By Nadia Ramlagan
Public News Service
After the Biden administration released a new rule setting standards to limit exposure to silica dust, Appalachian advocates argued it is not enough to stem the region’s black lung epidemic.
The new rule shrinks in half the allowed exposure limit for crystalline silica during an eight-hour shift.
Rebecca Shelton, director of policy for the Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center, who represents miners in federal black lung disability claims, said while the rule is beneficial since silica dust exposure standards have not been updated in decades, miners are cutting through increasing amounts of rock to get to coal seams, breathing in more and more toxic dust.
“In the last decade or so, we have seen miners who are younger than ever before, and also sicker, coming through our doors because of this exposure to silica,” Shelton observed. “Silica dust itself is more toxic than just coal dust alone.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said modern-day coal miners are at greater risk of developing respiratory disease than their predecessors, likely driven by increasing silica coal mine dust inhalation.
Shelton pointed out the new rule also requires quarterly sampling and stronger record-keeping requirements by coal operators, with little oversight for compliance and a heavy reliance on the coal industry’s willingness to participate.
“Mine operators are going to be responsible for kind of self-auditing, and periodically evaluating the conditions in the mine to assess whether silica dust levels may be increasing, whether they may need to conduct more sampling,” Shelton explained.
According to the group Appalachian Voices, one in five tenured miners in Central Appalachia has black lung disease and one in twenty lives with the most severe and disabling form of black lung.