US miners' union head calls House Republican effort to block silica dust rule an 'attack' on workers

FILE - United Mine Workers of America President Cecil E. Roberts speaks at a rally to celebrate Mitchell Day, a UMWA union holiday, on Friday, April 1, 2016, in Waynesburg, Pa. Roberts on Friday, June 28, 2024, condemned an effort by House Republicans to block enforcement of a long-awaited federal rule directed at curbing workers’ exposure to deadly and poisonous rock dust, calling it “a direct attack on the health hand safety of coal miners.

“It is difficult for me to understand how certain members of Congress could possibly be supportive of more miners dying a suffocating death as a result of being forced to breathe this dust,” Roberts said in a statement., is an occupational pneumoconiosis caused by the inhalation of crystalline silica dust present in minerals like sandstone. Finalized in April by Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su, the U.S.

The black lung problem has only grown in recent years as miners dig through more layers of rock to get to less accessible coal, generating deadly silica dust in the process. Silica dust is 20 times more toxic than coal dust and causes severe forms of black lung disease even after a few years of exposure.

On Thursday, the House subcommittee did not debate the bill containing the silica dust rule enforcement block before advancing it. A spokesperson for Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Subcommittee Chair U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, a Republican representing Alabama, did not return an email request for comment Friday. Neither did the National Mining Association, which represents operators.

Source: Healthcare Press (healthcarepress.net)

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