Knowledge Diagram Navigation:

Spatial co-ordinations are initially random, and will automatically re-arrange to minimize complexity based on distance between relationships. Mouse down and drag to pan. Right click on the strategic diagram toggles between motion and stationary. Hover over abstract node (orange) to view abstractions. Hover over leaf node to view corresponding narrative. Left click on the leaf node expands the narrative to view full text.

Narrative Analysis - Report

Key Focus

"But the clock ran out on our administration," he said.. . Meanwhile, after years of declining rates of black lung, caused by breathing coal and silica dust, rates of the severe form of the disease had surged. In the 1990s, less than 1 percent of central Appalachian miners who had worked at least 25 years underground had this advanced stage of illness ...

In 1974, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a federal research agency, recommended reducing the existing limits on silica in the air workers breathed. For years, the report languished.. . The agency reiterated its recommendation in 1995, and a Labor Department advisory committee reached the same conclusion the following year ...

The dangers of breathing finely ground silica were evident almost a century ago, when hundreds of workers died of lung disease after drilling a tunnel through silica-rich rock near Gauley Bridge, W.Va ...

In interviews, the heads of the agency during the Clinton and Obama administrations described a mix of politics, industry opposition and competing priorities that impeded progress on a silica rule. Both said they had prioritized a separate rule to regulate overall dust levels in coal mines, which also took years to complete and was finalized in 2014. ...

They come eight years after a sister agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, issued similar protections for workers in other industries, such as construction, countertop manufacturing and fracking. ...

Momentum supporting factors

(silica,coal,dust)

(silica,dust)

Challenge supporting factors

(silica,workers)

(dust,fraud)

(silica,agency,labor_department)

(silica,agency,joe)

(silica,joe)

(silica,labor_department)

(silica,dust)

(silica,disease,dust)

(disease,coal)

(silica,disease,coal)

(disease,central)

(dust,central)

(dust,coal,central)

(silica,coal,central)

(silica,disease,central)

Work-in-progress supporting factors

(agency,workers)

(silica,agency,workers)

(agency,politics)

(dust,agency,politics)

(silica,agency,politics)

(agency,opposition)

(dust,agency,opposition)

(silica,agency,opposition)

(silica,agency,occupational_safety)

(silica,occupational_safety)

(dust,agency,obama)

(silica,agency,obama)

(silica,agency,national_institute)

(silica,national_institute)

(agency,industry)

Time Period	Challenge	Momentum	WIP
Report	40.37	2.29	57.34

High Level Abstraction (HLA) combined

High Level Abstraction (HLA)	Report
(1) (silica,workers)	100.00
(2) (silica,dust)	94.87
(3) (agency,workers)	93.33
(4) (silica,agency,workers)	82.56
(5) (agency,politics)	81.54
(6) (dust,agency,politics)	77.95
(7) (silica,agency,politics)	76.41
(8) (agency,opposition)	75.90
(9) (dust,agency,opposition)	72.82
(10) (silica,agency,opposition)	70.77
(11) (silica,agency,occupational_safety)	69.74
(12) (silica,occupational_safety)	68.72
(13) (dust,agency,obama)	66.67
(14) (dust,fraud)	64.10
(15) (silica,agency,obama)	64.10
(16) (silica,agency,national_institute)	63.08
(17) (silica,national_institute)	62.05
(18) (silica,agency,labor_department)	61.54
(19) (silica,agency,joe)	60.51
(20) (silica,joe)	59.49
(21) (agency,industry)	58.97
(22) (dust,agency,industry)	57.44
(23) (silica,agency,industry)	53.85
(24) (silica,agency,health)	53.33
(25) (silica,health)	52.31
(26) (silica,agency,federal)	51.79
(27) (silica,federal)	50.77
(28) (silica,labor_department)	49.23
(29) (silica,coal,dust)	48.72
(30) (silica,disease,dust)	46.15
(31) (disease,coal)	45.13
(32) (silica,disease,coal)	42.56
(33) (disease,central)	42.05
(34) (dust,central)	41.03
(35) (dust,coal,central)	40.51
(36) (silica,coal,central)	38.46
(37) (silica,disease,central)	37.44
(38) (silica,davitt_mcateer)	36.92
(39) (dust,agency,fraud)	36.41
(40) (dust,regulations)	31.28
(41) (dust,agency,justice_department)	29.74
(42) (dust,agency,silica)	28.72
(43) (dust,justice_department)	26.67
(44) (dust,gamesmanship)	26.15
(45) (dust,evidence)	25.64
(46) (dust,coal,disease)	24.62
(47) (dust,disease)	22.56
(48) (dust,agency,criminal)	21.54
(49) (dust,criminal)	20.51
(50) (dust,compliance)	20.00
(51) (agency,occupational_safety)	18.46
(52) (dust,agency,davitt_mcateer)	11.28
(53) (dust,agency,clinton)	10.77
(54) (agency,pennsylvania_tuesday)	7.69
(55) (agency,obama)	7.18
(56) (agency,national_institute)	6.15
(57) (agency,manufacturing)	5.13
(58) (agency,labor_julie_su)	4.62
(59) (disease,track)	4.10
(60) (disease,x-rays)	3.59
(61) (disease,medical)	3.08
(62) (disease,journal)	2.56
(63) (disease,health)	2.05
(64) (disease,government)	1.54
(65) (disease,chest)	1.03
(66) (disease,appalachia)	0.51

