A proposal from the United States Department of Labor to change the timing of new rules on underground exhaust emissions has met with protests from the United Steelworkers of America.
The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), the federal regulator for working conditions in mines, proposed to phase in a new limit on particulate emissions from diesel engines in underground air over five years, rather than have that limit imposed next Jan. 20. The union said it saw no reason for the delay, given that the standard had originally been promulgated in 2001 and the mining industry had had four years to comply.
The new standard, 160 micrograms (1 millionth of a gram) of total carbon per cubic metre, replaced an earlier limit of 400 micrograms per cubic metre. It applies in “metal and non-metal” mines — in other words, all underground mines except coal mines.
Steel had already protested earlier provisions under the emission regulations, which allowed mine operators to provide respirators in areas where air quality did not meet the limits. A lawsuit by the union against the government, to force the agency to rescind those provisions, is still before the courts.
MSHA has scheduled public hearings in Salt Lake City, Utah; Kansas City, Mo.; and Louisville, Ky. for comments on the proposed rules.
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