Mine worker unions aren’t facing any imminent harm from a regulation on silica dust, the federal government said in its bid Thursday to block the unions from joining an ongoing challenge to its rule in the Eighth Circuit.
The US Mine Safety and Health Administration argued that the United Mine Workers of America, along with United Steelworkers, motion to intervene is untimely and doesn’t sufficiently establish that MSHA isn’t adequately representing the general public interest. The unions’ general interest also doesn’t sufficiently establish “associational standing,” MSHA said to the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
The unions want ...