At the Salem Stone Quarry in Dublin, miners are crushing rocks with a machine. We’re outside, and the air is thick with dust.
“You can try as hard as you want to, there’s gonna be some dust somewhere,” said Scott Ross, the director of engineering at Salem Stone. “But we’re trying to minimize that as much as we can.”
Another machine pulverizes the stones into finer material for asphalt. Quarries like this exist all over the United States, and like coal mines, they’re regulated as a mining operation.
M. J. O’Brien is the CEO of Salem Stone and operates 14 quarries in Virginia and North Carolina.
“They all have silica,” O’Brien said. “We have some that have, almost 100 percent silica and some that are a little less.
The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) announced a new rule last year that says mines, concrete factories and gravel quarries will have stricter regulations on how much toxic silica dust workers can be exposed to. The rule would affect more than just coal. It would also impact industries like rock and sand quarries. For coal mines, penalties could start in April of this year. Other places, like this stone quarry, have an extra year to reach compliance.
“We are full steam ahead with implementing it. I only have control of that up until January 20,” said Chris Williamson, the outgoing head of MSHA. He was appointed by Biden and was not asked to stay on by the Trump team.
Last year, house Republicans tried to block funding to enforce the new silica rule, and they could try again in the next budget negotiation.
Williamson said he’ll be working right up until the last day, preparing a legal argument to defend the silica rule. A group of mining companies took the rule to court, saying the agency overstepped its authority when trying to regulate them.
“My goal is to at least provide a full-throated defense of that rule before I walk out the door,” Williamson said.
Rebecca Shelton is the Director of Policy for the Appalachian Citizens Law Center. She says staffing and political will are going to be important to making the new silica dust rule effective.
“The boots on the ground to do the enforcement, and also the desire to do the enforcement are going to be really important,” Shelton said.
And while Shelton doesn’t think the silica rule is 100 percent perfect, she said any delay means more miners are put at risk.
“We've been waiting for this for such a long time,” Shelton said. “I think the bottom line is that we're trying to prevent disease.”
Back at the quarry in the New River Valley, O’Brien said enforcing the new rule will cost his company lots of money, and there are things he doesn’t like about it. But that doesn't mean he wants to see the Trump administration get rid of it.
“It’s complicated, but yes we’re in favor of it,” O’Brien said. “Because it goes further to protect our people and we’re gonna protect them at all costs.”
He does have criticism for MSHA, and said the agency could be better at communicating with companies how they plan to enforce the new rule. He’s hoping that whoever Trump picks to lead MSHA will have what he says is “more common sense” overseeing the agency.
