§861 — Title 30 Mineral Lands and Mining | U.S. Code

Summary

Sections 862 through 878 must be used as temporary required safety rules for all underground coal mines until better rules are made under section 811. These interim rules must be enforced the same way as any rule made under section 811, and any orders to enforce them can be reviewed under subchapter I. The goal is to put safety rules in place right away based on experience and new technology and to stop hazards from new equipment or methods. The Secretary of the Interior, working with the other Secretary, must immediately start studies and research to improve the rules, especially for electrical wires and cables, cable splicing and vulcanizing, roof control, methane drainage and gas measurement, and better underground equipment and power sources.

Title 30, §861

Mineral Lands and Mining — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The provisions of sections 862 through 878 of this title shall be interim mandatory safety standards applicable to all underground coal mines until superseded in whole or in part by improved mandatory safety standards promulgated by the Secretary under the provisions of section 811 of this title, and shall be enforced in the same manner and to the same extent as any mandatory safety standard promulgated under section 811 of this title. Any orders issued in the enforcement of the interim standards set forth in this subchapter shall be subject to review as provided in subchapter I of this chapter.

(b)The purpose of this subchapter is to provide for the immediate application of mandatory safety standards developed on the basis of experience and advances in technology and to prevent newly created hazards resulting from new technology in coal mining. The Secretary of the Interior in coordination with the Secretary shall immediately initiate studies, investigations, and research to further upgrade such standards and to develop and promulgate new and improved standards promptly that will provide increased protection to the miners, particularly in connection with hazards from trolley wires, trolley feeder wires, and signal wires, the splicing and use of trailing cables, and in connection with improvements in vulcanizing of electric conductors, improvement in roof control measures, methane drainage in advance of mining, improved methods of measuring methane and other explosive gases and oxygen concentrations, and the use of improved underground equipment and other sources of power for such equipment.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1977—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 95–164, § 203(a), substituted “The Secretary of the Interior in coordination with the Secretary shall immediately initiate studies” for “The Secretary shall immediately initiate studies”. Subsecs. (c), (d). Pub. L. 95–164, § 203(b), struck out subsec. (c) which related to the modification of standards, and subsec. (d) which related to the applicability of section 553 of title 5 in cases where the provisions of sections 862 to 878 of this title had provided that certain actions, conditions, or requirements be carried out as prescribed by the Secretary or the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1977 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 95–164 effective 120 days after Nov. 9, 1977, except as otherwise provided, see section 307 of Pub. L. 95–164, set out as a note under section 801 of this title.

Effective Date

Section operative 90 days after Dec. 30, 1969, except to the extent an earlier date is specifically provided for in Pub. L. 91–173, see section 509 of Pub. L. 91–173, set out as a note under section 801 of this title.

§861 Mandatory Safety Standards for Underground Mines

Summary

Title 30, §861

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Effective Date

Citations & Metadata