Mesothelioma

Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) said it "is naturally concerned about the dozens of deaths that have occurred among miners in the Iron Range over the past 10 years." The agency said it is working with mine operators to voluntarily reduce worker exposures.

That's not good enough, said J.

Davitt McAteer, who headed the federal mine safety agency during the Clinton administration and says mine asbestos regulations should have been strengthened long ago."We have a regulatory system in this country that with regard to safety and health is broken," said McAteer, who blamed rule-making delays on cumbersome, multilayered review requirements.

"We doom people even when we know the standard is too low, as we did in the case of asbestos materials."Fibers in the airThe needle-like fibers have repeatedly been detected at the Silver Bay processing plant since 2003, after the agency enhanced its testing program.

The only other Iron Range facility that showed an elevated level in tests was Northshore's Babbitt mine in 2003.

Ten subsequent samplings in Babbitt were below the proposed safety threshold, the federal data show.Regulators currently can't use the threat of fines to force companies to reduce asbestos levels below the new standard.

That isn't about to change anytime soon.

Patricia Silvey, director of MSHA's regulations office, said the agency is focused on drafting safety ...

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