KEEPING SECRET: PROPOSED LAW BACKS OFF DISCLOSURE OF WV MINES SAFETY RECORDS

(11/17/2017)

KEEPING SECRET Besides moving away from the Clean Waters Act, regular financial disclosures to investors about the performance of publicly traded corporations would not include details about mining company safety violations or worker deaths, under a bill that is sponsored by Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va., and that advanced this week out of the House Financial Services Committee, according to Charleston Newspapers. Committee members, on a party-line vote, approved the legislation that would repeal the disclosure requirement that was added to federal securities law following the deaths of 29 miners at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch Mine and amid questions about whether Massey investors were misled about Massey's safety practices. All 33 Republicans on the Financial Services Committee voted to advance Mooney's legislation. All 25 Democrats voted against the bill. In a prepared statement, Mooney depicted the legislation as "one part of our ongoing efforts to revitalize the coal industry and bring jobs back to West Virginia."

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