FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 4, 2025
Fifteen Years After Upper Big Branch: A Tragedy We Must Not Repeat
April 5, 2025, marks fifteen years since the tragic explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia, where 29 brave miners lost their lives. Today, we honor their memory, we grieve with their families, and we recommit ourselves to the fight for stronger protections for all miners.
The Upper Big Branch disaster was not an unavoidable accident, it was a preventable catastrophe caused by a failure to prioritize safety over profit. Investigations revealed a pattern of willful safety violations, highlighting the importance of strong enforcement by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).
Yet today, the very agency tasked with protecting America’s miners faces an existential threat. The looming closure of MSHA offices across the country would roll back decades of progress in mine safety and health. Without MSHA’s presence in the field, violations will go unchecked, hazards will grow, and the risk of another disaster like Upper Big Branch will increase.
That is why we are thankful Ranking Member Bobby Scott and Senator Tim Kaine will next week reintroduce the Robert C. Byrd Mine Safety Protection Act for the 119th Congress. This legislation is a crucial step toward ensuring that MSHA has the resources and authority to do its job—protecting miners’ lives. The bill would strengthen enforcement, increase penalties for safety violations, and hold bad actors accountable, addressing the very failures that led to the Upper Big Branch disaster.
The hardworking men and women who power our nation’s industries deserve workplaces that do not put their lives at risk. We cannot allow history to repeat itself by weakening the very protections that miners and their families rely on. The United Mine Workers urge lawmakers and regulatory agencies to maintain and strengthen MSHA’s role in protecting America’s miners, not diminish it.
As we remember the 29 lives lost on April 5, 2010, let us also renew our commitment to ensuring that no miner ever has to face the same fate. Their sacrifice must not be in vain. Safety must always come first.
