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Western lawmakers protest cuts in Spokane lab

The Columbian
Published: June 27, 2011, 5:00pm

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Lawmakers from northwestern states are protesting staff cuts at the only federal laboratory devoted to improving mining safety in the West.

Members of Congress from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska have sent a letter complaining about cuts that the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has made in recent years at its Spokane Research Lab. They contend the safety of western miners is being sacrificed to fund additional safety research on coal mining in the eastern United States.

The letter comes two months after a miner died in a roof cave-in at the Lucky Friday Mine, which is located about 100 miles east of Spokane.

The nation’s only other lab that studies mine safety is in Pittsburgh, and focuses on coal mines in the eastern U.S.

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