The Obama administration’s spring edition of its regulatory agenda, which was released on Wednesday, included yet another delay to a rule it proposed more than two and a half years ago aimed at reducing miners’ exposure to coal dust, the Charleston Gazette’s Ken Ward Jr. reported.
The dust causes the irreversible and potentially deadly black lung disease, which has been on the rise in recent years. The rule would seek to tighten allowable levels of coal dust exposure, and include provisions for continuous personal dust monitors for miners.
The new rule was originally proposed October 2010. The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration had most recently listed a target date for the rule as June 2013. The new date is listed as September 2013.
Another new rule that would require continuous mining machines to be equipped with devices to prevent miners from being run over or crushed has been in a holding pattern at the White House Office of Management and Budget since September 2011, according to the Gazette. The latest in a series of delays puts its finalization at November 2013.
