Opinion ID: 732421
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Inspector Greer's Failure to Take Air or Dust Samples

Text: 25 Jim Walter contends that the commentary to 30 C.F.R. § 72.630, see Air Quality: Health Standards for Abrasive Blasting and Drill Dust Control, 59 Fed.Reg. 8318, 8324-25 (1994), required Greer to take air or dust samples or to measure Jim Walter's air volume before issuing the (d)(2) order. The relevant portion of the commentary provides, with specific reference to section 72.630(d), that 26 MSHA will continue to determine compliance with this requirement under the final rule as it has enforced § 70.400-3; i.e., through the measurement of air quantity or other measures set forth in a mine's ventilation and methane and dust control plan. 27 Air Quality, 59 Fed.Reg. at 8325. 28 We have several problems with this argument: First, because section 72.630(d) deals exclusively with the use of ventilation to control rock dust, it is clear that the commentary is referring to methods for determining the efficacy of ventilation in controlling dust. Second, as the ALJ observed, neither the Secretary's Program Policy Manual (the official repository of the Secretary's interpretation of the regulations and of his enforcement practices) nor the regulations contain a single reference to air measurements or the collection of dust samples. Jim Walter Resources, 17 F.M.S.H.R.C. at 1444. Finally, we note that the sentence immediately following the passage on which Jim Walter relies reads as follows: MSHA does not intend that exposure samples be the routine method of determining compliance with this paragraph. Air Quality, 59 Fed.Reg. at 8325. Thus, the commentary itself explicitly recognizes that the taking of samples is not a prerequisite for determining whether section 72.630(a) has been violated.