Mooney Bill to Cut Mine Safety Disclosures Advances

Regular disclosures to investors about publicly traded mining companies’ safety violations and worker deaths would no longer be required under legislation sponsored by West Virginia Republican Rep. Alex Mooney.

The bill was advanced this week by the House Financial Services Committee.

It would repeal a section of the Dodd-Frank Act intended to protect consumers and investors after the 2008 financial crisis.

It also followed the 2010 deaths of 29 miners at West Virginia’s Upper Big Branch Mine and amid questions about whether Massey Energy investors were misled about its safety practices.

Mooney calls it “a small, but significant, way to get rid of duplicative paperwork” and save the industry more than $1 million annually.

The Mine Safety and Health Administration separately tracks mine safety.