Bush Administration Dismantles Health Protections for Miners

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> Mon, 26 Jul 2004 13:06:40 GMT

> " BushGreenwatch " <info

 

> Bush Administration Dismantles Health

> Protections for Miners

>

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> BUSHGREENWATCH

> Tracking the Bush Administration's Environmental

> Misdeeds

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>

> July 26, 2004

>

> BUSH ADMINISTRATION DISMANTLES HEALTH PROTECTIONS

> FOR MINERS

>

> The Bush administration, which has already delayed

> strong, new

> health protections for miners, is considering

> further weakening

> those standards as it prepares revised rules

> regulating miners'

> exposure to underground diesel fumes.

>

> Workers breathe in diesel exhaust from machines used

> to extract

> metals and non-metals in the confined spaces of

> underground

> mines. Numerous studies show that exposure to such

> fumes at

> current levels causes 83 to 800 excess lung cancer

> deaths per

> 1,000 workers each year. Other studies show that

> inhaling diesel

> particulate matter causes cardiovascular and

> cardiopulmonary

> problems. [1]

>

> Under the Clinton administration, the Mine Safety

> and Health

> Administration (MSHA) developed strict new rules

> reducing the

> concentration of diesel particulate matter to which

> workers

> could be exposed. When the final rule was issued in

> 2001, mine

> operators were given a year and a half to make

> modest reductions

> in the amount of diesel exhaust workers were exposed

> to in their

> mines. They were given six years to make more

> substantial

> reductions.

>

> But the Bush administration extended the deadline

> for modest

> reductions by a full year -- an act that was illegal

> under the

> Administrative Procedure Act and MSHA's own statute,

> because the

> agency failed to hold a public comment period before

> making the

> change. [2] Last year, the administration further

> weakened

> protections for miners by reopening the rulemaking

> process and

> issuing a compliance document that allowed mine

> operators to all

> but ignore the tougher diesel standards if they had

> any

> difficulty in meeting them. [3]

>

> " It says 'you don't have to ask for an extension,

> just mention

> it to the inspector the next time he shows up,' "

> said Celeste

> Monforton, senior research associate in the

> Department of

> Environmental & Occupational Health, School of

> Public Health and

> Health Services at George Washington University, in

> an interview

> with BushGreenwatch. " What's the point of having a

> rule if you

> can just basically make the rule go away? "

>

> MSHA is in the process of preparing a final rule on

> the issue,

> but it's unclear when the rule will be issued or

> what

> protections it will contain. " If anything, the rule

> should be

> even more stringent, " said Monforton.

>

> While the Clinton administration sought to steadily

> increase

> MSHA's budget and hire more mine inspectors,

> President Bush has

> held spending level or cut spending on mine safety

> enforcement.

> Congress, however, has regularly appropriated more

> than

> President Bush has requested for the agency.

>

> Notwithstanding the increased appropriations, the

> Bush

> administration has done little to strengthen health

> and safety

> protections for miners. The few regulations proposed

> by the

> administration have mostly weakened those

> protections.

>

> ###

>

> SOURCES:

> [1] " Part III: Risk Assessment, " Diesel Particulate

> Matter

> Exposure of Underground Metal and Nonmetal Miners,

> Final Rule.

> Federal Register 66 (13): Jan. 19, 2001.

> [2] Federal Mine Safety & Health Act of 1977 (Public

> Law

> 91-173), section 101(a)(9),

> http://ga3.org/ct/VpzkGk91RaTV/.

> [3] " Metal and Nonmetal Diesel Particulate Matter

> (DPM) Standard

> Compliance Guide " (Final Version, August 5, 2003),

> p. 6.

>

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