industry. In July 2003,
Blagojevich signed a law that added $300 million in revenue bonds to
the Coal Revival Program, which provides major tax and financing
incentives to large clean-coal-fueled projects.
Since 2003, the state has invested $64.7 million in coal
development projects, including the Peabody Energy Electric Prairie
State project in Washington County and the Taylorville Energy
Center, a coal gasification project in Christian County. Also
included is more than $45 million in grants to Illinois coal
operators who upgrade their facilities to make their product more
competitive, as well as more than $11 million for advanced research
through the Illinois Clean Coal Institute.
Blagojevich also has led an effort with the Illinois
congressional delegation to tout Illinois' advantages as a site for
the U.S. Department of Energy's proposed FutureGen project, which
will demonstrate making electric power and hydrogen fuel from coal
with near zero harmful emissions. The project site is expected to be
chosen within the next year.
In the 1980s, Illinois employed over 18,000 coal miners,
producing more than 60 million tons of coal per year. Today, despite
a 77 percent reduction in work force, Illinois coal companies still
produce 32 million tons of coal annually, with production up nearly
10 percent in the past two years.
Over 50 percent of all electricity used in the United States
comes from coal, and Illinois' supply is among the most abundant in
the world. "At our current production level, which is more on a
tons-per-man basis than ever, we have enough coal in Illinois to
meet the energy needs of the entire nation for the next 200 years,"
Angleton said.
In terms of energy value, Illinois coal has more British thermal
units, or Btu, than the oil supplies of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait
combined.
[News release from the governor's
office] |
