Pit & Quarry, July 2018

SAFETY UPDATE REGULATORY MEASURES TO KEEP AN EYE ON A new WOTUS rule impacting aggregate producers is expected to emerge in 2019 from the Trump administration H A R D N U M B E R S 00067 48 PIT QUARRY July 2018 pitandquarry com PHOTO COURTESY OF KEVIN YANIK LEFT ISTOCK COM MORSA IMAGES RIGHT T he Trump administration offered some clarity on its regulatory priorities upon releasing its spring regulatory agenda The National Stone Sand Gravel Association NSSGA zeroed in on a few particular areas of the agenda including the Environmental Protection Agencys EPA Waters of the United States WOTUS rule According to NSSGA the U S District Court for the Southern District of Georgia recently blocked the 2015 WOTUS rule in 11 states which is now void in 24 states total A judge ruled that the 2015 rule violated federal law Our efforts to get a clear and reasonable WOTUS rule are not finished and we welcome the decision from this federal judge says Emily Coyner NSSGA senior director of environmental policy There is no good reason to allow an unlawful over reaching and soon to be replaced rule into effect Having the 2015 rule enforced in about half of the states would be devastating to aggregates operators trying to expand or open new operations particularly small producers NSSGA attended a meeting at the White House earlier this year to stress the importance of a WOTUS rule that protects the environment and is clear for operators According to the association August 2018 is the target date for EPA to release a proposed rewrite of the 2015 WOTUS rule The Trump administration seeks to finalize its new rule in September 2019 The rewritten rule will replace the 2015 rule NSSGA says but the 2015 rule still needs to be officially withdrawn by EPA That is expected to occur sometime this year In an unrelated development the Department of Labors regulatory agenda states that the Mine Safety Health Administration MSHA requests data and information on technologies that can reduce accidents involving powered haulage equipment MSHA continues to seek public comment on possible reforms of existing standards and regulations as well as input on approaches that could improve control of diesel particulate matter in underground facilities according to NSSGA MSHA TO DISTRIBUTE 105 MILLION IN TRAINING FUNDS T he Mine Safety Health Administration MSHA will allot 10537000 in state grant funding to provide federally mandated training and retraining for miners and mine operators working at surface and underground coal and metal and nonmetal mines Under Section 503 of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 any state in which mining takes place may apply for the grant According to MSHA it can fund 80 percent of the activities under a state grant program and the state must provide matching funds of no less than 20 percent of the total program costs Interested parties can submit applications for the grants at www grants gov The applications must be submitted electronically by July 16 THE COLLECTIVE 2017 FATAL INJURY RATE of all metal and nonmetal mining operations in the United States The 00067 rate represents a new low based on data the Mine Safety Health Administration collected over the last seven years