Exposure to mixed coal mine dust that contains silica — a carcinogen — can lead to the development of pneumoconiosis, commonly known as black lung disease. (Getty Images)
A subcommittee of the U.S. House Appropriations committee voted to advance a bill on Thursday that would defund the Department of Labor’s efforts to enforce a new rule intended to protect miners from contracting black lung disease.
The bill, which will direct funding for the Department of Labor and the Mine Safety and Health Administration, explicitly states that none of that money can be used to enforce the recently announced rule limiting allowable levels of silica dust in mines.
The rule was published by the Department of Labor and would cut allowable levels of airborne silica dust in mines in half to 50 mg per cubic meter of air. It also sets standards for mine operators to monitor air for silica dust and requires action when levels rise above the new threshold.
Silica dust has long been known to cause some of the most severe cases of black lung disease, and advocates have pushed for years to regulate silica dust levels in mines.
Announcing the rule in Uniontown this April, Acting U.S. Labor Secretary Julie Su said the rule could be expected to “save more than a thousand lives and prevent severe illness for thousands more.”
With no funding allowed to go towards enforcing the rule, it’s unclear if it could even take effect.
“The way it’s written, it looks like it would prohibit MSHA from doing a lot of silica monitoring, because the silica rule is silica monitoring,” said Quenton King, the federal legislative specialist at Appalachian Voices, an environmental advocacy group focused on the Appalachian region. “Anything in that rule could not be done anymore.”
The language in the current appropriations bill is similar to language put forward by Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry (R-10th District) during last year’s budget negotiations.
Even though only a draft of the rule had been revealed at the time, Perry introduced an amendment to the 2023 appropriations bill that would have defunded any efforts to enforce it.
“He set the precedent,” said King. “Which is really unfortunate because Pennsylvania has a strong history of coal mining and coal mining advocacy.”
Ultimately, Perry’s amendment didn’t make the final bill. Republicans in the House ended up scrapping that appropriations bill altogether in a fight that, in part, resulted in then-speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Ca.) being ousted from his position. The language defunding enforcement of a silica dust rule fell by the wayside.
There are still many chances for the language regarding the silica dust rule to be amended out of the appropriations bill that will ultimately direct funding for the federal government.
The bill was passed by a subcommittee of the larger House appropriations committee. It will have to be approved by that entire committee, and then the House itself, before passing on to the Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate.
“This is an insult to the coal miners who have risked their lives and their long-term health to power our factories and heat our homes,” Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.). “I’m going to make damn sure we continue this funding so that we may keep our promise to miners suffering from black lung disease and to their families.”
Casey chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee. He’s also the sponsor of a bill that would increase benefits for miners who contract black lung, and was a vocal proponent of the new silica dust standards.
“I’m optimistic,” King said about the chances of an amendment in the Senate. “But there’s always a chance that the Senate could agree to this.”
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