As we reported here yesterday, the West Virginia Senate’s Committee on Energy, Industry and Mining met yesterday to take up SB 582, a bill to strip the state’s inspectors of any real enforcement role in coal mine health and safety (see also the companion bill introduced in the House).
A longer story in today’s print edition (and online here) provides more details about that bill, and explains that the EIM committee sent the measure to a subcommittee for further review.
It’s interesting to note that West Virginia is not alone in its effort this year to roll back mine safety protections under state law.
This is also happening in Kentucky, and it’s already happened in Illinois.
So far, I’ve seen no meeting scheduled for the subcommittee that’s looking at the West Virginia bill … so stay tuned.