The bill, which now can move on to the state Senate for approval, includes new regulations on rock dusting, methane monitoring and drug testing.

It also increases fines and sets forth new criminal penalties for violations and gives miners' families more access to accident investigations.

Miner training and mine ventilation approval processes were also addressed in the proposal, which underwent several amendments before being given the green light by the state’s 95 delegates.

Tomblin praised the passage and called the comprehensive bill “one of the most significant pieces of mine safety legislation in recent memory”

“Working with speaker [Rick] Thompson and president [Jeff] Kessler, we have improved and expanded HB 4351 and I'm confident that passage of the reforms in [it] will not only make our coal mines safer but will also save lives,” he said.

“I look forward to continuing to work with the state Senate to pass this important piece of legislation and to the day it arrives on my desk for signature.”

Thompson told local media including the State Journal that he spoke to the director of the West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training after the explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine in April 2010, urging the agency to work with legislators to ensure such a disaster was not repeated.

“The first thing I told him was 'I am counting on you to make sure that a tragedy like that never occurs again'," Thompson told the paper.

“I don't want to wait until it happens again. If you see something wrong, tell me, we'll try to fit it. That's the commitment I got from the director.”

Delegate Tim Miley told the paper that the bill keeps mine foremen from being used as “scapegoats” when issues are found.

“This is … in an effort to hold, to some degree, the corporate entity and their management team accountable for the culture they create in any mine, especially in regard to safety issues," he said.

“[T]he culture of any business starts at the top and the culture of safety within a company also starts at the top.

“This tragedy at UBB, which has inspired this bill, would have never happened even with the laws we currently have on the books if the mine operator at that mine would have followed them.

“There are some circumstances that no matter how strong the laws are, if someone is not going to follow them, bad things can happen.”

No date was provided Tuesday on when the Senate might review the bill.

There are about two weeks remaining in the West Virginia 2012 regular legislative session.