November 6, 2026 - The United Mine Workers of America and a coalition of miners are suing the West Virginia Board of Coal Mine Health and Safety to get it to enforce silica dust limits in coal mines.

In an emergency petition filed Oct. 28 with the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, UMWA and a group of current and former miners call for the board to regulate respirable coal mine dust.

“This petition asks the court to require a state board to hold a meeting, take a vote on adopting a silica dust limit and enforcement program, and put its reasons on the record within 180 days of the issuance of a writ,” the lawsuit states.

The petitioners add that the board has never established a respirable silica standard despite previous requirements to do so. If the board doesn’t issue a standard within 180 days of a court order, the petitioners request the court to promulgate a rule that establishes a permissible exposure limit of 25 micrograms per cubic meter of air over an 8-hour time-weighted average.

Multiple studies show that cases of coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, or black lung – a deadly condition caused by exposure to respirable coal mine dust – are on the rise.

“Every other major category of American workers has protections against silicosis – except for the miners who face the most extreme exposure to freshly fractured respirable silica,” Sam Petsonk, the plaintiffs’ lead attorney, said in an email to Safety+Health. “It is long, long past time for that to change, and this petition explains why.”

In April 2024, the Mine Safety and Health Administration published a final rule that reduced its PEL for respirable crystalline silica to 50 micrograms per cubic meter of air over an 8-hour TWA. The new PEL is half the previous limit and matches the one OSHA established in 2016.

However, enforcement of the rule is delayed amid a lawsuit in the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In April, MSHA said it has delayed “indefinitely” the compliance deadline for metal and nonmetal miners after previously doing so for coal miners.

The Department of Labor’s most recent regulatory agenda, issued July 3, includes proposed revisions to the final rule. Although the regulatory agenda listed July as a target publication date, the revised proposal hadn’t been unveiled at press time.

The new proposal “includes changes to provisions for exposure monitoring, medical surveillance and respiratory protection,” MSHA says.

In an email to S+H, UMWA Director of Communications Erin Bates said the group is asking the court to order the board to “act against this crisis” before more miners suffer the consequences of the rule delay.

“West Virginia has the highest rate of silica exposure cases in the country,” Bates said, “and thin-seam operations are cutting more sandstone than ever, causing young miners in their 30s and 40s to contract severe, irreversible lung disease that requires organ transplants just to survive. Under state law, the Board of Coal Mine Health and Safety has a mandatory duty to establish dust standards that provide maximum health protections.”