By Taylor Kuykendall

Joseph Main, head of the U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration, is readying for a "big day for coal miners' health in this country." On Aug. 1, the agency will begin enforcing parts of the first major reform of respirable dust rules since the 1969 Mine Act.

The final rule, an attempt to address a group of coal-related diseases known collectively as black lung, has drawn protest from some in the coal industry who have said the rule is too costly and will not have much impact on the occurrence of black lung.

Main, whose agency has been traveling across the country preparing mine operators, said the rule has the potential to make a major impact on a disease that has contributed to an estimated 76,000 deaths since the late 1970s and generated $45 billion in costs paid out through the federal workers' compensation program. In recent testimony, the Labor Department's Office of Workers' Compensation Program estimated that more than 7,000 new black lung claims are going to be filed this year.

Many parts of the rule, such as the one dropping the amount of allowable respirable dust in a coal mine from 2.0 milligrams per cubic meter of air, or mg/m3, to 1.5 mg/m3 will not go into effect until 2016. However, Main said that on Aug. 1, the agency is taking a big step toward his goal of relegating the disease to coal mining's past.

Below is an edited transcript of Main's recent conversation with SNL Energy about MSHA's black lung efforts.

SNL Energy: Tell us about the final dust rule and what exactly is going into effect for U.S. coal miners on Aug. 1.

Joseph Main: There's a pretty strong case here that we need to take action to end this disease. It's actually the very first initiative I launched when I came here — the "End Black Lung, Act Now" campaign specifically to develop plans and actions to end this disease that is preventable, but not curable. We all know enough about mining to prevent it in this country. End Black Lung, Act Now was a campaign that dealt with education outreach to the mining industry, increased enforcement of the standards, and then the centerpiece was the development of the new rule that takes effect on Aug. 1.

If you look at some of the components of the rule, there are several provisions taking effect on Aug. 1 that are really going to be game-changers in controlling black lung in this country. … One of the key provisions in this rule is requiring mine operators to do more thorough examinations every shift to make sure [dust] controls are in place, to make record of those examinations and to hold the mine management accountable by requiring top officials to sign off that the examinations have been made.

On the shearer we found at [Massey Energy Co.'s] Upper Big Branch [mine], the water sprays were completely out; controls were clearly not in place once we got in to do the investigation.

The new rule is aimed to prevent problems like that where [dust] controls are not in place and to begin to hold mine operators accountable. After Aug. 1, I think operators like [Rhino Resource Partners LP, a company recently subject to significant enforcement action on dust violations], can expect us to fully use these new provisions of the regulations.

When it comes to sampling, the new provisions are going to help us address areas that were previously ignored because prior regulations did not require any action where there were overexposures. A miner could be working in 3 mg/m3 of dust and as long as the average was 2 [mg/m3], no action was required. That changes. Every out-of-compliance sample that is taken now requires the operator to take immediate action to correct it.

We're also going to start sampling during the full length of each [mining] shift as opposed to shutting the sampler off after eight hours and not knowing what the dust levels were for the remainder of the shift. This will provide safeguards to miners, many of whom work in nine-, 10- or 12-hour shifts.

Surface miners get a number of new protections as well. We're going to be sampling new locations — highwall drills, bulldozers — those miners are going to have the chest X-ray programs that underground miners have had since 1969 for the first time. They're going to have the opportunity to have chest X-rays, plus all miners, underground and surface, are going to be entitled to have lung function tests. It can provide earlier determinations of lung function loss and a possibility of getting the black lung disease.

These initial measures, I believe, should significantly lower the amount of dust at the very outset of this rule, before we ever get to the other changes that take effect later on, such as the use of the new continuous dust monitors starting in February 2016 and lowering the dust standard further in August 2016.

Black lung disease is something that has been troubling miners for a long time. Why has it taken the agency so long to get a rule finalized?

