Kentucky
Federal crackdown on silica dust begins as mining experts highlight impact to Kentucky workers
After a years-long rule-making process at the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), coal mines will have to keep workers safe from toxic silica dust by lowering the legal exposure limit from 100 micrograms to 50 micrograms over an 8-hour work shift.
Experts have long-known that silica dust is causing a surge in the incurable black lung disease among central Appalachian coal miners. It’s caused as miners inhale bits of the rock that’s being pulverized to get to harder-to-reach coal seams.
“You want to know what it’s like to have black lung?” John Robinson, a former miner battling the disease asked at a roundtable discussion in Louisville on Monday. “Grab your pillow off your bed, go outside, and get your push mower going in your yard.”
Other industries who extract things like metal, sand and gravel will also need to comply with the silica standards. For the first time ever, they’ll also be required to X-ray workers’ lungs. Those X-rays will be stored in a database managed by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
Those industries have said they don’t see the same epidemic coal has with black lung, but regulators hypothesize that’s because they don’t look.
“My guess is, that when we go looking for a problem, when we go looking at these miners and their chest films, we’re probably going to see silica in those lungs,” NIOSH researcher Scott Laney said.
U.S. Representative Morgan McGarvey hosted Monday’s roundtable in Louisville with federal experts discussing the impact of the rule. There are no active coal mines in his district, but he is the only Democrat in Kentucky’s congressional delegation.
Officials have lauded the Biden administration for the measure, which was promised but undelivered in multiple previous administrations.
“I’ve always considered myself, yes, representing my district, but also being a representative of our state,” McGarvey said. “When you talk about the safety of our workers, to me, that’s never been a political issue.”
McGarvey’s office said the lawmaker wanted to learn from federal experts about what is needed “to ensure effective implementation and enforcement of this rule.”
One thing that might make it difficult to implement and enforce? A flat budget at the federal mine agency. Congress recently denied a $50 million budget increase for more mine inspections and more silica dust sampling.
“We just need to help get MSHA more money to help enforce this,” National Black Lung Association Vice President Vonda Robinson said. “They need more guys to go out and help, to be able to enforce this.”
“MSHA has had flat budgets for, I don’t know how many years now,” MSHA Assistant Secretary Chris Williamson said at a panel earlier in June. “You’re talking about people because in almost every federal agency, the cost driver is personnel. We will do the best we can with what we’re given to work with, but it will remain a priority.”
Appalachian advocacy groups have criticized the measure for largely relying on companies to accurately self-report high silica dust samples. They say it gives companies “every incentive to continue cheating and hiding dangers” and compared it to letting a “fox guard the hen house.”
Williamson has repeatedly promised that any companies caught cheating on the silica testing and reporting requirements will be dealt with severely.
Meanwhile, the silica rule is facing two separate legal challenges from mining industry associations. They’re asking federal judges to analyze the rule for its legality.
“Worker safety and health is a core value of our association, but unfortunately, this rule has missed the mark,” National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association CEO & President Michael Johnson said in a written statement. “MSHA’s crystalline silica rule includes provisions that were not included in the proposed rule, for which we were not provided the opportunity to comment, as required by law.”
Although companies are expected to begin lower silica dust levels now, enforcement will begin in April 2025 for coal companies and 2026 for non-coal.
State government and politics reporting is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
A massive addition to the transfer portal just happened as former Liberty guard Brett Decker Jr. announced that he plans to hit the portal when it opens on April 7th. This should immediately catch the eye of Mark Pope, as Decker Jr. is a Kentucky native from Elizabethtown.
This season for the Flames of Liberty, Decker Jr. averaged 16.9 points per game while shooting 49.9% from the field and 47.1% from three. Decker Jr. will more than likely end up being the best three-point shooter in the transfer portal, so knowing this, plus the fact that he is a Kentucky native, Coach Pope needs to do everything in his power to land Decker Jr.
Last season, the Wildcats didn’t have that much three-point shooting outside of Collin Chandler. Otega Oweh, Denzel Aberdeen, and Kam Williams all were solid shooting the three ball, but Chandler was the only player fans could rely on to make one from deep.
When Pope doesn’t have a lot of players who are capable of making threes, his offense isn’t going to be that good, and this is why the Wildcats had a rough season last year. Coach Pope needs to learn from this mistake and make sure that he adds a bunch of players via the portal who can fill it up from deep. Obviously, Decker Jr. is a player who makes a ton of sense for this staff to target to come in and play the Koby Brea role.
If Decker Jr. does pick Kentucky, he could come off the bench as a flamethrower from deep, and in the games where he just can’t seem to miss, Pope won’t take him off the floor. When it comes to the other backcourt members Pope recruits, he will need guys who can score all over the floor, while Decker Jr. could just be the shooter for this team.
Decker Jr. is only a sophomore, so if Kentucky were to land him, he could develop the rest of his game and be one of the better players in the nation during his final two seasons of college hoops. Pope needs players who are going to be knockdown shooters from deep, and a good start would be to land the best shooter in the portal.
If Kentucky is able to land Decker Jr., Pope will still need to go out and get some more players who can be reliable from three, but he would be an excellent start. Coach Pope needs to do everything in his power to bring the Kentucky kid home.
A man who recently won a $167m Powerball lottery jackpot stands accused of stealing the relatively paltry sum of $12,000 after breaking into a house in his home state of Kentucky on Saturday, according to authorities who arrested him.
James Farthing’s arrest on Saturday on counts of burglary and illicit marijuana possession reportedly was at least his third since winning Kentucky’s most lucrative lottery prize ever.
Farthing, 51, was allegedly captured on surveillance cameras at the side door of a woman’s home in Lexington before unlawfully entering the place, police wrote in an arrest citation that was reported by the local news outlet WKYT. The break-in victim heard a loud noise consistent with a door being busted open, and she realized $12,000 was missing from the home after Farthing broke in, officers alleged in the citation.
Police later found Farthing at a casino and harness-racing track and took him into custody in connection with the alleged burglary. Officers said they added the illegal marijuana possession count after searching his car and finding the herb along with multiple blunts, including one that had burnt out in his vehicle’s ashtray.
Farthing had spent most of his life in and out of incarceration before he, his mother and girlfriend bought the winning ticket for a $167m Powerball jackpot awarded in April 2025, according to the Smoking Gun website.
Hitting that jackpot left them with deciding whether to collect the full amount in annual increments over 29 years or immediately in a one-time, lump sum of $77.3m.
Farthing and his family said they would talk with a financial adviser before choosing the better option for them.
As Farthing put it, the win resulted from playing the odds. “I’m always buying [lottery tickets] ’cause I’m like, ‘Somebody’s gotta win,’” he later told WKYT.
It was a matter of days before he recorded another brush with the law – when officials in Florida said he hit a hotel guest in the face, kicked a deputy and violated his parole conditions by leaving Kentucky without permission.
He pleaded guilty to that case in early March as part of a deal requiring him to pay $1,000 in fines but sparing him any additional jail time, WKYT reported.
Furthermore, in February, Kentucky authorities arrested Farthing on allegations that he tried to intimidate a participant of a legal process. Investigators said the alleged victim in that case reported meeting Farthing and being pressured into ingesting a marijuana edible. The woman later reportedly called police and reported that people with a weapon wanted to hurt her.
Officers who responded to the scene alleged that they found marijuana and a gun. And as the alleged victim was being questioned, police accused Farthing of sending her a text message which read, “Why would you do this to me? Unreal. I’d never hurt you.”
Farthing was tentatively due in court in the burglary case on Monday and on the intimidation charge on Thursday. He also reportedly has an separate hit-and-run case pending.
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