Section 2. Legislative findings.
The General Assembly finds and declares as follows:
(1) Since this Commonwealth began regular reporting in
1870, over 51,504 miners have died in Pennsylvania's
anthracite and bituminous mines, specifically, 31,116 in
anthracite mines and 20,388 in bituminous mines.
(2) As a result of mine accidents like the Darr Mine
Disaster in Westmoreland County that claimed 239 lives in
1907 and the Knox Mine accident in Luzerne County in 1959,
where the Susquehanna River broke through an anthracite mine
and killed 12 miners, Pennsylvania adopted some of the first
mine safety statutes in the United States, starting in 1869
with a law requiring ventilation in anthracite mines.
(3) The Commonwealth's current mine safety laws, the act
of July 17, 1961 (P.L.659, No.339), known as the Pennsylvania
Bituminous Coal Mine Act, and the act of November 10, 1965
(P.L.721, No.346), known as the Pennsylvania Anthracite Coal
Mine Act, establish the framework for ensuring the safety of
workers in bituminous, anthracite and other underground
industrial mineral mines, but they do not include provisions
for caring for the families of miners trapped, injured or
awaiting rescue.
(4) The Quecreek Mine accident that occurred in Somerset
County during July 2002, where nine miners were rescued after
being trapped as water flooded into the mine, provided a
model for how to care for the needs of families of miners
during a mine emergency.
(5) It is the policy of the Commonwealth to treat the
families of miners trapped, injured or awaiting rescue during
a mine emergency with the dignity and respect they deserve
and to make sure the families are provided updated
information on rescue efforts before the public or the media
and that their needs and questions are attended to during a
mine emergency.