Kentucky House approves bill to reduce emergency-trained workers in small coal mines
The Kentucky House has voted to allow the state’s smallest coal mining operations to reduce the number of miners with emergency medical training on a shift
FRANKFORT, Ky. — The Kentucky House voted Monday to allow the state's smallest coal mining operations to reduce the number of miners with emergency medical training assigned for each underground shift.
In a state once known as a coal producing powerhouse, supporters said the measure is needed to help keep the smallest mining operations in business amid the industry's downturn. The bill's critics warned it would roll back an important safeguard enacted years ago following a Kentucky mining fatality.
“It truly troubles me to think that we could potentially be trading the safety of our coal mining families for what appears to be a nominal financial benefit, if anything at all,” said Democratic state Rep. Ashley Tackett Laferty, who represents a coal-producing region in eastern Kentucky.
The measure — House Bill 85 — passed the House on a 75-18 vote and goes to the Senate next. Republicans have supermajorities in both chambers.
The bill would cut in half the number of mine emergency technicians required to work when a shift has 15 or fewer miners. Two METs are currently required per shift, but the bill would reduce it to one.
Republican state Rep. Bill Wesley said his bill is motivated by instances when entire shifts were shut down and miners sent home because not enough METs showed up for work.
“Nobody got paid," Wesley said during the House debate. «Everyone was sent home. And I think that this is a needed bill to help all the coal miners.”
Tackett Laferty said she spoke to a miner with more than 20 years of experience who recalled just one instance when a mine was
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