Since the mid-1990s, diesel engine and emission control technology has improved significantly as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has imposed ever-tightening emission control and fuel standards pursuant to its Clean Air Act authority. In its most recent nonroad diesel rulemaking, the EPA estimated that standards imposed for nonroad land-based diesel engines typically used in construction, agricultural, industrial and mining operations will achieve particulate matter (PM) reductions in excess of 95%. As a result of a variety of programs, including access to funding under the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act, the EPA’s National Clean Diesel Campaign is effectively addressing older diesel engine emissions without resorting to new job-killing regulation.

By Donna Vetrano Pryor and Mark N. Savit

On March 27, 2012, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health, Joe Main, spoke before the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Education and the Workforce regarding the results of MSHA’s accident investigation into the April 5, 2010, explosion at the Upper Big Branch (UBB) mine in West Virginia.