Mine Safety and Health Administration
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U.S. Department of Labor Mine Safety and Health Administration |
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[December 22, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 245)] [Unified Agenda] [Page 73214-73215] Department of Labor (DOL) (Long-Term Actions) Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) _______________________________________________________________________ 2089. VERIFICATION OF UNDERGROUND COAL MINE OPERATORS' DUST CONTROL PLANS AND COMPLIANCE SAMPLING FOR RESPIRABLE DUST Priority: Other Significant Legal Authority: 30 USC 811; 30 USC 813; 30 USC 961; 30 USC 957 CFR Citation: 30 CFR 70; 30 CFR 75; 30 CFR 90 Legal Deadline: None Abstract: Our current regulations require that all underground coal mine operators develop and follow a mine ventilation plan for each mechanized mining unit that we approve. However, we do not have a requirement that provides for verification of each plan's effectiveness under typical mining conditions. Consequently, plans may be implemented by mine operators that could be inadequate to control respirable dust. In response to comments received on the July 2000 proposed rule for MSHA to withdraw the rule, MSHA published a new proposed rule on March 6, 2003. The proposed rule would have required mine operators to verify, through sampling, the effectiveness of the dust control parameters for each mechanized mining unit specified in the approved mine ventilation plan. The use of approved powered air--purifying respirators and/or verifiable administrative controls would have been allowed as a supplemental means of compliance when MSHA had determined that all feasible engineering or environmental controls were exhausted. Public hearings were held in May 2003, and the rulemaking record originally scheduled to close on June 4, 2003, was extended until July 3, 2003. On June 24, 2003, MSHA announced that all work on the final rule would cease and the rulemaking record would remain open in order to obtain information concerning PDMs being tested by NIOSH. A Federal Register notice was published on July 3, 2003, extending the comment period indefinitely. Timetable: ________________________________________________________________________ Action Date FR Cite ________________________________________________________________________ NPRM 07/07/00 65 FR 42122 Notice of Hearings; Close of Record 07/07/00 65 FR 42186 Extension of Comment Period; Close 09/08/00 65 FR 49215 NPRM 03/06/03 68 FR 10784 Notice of Public Hearing; Close of Record 03/17/03 68 FR 12641 Extension of Comment Period 05/29/03 68 FR 32005 NPRM Comment Period End 06/04/03 Extension of Comment Period 07/03/03 68 FR 39881 NPRM To Be Determined Regulatory Flexibility Analysis Required: Yes Government Levels Affected: None Additional Information: This rulemaking is related to RIN 1219--AB18 (Determination of Concentration of Respirable Coal Mine Dust). Agency Contact: Marvin W. Nichols Jr., Director, Office of Standards, Department of Labor, Mine Safety and Health Administration, Room 2352, 1100 Wilson Boulevard, Room 2350, Arlington, VA 22209 Phone: 202 693--9440 Fax: 202 693--9441 Email: nichols-marvin@dol.gov RIN: 1219-AB14 _______________________________________________________________________ |
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