One year in, the Department of Labor (DOL) says its rule to protect miners from the coal dust that causes deadly black lung disease is working. DOL’s Mine Safety and Health Administration’s (MSHA) final rule, which took effect in August 2014, reduced the allowable exposure from underground mines to 1.5 milligrams per cubic meter (mg/m3), down from the 2 mg/m3 standard that hadn’t changed since the 1970s. On Tuesday, MSHA’s Assistant Secretary of Labor Joseph Main said 99 percent of the mining industry is complying with the rule.

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