Silicosis Deaths Mount as Industry Blocks Silica Rules — SkimNews
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- Coalminers in central Appalachia are developing black lung at younger ages — John Robinson was diagnosed at 47 — and a NIOSH study published last month found 1 in 3 miners in Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia now have the disease.
- Countertop fabrication workers face a parallel epidemic: a New England Journal of Medicine study identified nearly 600 silicosis cases in California, including 65 lung transplants and 31 deaths, with engineered stone slabs containing up to 90% silica.
- The 2024 MSHA silica dust rule, which lowered the permissible exposure limit from 100 to 50 micrograms per cubic meter, was stayed by the 8th Circuit after the Trump administration failed to defend it against challenges from the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association and the American Exploration & Mining Association.
- Congressman Darrell Issa's subcommittee held a January hearing not on protecting sick workers but on shielding stone slab manufacturers from lawsuits — Issa called the litigation "abusive" and is among 16 co-sponsors of a bill to ban such suits.
- California's OSHA began rulemaking in May to prohibit fabrication of artificial stone with more than 1% crystalline silica; distributor Consentino fired back that the proposed rule is "premised on inaccurate information" and "exceeds the Board's authority."
- Rebecca Shelton of the Appalachian Citizens' Law Center analyzed MSHA data from January–June and found 17% of sampled operations exceeded the silica limit in the delayed 2024 rule, with the highest concentrations clustered in central Appalachia.
Why it matters: Two industries with cheap, well-documented fixes — water suppression and air sampling — are instead choosing litigation and rule-stays, leaving workers to absorb the cost: an estimated 600 cases, 31 deaths, and 65 lung transplants in California alone, with black lung now affecting a third of central Appalachian miners. The Trump administration's decision not to defend the MSHA rule means the regulatory floor drops out for tens of thousands of miners while a parallel crisis accelerates in the $20B+ engineered stone market.
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