The safety rules announced and finalized today are expected to save approximately 10 times more miners from catastrophic lung disease than the rules initially proposed. These x-rays show black lung disease.
Elaine McMillion Sheldon for PBS Frontline
hide caption
toggle caption
Elaine McMillion Sheldon for PBS Frontline
The safety rules announced and finalized today are expected to save approximately 10 times more miners from catastrophic lung disease than the rules initially proposed. These x-rays show black lung disease.
Elaine McMillion Sheldon for PBS Frontline
On Tuesday, federal officials issued new rules aimed at protecting coal miners and other miners from toxic silica dust, a growing problem in mining that has left thousands sick and dead.
It took 50 years for mine safety regulators to do what federal researchers had long called for: make the silica dust exposure limit twice as restrictive as currently allowed and directly regulate exposure to that citations and fines are possible when minors are overexposed.
The new regulations also impose the same silica exposure limits on miners that already apply to all other workers in the United States.
“No miner should ever have to sacrifice their health or lungs to provide for their family,” said Chris Williamson, assistant secretary of labor for mining safety and health.
The Mine Safety and Health Administration acted after joint investigative reporting from NPR, Ohio Valley ReSource, Public Health Watch, Mountain State Spotlight and Louisville Public Media revealed: a once-hidden outbreak of severe, incurable and deadly black lung disease ; thousands of cases of illness among increasingly young miners; thousands of cases of continued overexposure to silica dust; and decades of failure to respond.
“It is unconscionable that our nation’s miners have worked without adequate protection from silica dust, when it has been a known health risk for decades,” Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su said in a prepared statement.
MSHA revealed key elements of the rule Monday evening and published the full text of the final rule in the Federal Register Tuesday morning, just before a press conference.
The new regulations require mining companies to monitor the air miners breathe while they work and adjust working conditions if excessive silica dust is present. Cases of overexposure must be reported to MSHA, a requirement that was not included in a regulation initially proposed last year but was inserted after news agency reports and complaints from mine safety advocates .
The agency is also advocating for action. The proposed rule did not take into account the thousands of cases of serious or complicated black lung that have already occurred. Joint investigations by NPR, Public Health Watch and their partners have documented more than 4,000 cases of illness since 2010, and hundreds of deaths. But the agency predicted that the new regulations would only prevent 244 illnesses and 63 deaths over a 60-year period.
Having a strong case for stronger regulation is essential given potential opposition from industry and Congress.
Analysts estimate that the final rule, in response to investigative reports, will prevent more than a thousand deaths and more than 3,700 cases of illnesses caused by silica once implemented.
“This is a critical step in ensuring the safety and health of miners, not only on a daily basis, but throughout their lives,” said Cecil Roberts, international president of the United Mine Workers of America. “Now our goal is to hold mining companies accountable.”
Not just coal miners
Mining companies have time to adapt to regulatory changes. Coal mines have a year to prepare. All other mines, collectively known as metal/non-metal mines (MNM), have a two-year time limit. Indeed, the regulation imposes requirements that have never existed for MNM mines, including a health monitoring program with free periodic exams to detect the early stages of lung diseases caused by silica. The results of these exams must be reported to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which has monitored the health of coal miners for decades.
MNM mines will also need to conduct more dust sampling. This and the medical monitoring program will require significant and costly additions to the mining process. This could trigger challenges.
The new regulations are a monumental change for MSHA, which identified a group of black lung diseases caused by silica in 1996 and warned the mining industry about overexposure, but failed to impose new requirements . Agency officials then blamed industry opposition.
“It’s a good rule,” said Vonda Robinson, vice president of the National Black Lung Association. But she said she was disappointed that most of the dust monitoring is done by mining companies and not federal mining inspectors.
“Coal operators should not be doing these tests,” Robinson said in an interview. “I just don’t trust them.”
Is it sufficient?
MSHA inspectors will monitor mine air for toxic dust during quarterly inspections. But it’s only four times a year.
“If mines are going to play a role, let them play a small role, but not the critical role,” said Debbie Johnson, a nurse at a black lung clinic in West Virginia, whose husband suffers from advanced stages of disease.
“It should be done by MSHA. So our government needs to… give a little more money to MSHA so they can send people out there.”
MSHA’s resources are already strained, and Congress has refused a $50 million budget increase for more mine inspections and more silica dust sampling. Some Republicans in Congress have already attempted to ban MSHA spending to implement silica dust regulations.
The National Mining Association welcomed a key element of the new regulations.
“We fully support the new lower limits (of silica dust) contained in the rule and are committed to working to improve the health and safety of our miners,” said Ashley Burke, a spokesperson for the association. Burke was reluctant to say more Monday evening since the full text of the new regulations had not yet been released.
Robinson watched her husband suffer from black lung disease. She suggested the stakes are high for miners in MSHA’s attempt to finally get tougher on silica dust.
“Miners must lead a healthy life while mining coal,” she said. “And not leaving their family at a young age after succumbing to black lung disease and silica.”
This is a developing story and may be updated.
Howard Berkes is a board member of Public Health Watch. Berkes is a former NPR investigative correspondent who collaborated with PBS Frontline on a landmark 2018 investigation revealing an outbreak of advanced black lung disease and the failure of federal regulators to prevent it. Justin Hicks is a data journalist for Louisville Public Media. Allen Siegler of Mountain State Spotlight contributed to this story.
NPR News
