Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, February 4, 1991                   TAG: 9102040283
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

MIGHT SPRAY COAL TO HOLD DOWN DUST

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals awarded railroad employee black-lung benefits to Olen R. Roberson. He worked in a rail yard before coal reached a preparation station.

Roberson worked there only 14 years, long before long-wall mining was introduced. Long-wall mining produces finer coal, unpreparable for transportation, causing residents along coal-hauling tracks to be subject to the same health hazards as Roberson.

Madison Marye's bill may seem impractical, but that was the same argument of the truckers or any industry fighting legislation. I haven't seen any trucking firms having major layoffs or going bankrupt.

Canadian railroads spray their coal with a solution that seals the dust on the cars. If Virginia would adopt this solution, surrounding states might follow suit, as they did with truck-covering.

Maybe a coal-dust-covered house is a burden they have to bear, but can they live with it? TOM BOLLING BEDFORD