The Labor Department issued a new rule Tuesday intended to protect coal miners from poisonous silica dust that has contributed to the premature deaths of thousands of mine workers from a respiratory ailment commonly known as “black lung” disease. A rule announced by Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su cuts in half the permissible exposure limit for crystalline silica for an 8-hour shift. Mine workers, community advocates and elected officials from Appalachian states pushed for the stricter rule, noting that health problems have grown in recent years as miners dig through more layers of rock to gain access to coal seams where surface deposit have long been tapped. In Central Appalachia, an estimated one in five tenured coal miners has black lung disease.
