The United Mine Workers has panned a proposed federal rule designed to improve rescue operations at the 653 underground coal mines in the U.S., in part by cutting maximum emergency-response time in half. "The union does not believe the proposed rule should move forward as it is written," Dennis O'Dell, administrator of Occupational Health and Safety, told a federal Mine Safety and Health Administration panel Tuesday. MSHA either misunderstood or ignored Congress when it crafted the mine rescue rule, said O'Dell, who suggested tabling the proposal and rewriting it after talking with the union, mine operators and lawmakers. The rule is aimed at complying with a federal law passed last year after an explosion that killed 12 West Virginia miners.
See "United Mine Workers criticizes proposed federal rescue rule", Associated Press, International Herald Tribune, October 29, 2007