Allen, a miner with 12 years' experience who works at Blue Mountain Energy's Deserado mine, was one of a number of UMWA members representing their locals who testified at the third of a series of public hearings held by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) on its proposal to change the current system for sampling, detecting, and controlling dust in coal mines.

Hundreds of miners attended the three hearings, held between August 7 and 17 in Morgantown, West Virginia; Prestonsburg, Kentucky; and Salt Lake City, Utah.

"According to NIOSH [National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health], between 1987 and 1996 there were 18,245 deaths from black lung in this country," noted Cameron Montgomery, vice president and safety committee chairperson of UMWA Local 2176 at the Trail Mountain mine near Price, Utah. "That comes to one death every six hours."

"Ninety-three percent of all those who apply for black lung benefits are denied and rejected," Montgomery said.

"On May 17 thousands marched in Washington, D.C., and I was fortunate to be one of the 17 people from the West who went," Montgomery said, referring to the UMWA-sponsored demonstration held that day to defend the protections contained in the Coal Act, the law that guarantees health benefits for retired miners. This protest was the most visible part so far of the broad-based campaign the UMWA is waging to force the federal government to protect coal miners' health care--including prevention of black lung, as pneumoconiosis is commonly known.

Responding to the public outcry generated by the miners' campaign, MSHA has come up with a plan that proposes changes in the method used to check for compliance of dust limits in coal mines--limits that have been set to prevent lung disease. During the past 30 years, dust sampling had been left to mine operators. This led to extensive and well-documented falsification of test results. MSHA now proposes to do all the testing itself.

The meeting in Salt Lake City began with a slide presentation narrated by MSHA administrator Marvin Nichols, who chaired the event. He stated, "We want to prevent the confusion of the previous hearings." As the hearing progressed it became clear that the problem for the agency officials was not "confusion" but the miners' insistent demand for protection from the coal dust. As Brad Allen summed it up, "Measure the amount of coal dust a miner sucks into his lungs--don't give us some tricky formulas."

"This falls far short of what's needed to protect miners in this country," said Joe Main, administrative health and safety representative for the UMWA. "Promises by the government are not well accepted by miners. Send it back to the drawing board."  
 
Miners take the floor
Main was the first of more than 10 UMWA members who took the floor to testify against MSHA's proposal. Joining him were Jim Weeks, an occupational health expert on the international staff of the union, and Jim Stevenson, UMWA District 22 health and safety representative from Price, Utah. They testified along with miners from District 20 in Alabama and District 12 in southern Illinois who flew in for the hearings. In addition, UMWA miners from all three organized underground mines in the West--Deserado, Trail Mountain, and Deer Creek in Huntington, Utah--took the floor to express their views on MSHA's proposal.

Not one UMWA representative spoke in favor of the proposed law. Each detailed significant shortcomings in the plan and called for MSHA to rework its proposal.

Speaking at the hearing in Morgantown, Dennis O'Dell, health and safety representative from District 31, pointed out that the 700-page document was not easy to understand. O'Dell told MSHA the rules are "quite complicated" and they do not make clear "what is enforceable and what is not."

"Miners are confused by the plan," Jim Stevenson of District 22 explained. "It's too fuzzy, miners don't know what to expect."

Stevenson was one of many speakers who pointed to a big problem the miners had with the MSHA plan. MSHA proposes a limit of 2.0 parts per cubic meter of respirable coal mine dust during each shift. This is the limit set by the current law. NIOSH proposed to reduce it to 1.0 part per cubic meter. "Limiting dust to 1.0 part would effectively eliminate black lung," Jim Weeks told the Militant.

Although the MSHA representatives at the hearing were repeatedly asked why they were not proposing a 1.0-part limit, they never answered that question.

Actually, the MSHA plan will allow coal dust to accumulate to a level of 2.33 parts per cubic meter. MSHA claims this is the standard mathematical deviation that insures accurate testing. Several speakers challenged MSHA's approach, suggesting there was no need to go above the 2.0 level. This was another question that miners say was never adequately answered.

Another bone of contention over MSHA's testing methods was why the technology for continuous dust sampling had not yet been developed. UMWA members also explained that it was possible to get black lung in other areas of the mine besides working on the long wall--the main place MSHA proposes to test.

A big problem that miners raised was MSHA's plans to conduct their tests for only 480 minutes--eight hours--per shift. "A full shift is 10 hours where we work," said Dwight Cagel, a UMWA member from Jim Walters No. 7 mine who had come from Alabama to testify.

Cagel described a problem many miners currently face. Often they are forced to work 10 to 12 hours a day with overtime. "We have 'hot seat' replacement," Cagel said, describing how the mine bosses are getting more out of their workforce by having one miner take over for another without ever shutting the machinery off at shift change.

"Testing only six times a year [the MSHA proposal] takes us back from where we are now," Jim Stevenson said, hitting on another weakness of the plan. "That is simply not enough times to keep the companies honest."

Stevenson's remarks clearly irked MSHA administrator Nichols. "We would need 200 additional people and $20 million to do what you propose. If you want to go before Congress and ask them for the money, you are welcome to try."

"This plan is a slap in the face to those of us who have tried to get better regulations," Stevenson replied. "If this is passed there will be tens of thousands of more black lung cases."

Stevenson insisted that the proposed plan allows the coal operators too much discretion. We need to "let the miners participate but not one coal operator will agree to that."  
 
Helmets not the solution
Several speakers pointed to problems they had with Airstream helmets, a device the companies are permitted to use to control dust inhalation while working on the long wall face. The helmets are heavy and cumbersome, make it difficult for miners to communicate with one another, and tend to fog up from condensation. Because of this, several of the UMWA members testified, many miners do not wear them.

Larry Kuharcik, a miner at Consol's Blacksville No. 2 mine, explained at the West Virginia hearing that the helmets are not enough for those working on the long wall. "Downplaying the dangers those workers face is unacceptable." He said in the past 10 months, 26 miners from Blacksville have been diagnosed with black lung disease.

The MSHA-proposed regulation will allow companies to use Airstream helmets if they can prove that "all feasible engineering controls are not enough to achieve compliance" with the law. This point particularly concerned Jim Stevenson. "Once you open the door the companies will walk right through it. Give them an excuse and you can bet you will find 100 requests to stop making engineering changes and require that we use helmets," he said. "This will stop them looking for ways to make engineering improvements."

Toward the end of the Salt Lake City hearing, Brad Pay, another miner from Trail Mountain with 19 years' experience, including 14 on the long wall, took the floor and expressed the concerns of many miners at the meeting. "I am hear to tell you things that I have witnessed and seen. I have seen foremen tell miners to hold shear speeds down to limit the dust when MSHA inspectors were coming. They threatened the shear operators if they didn't do it."

"The shear operators were intimidated," Pay reported. "They were told we would lose contracts if they didn't go along with what they were told--and I work in a union mine."

"I've seen people get overtime pay to come up with good sample," Pay added. "The company knew MSHA was coming and as soon as they left we would go back to production with so much dust that you couldn't see the guy standing next to you."

"I've seen MSHA inspectors look the other way, ignore things," Pay said. "Conditions change from day to day. During sampling periods, traffic was stopped and some areas were never sampled. Eight hours is a problem. We have still got two hours to go. Things change as soon as MSHA leaves."

"How many miners must die before the money is spent for a proposal that will work for miners?" one miner asked. "Don't make estimations and projections on my health."

Tony Lane, a member of United Mine Workers of America Local 1248, contributed to this article.