[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 69 (Friday, May 9, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E901]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                 COAL MINE DUST RULES MUST BE WITHDRAWN

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. NICK J. RAHALL II

                            of west virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 8, 2003

  Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker. It is with alarm that today members of the 
United Mine Workers of America rally on the steps of the State Capitol 
in Charleston, West Virginia, to protest one of the greatest threats to 
their health and safety in many years.
  It is unfortunate, but true, that this threat comes from their own 
Federal Government, in the form of proposed rules issued by the Mine 
Health and Safety Administration (MSHA) that would increase fourfold 
the amount of dust levels permitted in underground coal mines.
  As a May 6, 2003, editorial in the Beckley, West Virginia, Register 
Herald pointed out, a recent study conducted by the National Institute 
for Occupational Safety and Health and MSHA already casts doubt on the 
efficacy of existing coal mine dust compliance rules. The editorial 
points out that about 1,000 miners still die a year from the dreaded 
black lung disease which is contracted as a result of sustained contact 
with coal mine dust. And as the editorial notes: ``We need to dig for 
answers quickly, so the next century of coal mining can be accomplished 
without the threat of black lung disease.'' Following my remarks I ask 
that the editorial be printed in its entirety.
  Yet, despite this study and a whole host of other evidence, MSHA on 
March 6th of this year published two proposed rules which would 
dramatically harm the health of our Nation's coal miners and conflict 
with both the letter and intent of the landmark Federal Coal Mine 
Health and Safety Act of 1969.
  This week, in a letter I wrote to Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, I 
asked that these proposed rules be immediately withdrawn. There is no 
credible reason why any alleged ``mine health'' regulation should allow 
permissible dust levels to increase from the current 2 milligrams/cubic 
meter standards to 8 milligrams as would be possible under the March 
6th dust rules.
  The Labor Department and its agency, MSHA, should heed the call of 
the Register Herald editorial and take actions to eliminate the threat 
of black lung disease rather than allow increased dust levels in the 
Nation's coal mines.

  Black Lung: 30 Years After Protections, Disease and Questions Remain

       Under the Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969, miners 
     are to be exposed to no more than 2 milligrams of coal dust 
     per cubic meter of air over eight hours--equal to a debris 
     speck the size of a pinhead.
       These federal coal-dust controls were designed to protect 
     miners so black lung no longer would be an occupational 
     hazard.
       So, 30 years later, have these restraints been successful 
     in halting a disease that reduces the ability to breathe and 
     leads to heart failure?
       At first glance, that seems to be the case. But statistics 
     sometimes can be as clear as mud.
       According to the study conducted by the National Institute 
     for Occupational Safety and Health and the U.S. Mine Safety 
     and Health Administration, black lung disease continues to 
     develop in miners who have worked their entire careers under 
     current, and supposedly acceptable, coal dust limits.
       X-rays show that rates among miners with 20 years or less 
     in the mines produce ``no clear trend,'' the study said. 
     Black lung ``continues to occur among working coal miners, 
     even among those first employed after the current federal 
     exposure limit became effective'' in 1972.
       Even among surface miners, X-rays found that black lung 
     occurred in 1.9 percent of cases.
       Surface miners ``had been thought not to have been at much 
     risk because they work out in the open,'' noted Dr. E. Lee 
     Petsonk, one of the study's authors and senior medical 
     officer in the surveillance branch at the health institute's 
     Division of Respiratory Disease Studies in Morgantown. ``It 
     is a finding of concern.''
       The $64,000 question, then, is a simple ``why?'' Why do new 
     cases of black lung disease continue to develop in miners 
     when coal-dust limits established to protect miners have been 
     in effect for more than 30 years?
       Are the dust levels being complied with? Are the rules 
     still not stringent enough? And why are surface miners 
     developing black lung?
       Answering these questions is vital, because about 1,000 
     miners die from black lung each year. Many of those are West 
     Virginia miners.
       Coal, we pointed out in this space yesterday, will be 
     around for a while. By a most conservative estimate, there 
     are at least 100 years of coal deposits still to mine.
       We need to dig for answers quickly, so the next century of 
     coal mining can be accomplished without the threat of black 
     lung disease.

                          ____________________