Wednesday's Butler Eagle included both upbeat and troubling news concerning the coal mining industry. Efforts must push ahead without delay to ensure that the positive news is not sidetracked in its path to becoming law, albeit with modifications that lawmakers deem appropriate.

The good news is the legislation introduced by Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter that would impose significantly tougher penalties on mine operators who violate safety standards. The legislation would increase fines to $500,000 from the current $60,000 for operators failing to eliminate violations that cause death or serious injury.

And, the legislation aims at taking the even tougher step of prohibiting administrative law judges from reducing fines for violations termed flagrant or habitual.

At least 21 mining deaths this year, including 12 at the Sago Mine in West Virginia, show the need for closer scrutiny of the industry, as well as a bigger incentive for coal operators to correct small problems before they become big and dangerous.

In the case of the Sago Mine, federal inspectors cited the mine for 46 alleged violations of the federal mine health and safety rules during an 11-week review that ended on Dec. 22, less than two weeks before the accident that claimed 12 miners' lives. The same mine reportedly received 208 citations from the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) during 2005, up from 68 citations in 2004.

The troubling news in Wednesday's Butler Eagle was an article reporting that a 116-count indictment had been issued against a former Sago Mine foreman who allegedly falsified inspection reports at the mine in 2004 and was never certified as a miner or mining foreman.

That kind of situation, however isolated it might be, must also be a subject of consideration when lawmakers delve into the details of Specter's proposal.

Specter's bill would require MSHA to publish formal rules for conducting accident investigations and hearing procedures. Meanwhile, the Specter legislation would impose a big incentive for mine operators to notify MSHA officials of a disaster within 15 minutes of the occurrence. The incentive: fines of $100,000.

In addition, the legislation would amend the Mine Safety and Health Act to require that tracking devices be made available to each miner so rescuers would be able to locate them in case of an accident. The measure also would mandate that oxygen stations with at least four days of oxygen be provided in areas where miners are working.

Last week, the Senate passed a measure that would give coal companies tax breaks for spending more on safety equipment and training.

But amid all that is under way in Congress, the immediate emphasis must be on MSHA redoubling its efforts to quickly identify problems that currently exist in specific mines, before those problems add to the tragic 2006 death toll.

Too bad it took this year's deaths to wake Congress up to the fact that all is not well in this dangerous industry.

— J.R.K.