Speech
by
Senator
Robert
C.
Byrd
100th
Anniversary
of
the
Monongah,
West
Virginia,
Mine
Disaster
Senate
of
the
United
Sates
December
06,
2007
Mr.
President,
as
a
son
of
West
Virginia's
southern
coalfields
who
grew
up
in
a
coal
miner's
home
and
married
a
coal
miner's
daughter,
I
note
that
today
is
the
100th
anniversary
of
the
Monongah,
WV,
mine
disaster,
a
particularly
momentous
and
solemn
observance
for
the
coal
miners
of
West
Virginia.
The
Monongah,
WV,
mine
disaster
remains
today
the
worst
industrial
accident
in
American
history.
At
least
362
coal
miners
lost
their
lives
in
that
explosion
on
that
cold
December
day,
December
6,
1907.
The
truth
is,
some
of
the
miners
inside
Fairmont
Coal
Company's
No.
6
and
No.
8
mines
were
boys--mere
children,
in
fact--whose
names
did
not
appear
on
the
company's
official
ledgers.
So
we
may
never
know
exactly
how
many
lives
were
lost
inside
that
mine
on
that
dark
day.
Sadly,
many
more
miners
across
West
Virginia
and
the
Nation
would
perish,
including
another
78
miners
in
an
explosion
in
that
same
West
Virginia
community
a
little
over
60
years
later,
before
Congress
would
respond
with
the
Federal
Coal
Mine
Health
and
Safety
Act
of
1969.
Coal
miners
are
a
different
breed.
Coal
miners
are
bound
together
in
ways
perhaps
not
unlike
the
bonds
that
develop
between
soldiers
or
others
whose
occupations
are
inherently
dangerous.
Coal
miners
share
a
vocabulary
foreign
to
most
outsiders.
Coal
miners
must
place
great
trust
in
the
persons
next
to
them
for
their
safety.
Although
mortal
danger
stalks
them
daily,
in
every
minute
of
every
day,
this
mutual
trust
and
mutual
dependence
creates
unusually
strong
bonds.
Coal
miners
enjoy
an
unusually
deep
camaraderie.
Today
in
Indiana,
Kentucky,
Ohio,
Pennsylvania,
Montana,
Virginia,
Utah,
Alabama,
Wyoming,
and
West
Virginia,
coal
miners
are
marking
the
100th
anniversary--that
is
today--of
the
Monongah,
WV,
mine
disaster.
They
do
it
with
reverence,
and
they
honor
their
survivors.
In
West
Virginia,
we
also
mark
December
6
as
Miner
Day
and
celebrate
all
coal
miners--past,
present,
and
future.
Coal
remains
today,
this
very
moment,
the
backbone
of
America's
energy
supply.
Over
half
of
all
the
electricity
we
consume
every
day--and
some
of
it
is
burning
here
tonight
in
the
ceiling
of
this
Hall--over
half
of
all
the
electricity
we
consume
every
day
is
provided
by
coal
miners.
We
must
protect
those
coal
miners.
The
names
Alma,
Darby,
Crandall
Canyon,
and
Sago
remind
us
that
mine
disasters
are
not
simply
a
part
of
the
coal
industry's
past;
they
are
part
of
our
present.
As
we
remember
the
miners
who
lost
their
lives
at
Monongah
on
that
cold
December
day
in
1907,
let
us
also
recommit
ourselves
to
protecting
the
health
and
the
safety
of
all
those
men
and
women
who
so
bravely
toil
in
our
coal
mines
today.
May
we
also
take
a
moment
to
consider
that
the
current
political
debate
regarding
the
future
of
coal--black
diamonds--in
our
national
energy
policy
is
taking
place
under
lights--right
here,
for
example--under
lights
illuminated
by
the
work
of
coal
miners,
in
the
warmth
of
furnaces
fueled
by
coal
miners
and
completely
independent
of
any
foreign
sheik
or
imam,
thanks
to
coal
miners--coal
miners
such
as
my
dad,
coal
miners
such
as
my
wife's
father,
coal
miners
such
as
my
brother-in-law.
Coal
miners,
coal
miners,
coal
miners--may
God
bless
them.
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