I think if you look at it historically, this is a rule that has been in the works for pretty close to 30 years. One of the most important pieces is that MSHA, for the first time, is going to have the authority beginning on Aug. 1 to issue a violation for any dust sample that exceeds the compliance level. Previously, MSHA had to go through an averaging process [before issuing a citation], potentially leaving miners overexposed before action could be taken. They began working on that rule back in the early 1990s. Some of the reforms, as far as coming up with ways to have a continuous monitoring device [for example], we talked about that back in the 1970s.

A lot of these rules, the discussions on them, have been in place for decades and there's just been a slowness over a long period of time to get this rule into a final action. It has not been an easy lift, to be honest. There's been resistance to having rules like this in place.

Speaking of resistance, the dust rule has faced some backlash from mine operators on a legal and public front. Are you concerned any of the arguments they are making regarding costs and feasibility has a potential to vacate this rule or significantly change it?

I know this: We've done our best to craft a rule that will work. We've taken into consideration a lot of comments and recommendations made by the mining community — mine operators and miners. I think we did a very credible job as a government agency to really look at those comments. We made a number of adjustments from the proposed rule to the final rule that, at the end of the day, enables mining businesses to continue and protects miners. We made a lot of strategic changes to this rule, particularly compared to the current rule that is in place.

I think we have a pretty sound rule that is based on both need and practical application. I do believe that the industry can live with this rule and implement it and still continue business. … I think we have a rule that will work. Time will tell where things go from here, but we've worked hard to craft a rule that meets a public need here in a very rational way.

Some have described the change from the proposed rule — a limit of 1.0 mg/m3, as recommended by federal health officials — to the current rule's limit — 1.5 mg/m3 — as a "weakening" of the standard. Can you explain MSHA's decision to make that change and why it was appropriate?

Well, I've always started with the proposition that this rule has a lot of components that needed to be addressed and evaluated. I think you saw that with the changes, particularly the ones up front that go into effect Aug. 1, which will lower coal mine dust. Each one of these helps to ratchet down the exposure levels piece by piece.

Take, for example, those miners who have been exposed to 3 mg/m3 or higher than 2 mg/m3 dust on average. From day one, they have — everybody has — a ceiling on dust exposure.

We now have a standard in place that says not only can you no longer ignore any action for those particular mines, but even when you do find an overexposure, we're not going to wait days or weeks to get a fix in place like what was happening under the current process. We've cut all that out. We go directly to when you find an overexposure, from the time you're notified of that, you have to take corrective action to protect the miner.

Picture this: If you were mining and producing, say, 8,000 tons a shift, but it was legitimate for you to take a sample when only 4,200 tons were produced. I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to figure out that really doesn't represent a normal day for the dust that is being generated. Under the new standard, [the mine has to be operating at] 80% production for there to be a valid sample. Those things, piece by piece, and others that I have mentioned, are going to lower the dust levels. Before you ever even get to lowering the standard, we've lowered the standard.

In your opinion, either with this rule or with this rule combined with other measures, can MSHA ever realistically eradicate black lung from the nation's coal mines?

This is an issue that the entire mining industry needs to come to terms with. The time has come for us to make a decision here to rid the industry of this disease. If that decision is made, we'll end black lung in this country if the right protections are put in place. These protections are stiff. They're more extensive.

If those provisions are followed, I think we can have an industry where black lung is a distant issue. I really believe that. It's going to be our job as a federal agency, and as long as I'm here, I'm holding us accountable to that to enforce these standards we are imposing to see that miners get to benefit. We're going to work with the mining industry to get these implemented and we're going to have some patience on the front end to get the law applied, but nonetheless, we're going to make sure that we implement these provisions to protect these miners.

What else do the public or coal companies need to know about the rule before Aug. 1?

I will tell you this: We have spent an enormous amount of time traveling from one end of the country to another trying to get mine operators up to speed. We've offered the mining community access to our folks, our technical folks, to walk them through how the rule works. Some of them were a little bit slow getting to that point, but we've met with an extensive amount of folks in the mining community and I think they are as ready as anybody has ever been before a regulation goes into effect.

I think we've well prepared the industry. It is not our intent to surprise folks. It's to prepare them, and we've really put the agency on a course to do that.

When we look at the evidence and the track record that black lung has left behind, my gosh, we've just got to stop this disease.