Here’s the media advisory that went out yesterday from the U.S. Department of Labor:

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration will announce a major step forward in the department’s End Black Lung – Act Now! initiative on Wednesday, April 23, at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health facility in Morgantown, W.Va.  U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health Joseph A. Main, NIOSH Director John Howard and others will discuss the release of a final rule to lower miners’ exposure to respirable coal mine dust in all underground and surface coal mines.

The website for the White House Office of Management and Budget indicates that officials there finally approved the rule — after eight months of review — on Monday.  MSHA had proposed the rule back in October 2010, but miners’ health advocates have been calling for the tightening of the coal dust rule for many years — and action on the issued had been stalled for years by administrations from both political parties.