Coal Mining: New Efforts in an Old Field

The Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 represents a decision by Congress that the previous system of federal and state regulation of the industry had not been effective and was not likely to become so. By this act, the federal government in effect assumed controlling responsi bility for regulation, a function that had been shared with the states for the last twenty years. It now seems likely that, because of the generally more stringent federal health and safety standards and the far greater federal resources for en forcement, many of the states in which coal is produced will discontinue efforts to set health and safety standards and en force them by inspection. However, if the new act is to be effective, it must be strongly enforced; for it establishes the strongest single code of health and safety standards for coal mining that the country has known. The effort to create an effective Bureau of Mines has included programs to solve such administrative problems as the recruitment and training of a large, new force of inspectors and the development of appro priate regulations. Of even more importance have been the efforts to protect the bureau from political interference. Al though these have not been wholly successful, its supporters in Congress and the general public are moving to accomplish this end.