FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, January 20, 2006

Isakson Tours West Virginia Mine,
Meets with Families of Miners Killed in Jan. 2 Explosion

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) today met with the families of the 12 miners killed in the Jan. 2 explosion at Sago Mine in West Virginia, toured the exterior of the mine and spoke with officials from the International Coal Group as part of a Senate delegation examining the incident.                       

Isakson is a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), and he chairs the subcommittee that has jurisdiction over mine safety. Senators Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), chairman of the HELP committee, Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), the committee’s ranking Democrat, and Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) accompanied Isakson on the trip.

“I have experienced today one of the most moving two hours of my life in the very candid and open discussions with the families of those miners who were killed. I pledged to them as chairman of the subcommittee on mine safety that the questions they asked willbe answered and that the legacy of this tragedy will be that we heed the lessons we learn so that lives are not lost in the future,” Isakson said.

The HELP committee is planning to hold an oversight hearing in March into mine safety procedures and enforcement measures related to the Sago Mine tragedy.

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