WASHINGTON, D.C. (WSAZ) -- Senators Jay Rockefeller and Carte Goodwin today unveiled mine safety legislation to honor the fallen miners at Upper Big Branch and to promote a culture of safety in mining and other industries.

“Before his death, Senator Byrd and I worked together to develop the beginnings of this workplace safety legislation -- which includes significant improvements for our coal mines," said Senator Rockefeller. "Even as the investigation into the Upper Big Branch mine continues to move forward, we owe it to the families, and to the miners that still get up and go to work each day, to find real solutions -- fixing the process for safety enforcement at mines with repeated violations, providing MSHA with strong safety tools and holding them more accountable, and protecting our dedicated miners who speak up when they know safety measures aren’t being handled correctly.”

In one of his final actions as a Senator, the late Senator Robert Byrd teamed up with Senator Rockefeller to secure an amendment to the Wall Street Reform conference report to hold mining companies accountable for their safety records. Specifically, the amendment requires that publicly-traded mining companies include serious mine safety violations in their filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Mining companies that fail to properly disclose this information would face SEC penalties.