Coal Mining Act

Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 – Safety Issues The UMWA, though unsuccessful in including its high-risk population in the reform movement, led to the signing of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act, often called the “Coal Act”, under President Richard Nixon’s administration. This act acknowledged that coal mining placed workers in dangerous situations, and that it was the nation’s responsibility to prevent the death and serious injury of coal miners. Under this act, extended power was granted to the Bureau of Mines, a department in the Interior, which in years prior did not have the regulatory power to inspect mines or enforce the mine safety recommendations.2 The act required coal companies to conduct inspections twice
The Bureau did not impose the sanctions that violated the terms stated by the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act. In April of 1970, 1,000 violations found in 108 mines were left unsanctioned due to lack of inspectors. Also, non-unionized coal mines were either avoided or unaddressed by the Bureau for inspection, contributing to the continued mistreatment of miners who risked their lives to work in the dangerous conditions of uninspected coal mines. In fact, a non-unionized mine, Hurricane Creek in Kentucky, had multiple health and safety violations from the Bureau. None of these violations were followed up on. In December of 1970, an explosion happened due to excess coal dust and inappropriate explosive use, which killed 38 men. The Bureau of Mines declared itself as innocent, not taking responsibility for the tragedy, but coal miners knew that the Bureau was guilty.
However, this act suffered from critical disparities that made it difficult for all coal miners who were faced with black lung disease. The act only briefly mentions that examinations should be kept uniform “to the greatest degree possible.” 3 This creates a large disparity in the execution of the examination policy, as the act does not specifically state how the exams should be treated, and what actually counts as developing black lung. There have been numerous cases where miners have felt that they were unfairly treated under this act. In these instances, miners have been told that their disease was not “good enough” to receive compensation, but under whose terms? The act does not clearly state what classifies pneumoconiosis as onset, as there are many stages to developing the full, complicated