Trump’s War on Coal (Miners) Continues

December 18, 2017

When I noted last week that OSHA had come out of the new Fall 2017 Regulatory Agenda relatively unscathed, I neglect to note that the same was not true for the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) — and the miners it is supposed to protect.

Labor Secretary Alex Acosta claimed last week that Trump’s regulatory policies were “bringing common sense to regulations that hold back job creation and prosperity” and that “The Department of Labor will continue to protect American workers’ interests while limiting the burdens of over-regulation.”

Apparently the “interests of American workers” don’t include the health of miners’ lungs.

According to the regulatory agenda issued last week, MSHA is requesting public comment on two issues which may lead to weakening regulations issued by MSHA in 2014 increasing the protections for miners against black lung and diesel exhaust which can cause lung disease and cancer:

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As Ken ward notes in the Charleston Gazette:

The Trump administration’s moves come as researchers are increasingly concerned about a resurgence in lung disease among coal miners, especially in West Virginia and other Appalachian coal states. Black lung, or coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, is the common name for a collection of debilitating and potentially fatal ailments caused by breathing coal dust.

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