tional Institute for Occupational Safety and 
Health that conveyor belts used in underground 
coal mines be designed to minimize flamma-
bility. Such revised mandatory safety standards 
shall be issued as interim standards not later 
than 270 days after the date of enactment of 
such Act. 
‘‘(B) APPLICATION OF PRIOR RULE.—Until 
such time as the interim standards described in 
subparagraph (A) are issued and new require-
ments on belt flammability are placed in effect, 
the amendments made by the final rule pub-
lished on April 2, 2004, in the Federal Register 
(69 Fed. Reg. 17480) to the mandatory safety 
standard in section 75.350 of title 30, Code of 
Federal Regulations, that authorized belt haul-
age entries to be used to ventilate active work-
ing places are suspended, and the Secretary 
shall instead apply such mandatory safety 
standard as it was in effect the day before the 
effective date of such amendments, including all 
modifications to such standard that had been 
approved under subsection (c) prior to such 
date and any new modifications that may be ap-
proved in the future pursuant to such section. 
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‘‘(2) SEALS.—Not later than 30 days after the 
date of enactment of the Protecting America’s Min-
ers Act, the Secretary shall initiate rulemaking ac-
tivity to modernize and improve mandatory safety 
standards relating to seals for abandoned areas in 
underground coal mines. As part of such rule-
making, the Secretary shall improve the 20 psi 
standard described in section 75.335(a)(2) of title 
30, Code of Federal Regulations (as such section 
was in effect on the date of enactment of the Pro-
tecting America’s Miners Act). The Secretary shall 
give particular consideration to the standards in ef-
fect in other countries in this regard. The Secretary 
shall further consider whether the Secretary should 
be required to inspect seals during the seals’ con-
struction to ensure that the seals are constructed in 
a safe manner. Such improved standards shall be 
issued as interim mandatory safety standards not 
later than 270 days after the date of enactment of 
such Act.’’. 
(b) INSPECTIONS.—Not later than 30 days after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in consulta-
tion with the National Institute for Occupational Safety 
and Health, shall inspect the seals of all underground coal 
mines that are composed of nontraditional materials to en-
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sure that the seals are constructed in a safe manner, and 
ensure that any seals not constructed in a safe manner, 
regardless of plan approval, shall be promptly recon-
structed in a safe manner. 
(c) MANDATORY HEALTH STANDARDS.—Section 101 
of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (30 
U.S.C. 811) is further amended by adding at the end the 
following: 
‘‘(h) MANDATORY HEALTH STANDARDS REGARDING 
RESPIRABLE DUST.— 
‘‘(1) 
CONCENTRATION
LEVELS.—Notwith-
standing any other requirement of this Act, not later 
than 90 days after the date of enactment of the Pro-
tecting America’s Miners Act, the Secretary shall 
initiate rulemaking to develop mandatory health 
standards that provide the following: 
‘‘(A) CONCENTRATION
OF
DUST.—Each 
operator of a coal or other mine shall continu-
ously maintain a concentration of respirable 
dust, in the mine atmosphere during each shift 
for which a miner is in any place in a coal or 
other mine where miners are normally required 
to work or travel of such mine, of not more 
than 1.0 milligram of respirable dust per cubic 
meter of air. In meeting this standard, each 
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concentration level shall be considered inde-
pendently and shall not be averaged with other 
such levels. 
‘‘(B) METHOD
OF
MEASUREMENT.—To 
measure the level of respirable dust in an area 
of a coal or other mine, samples shall be 
taken— 
‘‘(i) by the Secretary, and not by the 
operator; or 
‘‘(ii) by using personal dust monitors 
on not less than 3 miners per shift, in each 
working section of the mine and in any 
section known to contain the highest dust 
concentrations, and not less often than 
once a year on each miner who works in 
the mine. 
‘‘(2) INTERIM
RULES.—The Secretary shall 
issue the rules described under subparagraph (A) as 
interim final rules not later than 270 days after the 
date of enactment of the Protecting America’s Min-
ers Act.’’. 
(d) DEFINITION.—Section 101 of the Federal Mine 
Safety and Health Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 811) is further 
amended by adding at the end the following: 
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‘‘(i) DEFINITION OF COAL MINE.—In this section, 
the term ‘coal mine’ has the meaning given the term in 
section 3(h)(2).’’. 
SEC. 10. TRANSITION TO A NEW GENERATION OF INSPEC-
TORS. 
(a) PERSONNEL CEILING TEMPORARILY LIFTED.— 
In order to ensure that the Secretary has adequate time 
to provide that a sufficient number of qualified and prop-
erly trained inspectors of the Mine Safety and Health Ad-
ministration are in place before any inspectors employed 
as of the date of enactment of this Act retire, any ceilings 
on the number of personnel that may be employed by the 
Administration with respect to mine inspectors are abol-
ished for the 5-year period beginning on the date of enact-
ment of this Act. 
(b) CONTRACTING WITH RETIRED INSPECTORS.—In 
the event that, notwithstanding the actions taken by the 
Secretary to hire and train qualified inspectors, the Sec-
retary is temporarily unable, at any time during the 5- 
year period beginning on the date of enactment of this 
Act, to employ the number of inspectors required to staff 
all district offices devoted to coal mines at the offices’ 
highest historical levels without transferring personnel 
from supervisory or plan review activities or diminishing 
current inspection resources devoted to other types of 
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