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Title 30, Mineral Lands and MiningRelease 119-102

§841 Mandatory Health Standards for Underground Mines; Enforcement; Review; Purpose

Title 30 › CHAPTER 22 — MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH › SUBCHAPTER II — INTERIM MANDATORY HEALTH STANDARDS › § 841

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

Sections 842–846 and 878 set temporary mandatory health rules for all underground coal mines until the Secretary issues better rules under section 811. These interim rules must be enforced the same way as permanent standards, and any enforcement orders can be reviewed under subchapter I. The goal is to keep mine air low in respirable dust so miners can work their whole adult lives without getting pneumoconiosis or other work-related diseases.

Full Legal Text

Title 30, §841

Mineral Lands and Mining, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The provisions of sections 842 through 846 of this title and the applicable provisions of section 878 of this title shall be interim mandatory health standards applicable to all underground coal mines until superseded in whole or in part by improved mandatory health standards promulgated by the Secretary under the provisions of section 811 of this title, and shall be enforced in the same manner and to the same extent as any mandatory health standard promulgated under the provisions of section 811 of this title. Any orders issued in the enforcement of the interim standards set forth in this subchapter shall be subject to review as provided in subchapter I of this chapter.
(b)Among other things, it is the purpose of this subchapter to provide, to the greatest extent possible, that the working conditions in each underground coal mine are sufficiently free of respirable dust concentrations in the mine atmosphere to permit each miner the opportunity to work underground during the period of his entire adult working life without incurring any disability from pneumoconiosis or any other occupation-related disease during or at the end of such period.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section operative six months after Dec. 30, 1969, except to the extent an earlier date is specifically provided for in Pub. L. 91–173, see section 509 of Pub. L. 91–173, set out as a note under section 801 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

30 U.S.C. § 841

Title 30, Mineral Lands and Mining

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102