MSHA issues emergency coal-dust ruling

The Mine Safety and Health Administration issued an emergency rule to control the buildup of highly explosive coal dust in underground mines. The rule will "force operators to apply more crushed stone to the walls, floors and other surfaces in underground coal mines," Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette reports. "It's something that's long overdue," said Dennis O'Dell, safety and health director for the United Mine Workers union. "We support it, absolutely."

"Experts from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health urged a toughening of federal 'rock dusting' standards in reports published in 2006 and 2009," Ward writes. "But MSHA officials did not act until another NIOSH report was published this May, a month after 29 miners died in an explosion at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch Mine in Raleigh County." Federal and state investigators have pointed to a buildup of the dust as a key contributor in the Upper Big Branch disaster. (Read more)