We have filed motions to sever, motions to strike, motions to dismiss these other companies out of the hearings and we want to get down to the specifics and we demand strict proof of what the conditions of these coal mines are.

Senator RANDOLPH. Mr. Chairman, could counsel quote the language? I think we said mine by mine. Didn't we use that language? Mr. WIDMAN. Yes, 301 (c) that is correct, Senator, on page 24 if you have the act. That is the position we are taking. I was somewhat taken aback when this was suggested that we have not filed any opposition to intervene in these 301 cases. If we have missed one it is because we have not received notice and this little fat fellow is over at the Interior Department an awful lot asking them and they are getting a little tired seeing me over there I know.

But we are going to know about them and we are going to intervene, and we have, even each and every one when we know about it. Those are now under 301 if you please. There are many, many petitions under the 105 and 104 on notice of violations on appeal.

What position we are going to take on those can only come on a case to case basis.

We are a little disturbed about the fines, that these people are not being fined. Section 101 (a) requires fines. I don't know why the bureau has not levied these fines.

Senator WILLIAMS. Are these waiver cases mostly smaller mines? Mr. WIDMAN. No, sir; starting next week they are on Peabody, Powatan and large mines. They are not just small mines. Armco has a couple. Every coal mine in the United States, I think. There must be 12,000, 2,000 which have gotten appeals. These are matters that we are working on every day.

To suggest we are not is just being somewhat careless with the truth. Mr. CAREY. The Secretary of Interior will reflect the opposition to what we have filed in these various matters.

Mr. MITTLEMAN. I am sorry, but I didn't get your name.

Mr. WIDMAN. I am Charles Widman.

Mr. MITTLEMAN. You are an attorney?

Mr. WIDMAN. I am.

Mr. MITTLEMAN. Could you tell me the kind of staff you have to work with in terms of technical people which I assume you need to present evidence?

Mr. WIDMAN. I will suggest this. I have one of the finest experts on the face of the earth in Lou Evans, the safety director, his assistant, his staff in the office, in the field. We have a man in each district. I think Mr. Evans knows that. These things are investigated as soon as they come into the office, they are investigated by Mr. Evans' staff. We find out what the true configurations are at that mine. We confer with the I can't in every case the safety division confers with the safety committee on the condition of those coal mines.

And I will pledge to this committee now we will be prepared when we step in that hearing room.

Senator RANDOLPH. Mr. Chairman, I do want the record to reflect my feeling that I have had increasingly during the progress of the hearings today, that the passage of the act, then later the implementation of the provisions of the act, the impact of the legislative intent of the Congress, places a very heavy burden upon the Department of Interior and the Bureau of Mines and all those associated, the United Mine Workers of America, in the safety provision and other agencies of the Government in connection with the health conditions.

If this act, Mr. Chairman, is to be effective there will have to be a rethinking perhaps in the Department of Interior, and I am not attempting to blanket the criticism of the Department, but it seems to me it is very evident, increasingly so, that we need not only the personnel, gentlemen, but we must have a commitment within the Federal Government to do this job.

Nothing less than that is going to suffice.

Do you feel that way, Mr. Chairman?

Senator WILLIAMS. I certainly do. I think perhaps our continuing focus of attention here might speed that commitment that you have expressed a need for.

Senator RANDOLPH. I say this advisedly from my own thinking. I don't want to be misunderstood. Perhaps we need less pointing of the finger in criticism at this person or that person or at this segment of the industry or this segment of the miner participation.

Somehow or other we have, not reluctantly, but eagerly, to try to bring all the forces together, even though mistakes and errors have been committed.

I recognize these. I think the Congress itself has shared perhaps in the failure to have moved quickly. I sense that timidity is not desirable here as we move forward. There must be this broader attempt, this stronger effort. I just want the record to reflect my thinking at this time.

I think I feel this more than I have in the past. I think it must be shared by the Congress, shared by the administration, shared by all of you who sit here as witnesses, that we move together to try to help one another in a partnership, as it were, to do this job.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Senator WILLIAMS. I appreciate that.

We will conclude today's hearing on that note and we will return tomorrow morning at 9:30.

(Whereupon, at 4:05 p.m. the subcommittee recessed, to reconvene at 9:30 a.m., Friday, August 7, 1970.)

