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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State
Rep. Tim Mahoney |
  
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Mahoney supports mine safety bill
HARRISBURG, May 13 – State Rep. Tim Mahoney, D-Fayette, said bituminous mine-safety legislation he is supporting that would update the state's mine safety law in Pennsylvania is closer to passage in the House of Representatives.
Mahoney, a member of the United Mine Workers of America, said the legislation (S.B. 949), introduced by state Sen. Richard Kasunic, D-Fayette/Somerset, and unanimously approved in the Senate, would improve mine safety in Pennsylvania. The bill awaits final passage in the House.
"The legislature needs to update our mine safety law to bring it up to today's technological standards, "Mahoney said. "We have seen our share of mining tragedies at Quecreek and Sago, and hopefully better laws would produce better safeguards."
Speaking on the House floor, Mahoney joined House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese, D-Greene/Fayette/Washington, and praised the work of mining companies, unions and government agencies to improve mine safety in Pennsylvania. The legislation would revise the state's Bituminous Coal Mine Act of 1961.
Mahoney said the bill would also create a coal mine safety board to review and recommend new mine safety technologies, mandate emergency shelters in bituminous coal mines, require greater safety precautions, establish a better mine mapping system and institute stricter penalties against mining companies that do not comply with the law.
"We're on our way to passing a better bituminous mine bill that would save even more lives," Mahoney said.
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