Another victim of 'clean coal'

Advocates of "clean coal" technology, including some in the Obama administration, tout its potential to reduce power-plant emissions that contribute to global warming and acid rain. But one of the dirtiest aspects of converting coal to electricity - mining the fuel itself - is often glossed over in the conversation.

After years of neglect, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has started paying more attention to coal industry practices, most notably mountaintop removal. It's a strip-mining process that disfigures the environment and dumps toxic debris into rivers, streams and valleys in Southwest Virginia and other parts of coal country.

And now federal officials are also re-examining the most conventional form of mining coal - sending men and women underground to dig it out.

As The Wall Street Journal and others have reported in recent weeks, there's been a resurgence in the past decade of black lung disease, a catch-all phrase for various respiratory diseases contracted by miners who inhale coal dust.

According to federal data, roughly 9 percent of miners with 25 years or more of experience tested positive for black lung in 2005-06, up from 4 percent in the late 1990s. The rate also doubled for workers with 20 to 24 years in mines.

More than 10,000 deaths were attributed to black lung between 1995 and 2005.

"It is time to end black lung," says Joe Main, head of the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Unfortunately, that call to action has been sounded many times, starting with landmark safety legislation in 1969. The statistics showing a spike in black lung cases are especially troubling because the stricter regulations were in place during the working lives of those who have contracted it.

Main, who's touring mining communities to discuss a new plan to reduce the incidence of black lung, proposes outfitting miners with lightweight, portable monitors that record daily exposure to dust.

The administration's strategy also must include a closer look at industry compliance with existing regulations and at changes in machinery that kick up more dust.

America is belatedly and haltingly making a transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. But coal is still likely to be a part of the nation's energy portfolio for many years to come.

Even if "clean coal" technology lives up to promise - and that's a big and unlikely "if" - the nation will gain little if devastation, of miners' health and the environment, continues to mark the very beginning of the process. Coal miners, already engaged in an inherently dangerous occupation, deserve better protections against avoidable risks to their health.