Document N28pBKo65y7n5a9XrKQevxx3p

#7% PLAINTIFF'S EXHIBIT UC-2818 75 Current Report Utigation show a need ior the emergency temporary standard's low- ered permissible exposure level (Current Report, March 15, COURT REVIEW OF FINAL ASBESTOS RULES 1984, p. 1123; 11 OSHC 1817). SOUGHT IN PETITIONS BY INDUSTRY, LABOR Hardy said the industry group is seeking review of the Two departments of the AFL-CIO and an asbestos indus try association petitioned federal courts for review of the final asbestos standards for general industry and construc standard because it has "questions about the feasibility, particularly of monitoring, at the new lower permissible exposure limit." tion, which establish an exposure level 10 times lower than the current permissible level set in 1976. The labor groups claimed the new permissible exposure Administration limit is not stringent enough, and the industry group argued that monitoring at the new, lower level would be difficult. The new standards -- one covering general industry, in cluding maritime, and the other covering construction -- were published June 20 and are scheduled to become effec tive July 21. Both rules set an identical permissible expo sure limit of 0.2 fibers per cubic centimeter of air and an action level of 0.1 f/cc that triggers worker training and medical monitoring requirements (51 FR 22612). The stan dards do not establish a short-term exposure limit (Current Report, June 19, p. 51). Labor Groups RADER NOMINATION TO OSHRC DEFEATED IN CLOSE VOTE BY SENATE LABOR COMMITTEE fn the wake of his formal nomination's defeat by the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee June 18, Robert E. Rader Jr. said he does not expect to complete his temporary appointment to the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. The defeat came after a motion by Chairman Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) to move the nomination from the committee to the full Senate failed by an 8-8 vote. A similar motion by the chairman to move the nomination without the panel's recommendation failed by the same margin. The Industrial Union Department of the AFL-CIO filed a Rader told BNA that he may ask President Reagan to petition for review (No. 86-1360) of the general industry withdraw his nomination, and said he does not expect to standard in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of serve out the remainder of his current recess appointment, I Columbia Circuit. George Cohen, the attorney representing which began in August 1985. The appointment, a temporary ( the department, told BNA that "the AFL-CIO is concerned action which did not require Senate approval, is scheduled to that the permissible exposure limit is higher than it should expire in October, at the end of the current session of be and that there is no short term exposure limit in the Congress. standard." In a statement issued after the vote, Sen. Edward M. The Building and Construction Trades Department of the Kennedy (D-Mass), the committee's ranking minority mem AFL-CIO, a group of 15 international unions representing 4.1 million construction workers, filed a petition for review of the construction standard in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia CircuiL Us petition in Building and Construction Trades De ber, called Rader's defeat "a victory for the safety of workers." As an attorney in private practice, Rader "ad vised firms to ignore valid [Occupational Safety and Health Administration] search warrants, and to disregard contempt citations," Kennedy charged. partment v. Brock (No. 86-1359) was filed June 17, the date that the asbestos standard officially was filed at the Feder al Register, according to Ellhu Leifer, the attorney repre Key Vote by Weicker As observers had expected, the key vote on the nomination senting the construction group. Leifer told BNA that the was cast by Sen. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. (R-Conn), who joined petition for review does not ask the court to stay enforce with Kennedy and the other six Democratic members of the ment of the asbestos standard. Filing a petition for review of committee to defeat both of Hatch's motions. an agency standard rather than a traditional complaint is The Democrats had expressed strong opposition to the "the normal avenue of proceeding for relief if an affected nomination in hearings earlier this year, charging that party is not satisfied" with the standard, Leifer said. Rader, as an attorney in private practice, overemphasized Industry Group procedural protections for employers facing inspection by OSHA (Current Report, March 20, p. f045). The Asbestos Information Association, a group of approxi Prior to voting, Sen. Howard M. Metzenbaum (D-Ohio) mately 50 companies that mine asbestos or market asbestos described the choice of Rader as a commission member as products, filed two petitions for review June 17 with the U.S. "one of those appointments we wonder how they ever got on Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans, the list in the first place." Rader's past performance in according to association attorney Tim Hardy. The petitions private practice has demonstrated that he cannot be "fair- in Asbestos Information Association v. OSHA (Nos. 86- minded and unbiased," the senator asserted. 4422 and 86-4423) challenge both the general industry stand Sen. Paul Simon (D-lll) pointed to Rader's voting record as ard and the construction standard. The petitions were filed a recess appointee as highlighting concerns the Democrats in New Orleans because "the Fifth Circuit had previously had about Rader's qualifications to serve as a commissioner. addressed the same issue," Hardy told BNA. In 11 cases in which Rader participated, he upheld the it In 1984 that court declared invalid an emergency tempo secretary of labor's position in only one case, and only on rary asbestos standard, concluding that the data failed to one count, Simon said. 6-26-66 Occupational Safety & Health Reporter 0095-3237/W/J0+ 50 UCC 024904 I j ! j j j