By Murray Evans
The Associated Press

LEXINGTON - Coal miners and their union representatives verbally sparred with federal officials Thursday during a public meeting on proposed changes to coal-dust testing rules and procedures for mine operators.

The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration wants to take over coal-dust testing currently performed by mine operators. The United Mine Workers of America union says new regulations proposed by the federal agency could allow miners to be exposed to up to four times the current maximum level of coal dust allowed by law.

Black lung, a debilitating respiratory disease, can be caused by excessive exposure to coal dust. From 1968 through 1990, more than 55,000 miners died of black lung, and the disease still causes about 1,000 deaths annually.

"The intent of the proposed rules is to eliminate black lung," said Marvin Nichols, the director of the Mine Safety and Health Administration's Office of Standards, Regulations and Variances. "We think compliance with this set of proposed rules will eliminate black lung."

Acknowledging differences with union leaders, Nichols said, "We have some different ideas on how we get there, but I think as we go through this rule-making process, we'll come out with an excellent set of rules to get at that goal."

The meeting on Thursday was the fourth of six scheduled forums for Mine Safety and Health Administration officials to receive public comment on two proposals. One would eliminate the requirement for compliance sampling by mine operators. The federal agency would assume responsibility for all such sampling, although mine operators still would have to take samples between federal inspections, to verify compliance with federal standards for coal-dust control.

The other proposal would update a 32-year-old policy of how coal-dust samples are taken. Mine operators take most samples now. Those samples, taken during multiple shifts, are averaged to determine a mine's compliance with federal standards.

Administrators from the MSHA and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health now think the average concentration of coal dust to which a working miner is exposed can be accurately measured over a single shift.

Joe Main, the administrator for health and safety for the United Mine Workers of America, said the proposals offer loopholes through which mine operators could dramatically, yet legally, raise the amount of coal dust to which their employees are exposed.

"We know that these rules, over time, will increase the dust levels in the mine environment to levels exceeded that that Congress set in 1969," Main said.

"What we're trying to do is walk through what these changes really do. What it comes down to is that MSHA is removing the bars on the two-milligram standard that Congress set and removing the bar that prohibits respirators to be used in lieu of engineering controls (that limit coal dust) and allowing operators to come to them, claiming they've exhausted their engineering controls and get approval, through policy, to raise the dust levels."

Nichols said that isn't the intention of the law.

"The two-milligram standard remains in place," Nichols said. "But if you've exhausted everything you know to do, and miners are still overexposed, we think the responsible thing to do is allow for supplemental controls," such as respirators.

Main said the union wants three things - to lower the allowable dust levels in mines; frequent sampling of coal-dust levels, at least 36 times a year; and the expedited development of continuous dust monitors. Such monitors, which could be worn by miners, would allow for instant and continuous sampling of coal-dust levels.

Main said MSHA has taken development of the monitor "and cut it off at the pass."

Nichols said his federal agency "fully supports" development of the monitors.

Frank Hearl, a senior adviser for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, said the monitor has been successfully tested in the laboratory and that starting this week and continuing through August, the device would be tested in mines.