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GAO
Acona ity * Integrity * Reliability
United States Government Accountability Office
Washington, DC 20548
August 17, 2012
Congressional Committees
Subject: MINE SAFETY: Reports and Key Studies Support the Scientific Conclusions
Underlying the Proposed Exposure Limit for Respirable Coal Mine Dust
Coal mine dust is one of the most serious occupational hazards in the coal mining industry,
and overexposure can cause coal workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP) and a number of other
lung diseases, collectively referred to as black lung disease.1 CWP has been the underlying
or contributing cause of death for more than 75,000 coal miners since 1968, according to
the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) National Institute for Occupational
Safety and Health (NIOSH), the federal agency responsible for conducting research on
work-related diseases and injuries and recommending occupational safety and health
standards. Since 1970, the Department of Labor (Labor) has paid over $44 billion in benefits
to miners totally disabled by respiratory diseases (or their survivors), including CWP,
through the Black Lung Benefits Program.
In October 2010, Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA)-the federal
agency responsible for setting and enforcing mine safety and health standards-proposed
revising the existing standard for coal mine dust to lower the permissible exposure limit
(PEL)2 from 2.0 milligrams of dust per cubic meter of air (mg/m3) to 1.0 mg/m3.3 Several coal
mining companies and others have questioned the evidence and analytical methods used to
support the proposed PEL. In the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2012, Congress required
that GAO review and report on the data collection, sampling methods, and analyses MSHA
used to support its proposal.4 Although MSHA's proposed rule includes other provisions, this
review focuses on MSHA's proposal to lower the PEL for coal mine dust from 2.0 mg/m3 to
1.0 mg/m3. To respond to this requirement, we addressed the following question: What are
1In this report, we use the term coal mine dust to refer to respirable coal mine dust. Black lung is a term that
includes CWP and other chronic respiratory or pulmonary impairments resulting from coal mine employment.
2In this report, the term PEL refers to the respirable coal mine dust standard.
3Lowering Miners' Exposure to Respirable Coal Mine Dust, Including Continuous Personal Dust Monitors, 75
Fed. Reg. 64,412 (Oct. 19, 2010) (to be codified at 30 C.F.R. pts. 70, 71, 72, 75, and 90). As of August 13, 2012,
MSHA had not finalized this regulation.
4The Act provided that [nione of the funds made available by this Act may be used to implement or enforce
[MSHA's] proposed rule until GAO issues, at a minimum, an interim report... and... not later than 240 days after
enactment of this Act, submits the report ...to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives
and the Senate, or until that deadline has passed. Pub. L. No. 112-74, div. F, tit. I, § 112, 125 Stat. 786, 1064
(2011).
GAO-12-832R Coal Mine Dust Exposure](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.gao/gaobacgkm0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)