Coal miners continue to die on the job because of years of budget cuts and a lack of political support for tougher safety enforcement, according to two new studies.

Funding and staff at the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration has continued a downward spiral for 30 years, according to one of the reports, published by OMB Watch, a nonprofit government watchdog group.

At the same time, industry lobbyists continue to push for weaker regulations, while former industry officials hold high-level positions at MSHA, according the second report, published by Ralph Nader's group, the Center for Study of Responsive Law.

"At a time when high coal prices and automation are producing massive profits for the coal barons, they nonetheless continue, with few exceptions, to violate regulations, receive slap-on-the-wrist fines and oppose proposed regulations even when coal mine disasters warrant their overdue issuance," Nader said in an introduction to his group's study.

Since Jan. 2, 2006, when 12 miners died in the Sago Disaster, mine safety has received renewed attention from lawmakers, the media and government regulators.

But the two new reports say that reform legislation such as the 2006 Miner Act isn't enough, and that recent efforts to beef up MSHA staffing and budgets still lag far behind what is needed.

MSHA was created in 1977, when Congress moved mine safety regulation from the Department of Interior to the Department of Labor, and combined enforcement of coal and non-coal industries.

By 1979, MSHA's inflation-adjusted budget stood at $355 million, according to the OMB Watch study.

Today, despite post-Sago increases in spending, MSHA's budget is actually down by 15 percent, to $294 million, after adjusting for inflation, the study said.

MSHA staffing levels are also far below late 1970s levels. In 1979, the agency had a peak of 3,811 workers. Today, that figure is down 45 percent, to 2,161, according to the OMB Watch study.

In his proposal for the 2009 federal financial year, President Bush called for a cut in coal-mine safety enforcement spending of about 6.5 percent, according to government budget documents.

Coal miners continue to die on the job because of years of budget cuts and a lack of political support for tougher safety enforcement, according to two new studies.

Funding and staff at the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration has continued a downward spiral for 30 years, according to one of the reports, published by OMB Watch, a nonprofit government watchdog group.

At the same time, industry lobbyists continue to push for weaker regulations, while former industry officials hold high-level positions at MSHA, according the second report, published by Ralph Nader's group, the Center for Study of Responsive Law.

"At a time when high coal prices and automation are producing massive profits for the coal barons, they nonetheless continue, with few exceptions, to violate regulations, receive slap-on-the-wrist fines and oppose proposed regulations even when coal mine disasters warrant their overdue issuance," Nader said in an introduction to his group's study.

Since Jan. 2, 2006, when 12 miners died in the Sago Disaster, mine safety has received renewed attention from lawmakers, the media and government regulators.

But the two new reports say that reform legislation such as the 2006 Miner Act isn't enough, and that recent efforts to beef up MSHA staffing and budgets still lag far behind what is needed.

MSHA was created in 1977, when Congress moved mine safety regulation from the Department of Interior to the Department of Labor, and combined enforcement of coal and non-coal industries.

By 1979, MSHA's inflation-adjusted budget stood at $355 million, according to the OMB Watch study.

Today, despite post-Sago increases in spending, MSHA's budget is actually down by 15 percent, to $294 million, after adjusting for inflation, the study said.

MSHA staffing levels are also far below late 1970s levels. In 1979, the agency had a peak of 3,811 workers. Today, that figure is down 45 percent, to 2,161, according to the OMB Watch study.

In his proposal for the 2009 federal financial year, President Bush called for a cut in coal-mine safety enforcement spending of about 6.5 percent, according to government budget documents.

The OMB Watch study says that coal enforcement has especially suffered from budget cuts, when compared to MSHA's metal and nonmetal division.

Since 1985, metal and nonmetal's budget has increased by nearly 25 percent.

"As a result, the program has increased the number of metal and nonmetal mine operations inspected each year as the number of those mines has increased," the study said. "Meanwhile, the fatality rate for workers in metal and nonmetal mine operations has dropped significantly."

But since 1985, the fatality rate for coal miners has improved "little more than half as much as the rate for metal and non-metal miners," the study found.

Decreases in the coal enforcement budget have had real effects, the study said.

In 1985, MSHA conducted 17 inspections per coal mine. By 2007, that figure had been cut by more than half, to seven inspections per coal mine, the OMB Watch study said.

The Nader study, written by policy analyst Christopher W. Shaw, faulted the media for ignoring mine safety - and larger workplace safety - issues until a major disaster strikes. Disaster and the ensuing media coverage prompt legislative action, Shaw observed. But when the memory of disasters fades, the media, lawmakers and regulators often move on to the next crisis.

"While the suffering mine accidents can provoke swift action, our challenge as a nation when it comes to mine safety is maintaining a sense of urgency when the media's cameras aren't facilitating overwhelming public scrutiny," Shaw wrote.

The OMB Watch report is available online at www.omb watch.org/article/articleview/4177, and the Nader study at www.csrl.org/reports/UnderminingSafe ty.pdf.

To contact staff writer Ken Ward Jr., use e-mail or call 348-1702.