Capito urges Labor Secretary to maintain protections against black lung disease

U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) on Dec. 22 wrote U.S. Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta requesting that critically important miner protections be maintained under the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s (MSHA) Respirable Dust Rule.

The Respirable Dust Rule was implemented to protect miners from coal workers pneumoconiosis (CWP), known as black lung disease—a debilitating and potentially fatal illness. MSHA recently announced a public comment period as part of its review of the rule under the Trump Administration’s Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (Unified Agenda) aimed at amending or eliminating ineffective, duplicative and obsolete regulations.

“The health of our miners should be MSHA’s first priority as it considers any future action related to this rule,” Sen. Capito wrote. “I would oppose any change to the Respirable Dust Rule that fails to maintain current standards if such a proposal were made.”

Sen. Capito asserted in the letter that while she is “a strong supporter of efforts to reverse or reform regulations that are ineffective or overly burdensome,” she urged Acosta to maintain policies protecting coal miner health and safety.

The lawmaker said she has visited black lung clinics in her home state, met with miners and retired miners who suffer from CWP, and is concerned by reports that black lung rates in the Appalachian region are increasing.

“It is important that MSHA and industry leaders work together to protect the health of our miners and combat black lung disease,” Capito wrote in her letter to Secretary Acosta, a copy of which also was sent to David Zatezalo, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health.

Capito noted that MSHA thus far has not proposed action repealing or changing the Respirable Dust Rule. She also wrote in the letter that MSHA is accepting comments on how the rule “could be improved or made more effective or less burdensome,” according to the Unified Agenda.