HEALTH AND SAFETY IN THE COAL MINES

FRIDAY, AUGUST 7, 1970

U.S. SENATE,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON LABOR OF THE

COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND PUBLIC WELFARE,

Washington, D.C.

The subcommittee met at 9:30 a.m., pursuant to recess, in room 4200, New Senate Office Building, Senator Harrison A. Williams, Jr. (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.

Present: Senators Williams, Randolph, and Schweiker.

Committee staff present: Frederick R. Blackwell, counsel; Gerald M. Feder, associate counsel; Eugene Mittelman, minority counsel; and Peter Benedict, minority labor counsel.

Senator WILLIAMS. The hearing will come to order.

This morning, we resume our hearings into charges of inadequate enforcement of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969. Before we begin, I have an announcement.

Several members of the subcommittee have joined, at the suggestion of Senator Randolph, in sending the following telegram to President Nixon. I will read this for our record:

THE PRESIDENT,

The White House,

Washington, D.C.:

We, the members of the Labor Subcommittee of the Senate Labor and Public Welfare Committee, urgently request that you nominate a qualified director for the U.S. Bureau of Mines at the earliest possible moment.

Testimony before our subcommittee today strongly indicates that the Congressional mandate for strict enforcement of the Coal Mine Health and Safety Law is not being followed. In the past six months, the Bureau of Mines has been leaderless in a period when it is charged with the most critical responsibility in its existence. Over the past three months, 50 miners have died in accidents which, in many cases, might have been prevented if safety regulations in the law had been enforced.

Witnesses before our subcommittee charge that Bureau of Mines officials are guilty of misfeasance, malfeasance, and nonfeasance. Miners contend that safety and health conditions today are worse with the new improved law than they were under the old law. These conditions, if continued, threaten a national power emergency.

Again, we cannot overemphasize the urgency of selecting a strong enforcer and administrator for the Bureau of Mines in the immediate future. HARRISON A. WILLIAMS, JR,, U.S. Senate.

Our first witnesses this morning are four coal miners. They come from Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio. In addition to being active coal miners, with firsthand knowledge of the problems of health and safety in the coal mines, they are members and organizers of Miners for Democracy and the Black Lung Association.

They are accompanied by counsel for the Miners for Democracy, Mr. Joseph "Chip" Yablonski, and Mrs. Clarice Feldman.

If I may, before we begin, I would like to especially welcome Mr. Yablonski here on this life-and-death issue of coal mine health and safety.

My first association with your late father was during the legislative struggle to enact the most comprehensive coal mine health and safety law in our history. It seems altogether appropriate that you should be here to carry on his work to insure prompt and effective enforcement of that law.

I want to also applaud your efforts and those of your brother in the recent Pittsburgh case regarding the walkout over mine safety. You have taken a major step in establishing a vital principle of law. STATEMENTS OF JOSEPH "CHIP" YABLONSKI, COUNSEL, AND MRS. CLARICE FELDMAN, CO-COUNSEL, MINERS FOR DEMOCRACY; AND MICHAEL TRBOVICH, NATIONAL CHAIRMAN, MINERS FOR DEMOCRACY; ARNOLD MILLER, TREASURER, BLACK LUNG ASSOCIATION; AND HARRY PATRICK, NATIONAL CO-VICE CHAIRMAN, MINERS FOR DEMOCRACY

Mr. YABLONSKI. Thank you, Senator.

It is an honor and privilege to appear again before this subcommittee.

Members of the subcommittee and its chairman, you, Senator Williams, have repeatedly shown by your action your concern for the health and safety of America's coal miners, your dedication to the well-being of the workers of America.

I am here today as counsel for Miners for Democracy.

With me are Mike Trbovich, the national chairman of the group, and Arnold Miller, the treasurer of the Black Lung Association, of West Virginia; Harry Patrick, national co-vice chairman of Miners for Democracy; and Mrs. Clarice Feldman, co-counsel.

All of these people, with the exception of Mrs. Feldman and myself, are working coal miners.

I would like to make some observations about the enforcement of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969. Then each of these gentlemen will speak of their own experiences with respect to the enforcement of this law.

Coldly and calculatingly, this administration and the Bureau of Mines have emasculated the toughest occupational health and safety bill ever enacted, the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of

1969.

In this operation, the administration has been assisted by the coal industry which variously hides itself behind the initials NCA, NCOA, or NCPC, and the United Mine Workers of America, which hides itself beneath the mantle of its late president, John L. Lewis.