Since 2009, coal miners and their allies have pushed the federal government to implement a silica dust standard to prevent exposure to the silica dust implicated in the causation of severe forms of coal worker pneumoconiosis, or black lung disease. In April 2024, a silica dust rule was finally issued, with the coal industry given one year to comply. However, the Trump Administration and the mining industry took steps to halt the enforcement of the rule. Currently, to address complaints brought by the industry, the Trump administration is revising the rule. A new proposed rule is currently under review at the Office of Management and Budget.
The Administration and the industry are not addressing the black lung epidemic with the level of urgency it requires. Yesterday, NIOSH released a new study that documents that nearly one-third of long-tenured miners in Central Appalachia have contracted black lung disease. Disease prevalence among those who have worked fewer years in the mines is also increasing. In response, the National Mining Association told reporters that because black lung disease is a latent and progressive disease that these rates of disease are caused by historic exposures and “do not reflect the conditions, practices, protections or regulations that are in place today.”
However, we examined silica dust samples collected by MSHA during the first half of 2026 and found that miners are absolutely being exposed to toxic levels of silica dust and, further, that an insufficient amount of sampling is being conducted. Our analysis revealed:
- MSHA sampled fewer than half of all active coal mines and facilities for silica dust during the first six months of 2026.
- Of the operations sampled, 17% had silica concentrations above the permissible exposure limit established in the delayed 2024 silica rule.
- Seventeen mines, most of which are located in Central Appalachia, returned silica dust samples that revealed silica dust levels twice as high as the 2024 permissible exposure limit.
Read our full analysis here.