Supporting narratives:

Please refer to knowledge diagram for a complete set of supporting narratives.

momentum - Back to HLA

In interviews, the heads of the agency during the Clinton and Obama administrations described a mix of politics, industry opposition and competing priorities that impeded progress on a silica rule. Both said they had prioritized a separate rule to regulate overall dust levels in coal mines, which also took years to complete and was finalized in 2014. ...
High Level Abstractions:

(silica,dust)
(silica,coal,dust)
Inferred entity relationships (1)
(dust,silica) [inferred]

challenge - Back to HLA

. The agency reiterated its recommendation in 1995, and a Labor Department advisory committee reached the same conclusion the following year. ...
High Level Abstractions:

(silica,agency,labor_department)
Inferred entity relationships (1)
(labor_department,silica) [inferred]

challenge - Back to HLA

"I regret that we didn't get many things done, and silica is one of those," said Davitt McAteer, who ran the agency from 1994 to 2000.. . Joe Main, who led it from 2009 to 2017, said his agency had planned to draw on work by O.S.H.A., which also faced lengthy delays before issuing its 2016 silica rule ...
High Level Abstractions:

(silica,agency,joe)
(silica,joe)
Inferred entity relationships (1)
(joe,silica) [inferred]

challenge - Back to HLA

. The dangers of breathing finely ground silica were evident almost a century ago, when hundreds of workers died of lung disease after drilling a tunnel through silica-rich rock near Gauley Bridge, W.Va ...
High Level Abstractions:

(silica,workers)

challenge - Back to HLA

In 1974, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a federal research agency, recommended reducing the existing limits on silica in the air workers breathed. For years, the report languished.. . The agency reiterated its recommendation in 1995, and a Labor Department advisory committee reached the same conclusion the following year ...
High Level Abstractions:

(silica,workers)

challenge - Back to HLA

In 1974, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a federal research agency, recommended reducing the existing limits on silica in the air workers breathed. For years, the report languished.. . The agency reiterated its recommendation in 1995, and a Labor Department advisory committee reached the same conclusion the following year. ...
High Level Abstractions:

(silica,labor_department)

challenge - Back to HLA

"But the clock ran out on our administration," he said.. . Meanwhile, after years of declining rates of black lung, caused by breathing coal and silica dust, rates of the severe form of the disease had surged. In the 1990s, less than 1 percent of central Appalachian miners who had worked at least 25 years underground had this advanced stage of illness ...
High Level Abstractions:

(silica,dust)

challenge - Back to HLA

Meanwhile, after years of declining rates of black lung, caused by breathing coal and silica dust, rates of the severe form of the disease had surged. In the 1990s, less than 1 percent of central Appalachian miners who had worked at least 25 years underground had this advanced stage of illness ...
High Level Abstractions:

(silica,disease,dust)
(dust,disease)
(dust,central)
(disease,central)
(dust,coal,disease)
(dust,coal,central)
(silica,disease,central)
(disease,coal)
(silica,disease,coal)
(silica,coal,central)
Inferred entity relationships (11)
(coal,dust,silica) [inferred]
(dust,silica) [inferred]
(coal,disease,dust) [inferred]
(central,disease,silica) [inferred]
(central,coal,silica) [inferred]
(central,disease) [inferred]
(central,coal,dust) [inferred]
(disease,dust) [inferred]
(coal,disease) [inferred]
(disease,dust,silica) [inferred]
(coal,disease,silica) [inferred]

challenge - Back to HLA

. "I regret that we didn't get many things done, and silica is one of those," said Davitt McAteer, who ran the agency from 1994 to 2000.. . Joe Main, who led it from 2009 to 2017, said his agency had planned to draw on work by O.S.H.A., which also faced lengthy delays before issuing its 2016 silica rule ...
High Level Abstractions:

(silica,davitt_mcateer)

challenge - Back to HLA

Williamson said his agency protects miners who blow the whistle on unsafe conditions and works with the Justice Department to pursue criminal cases if they learn of sampling fraud. ...
High Level Abstractions:

(dust,agency,criminal)
(dust,fraud)
(dust,criminal)
(dust,agency,justice_department)
(dust,justice_department)
(dust,agency,fraud)
Inferred entity relationships (10)
(dust,fraud) [inferred]
(agency,dust,obama) [inferred]
(agency,dust,politics) [inferred]
(dust,justice_department) [inferred]
(agency,dust,fraud) [inferred]
(criminal,dust) [inferred]
(agency,dust,justice_department) [inferred]
(agency,dust,opposition) [inferred]
(agency,dust,silica) [inferred]
(agency,dust,industry) [inferred]

challenge - Back to HLA

The regulations largely leave it to mining companies to collect samples showing they are in compliance, despite evidence of past gamesmanship and fraud. Miners have described being pressured to place sampling devices in areas with far less dust than where they actually worked, leading to artificially low results. ...
High Level Abstractions:

(dust,gamesmanship)
(dust,fraud)
(dust,evidence)
(dust,compliance)

challenge - Back to HLA

"Each of these cases is a tragedy and represents a failure among all those responsible for preventing this severe disease," a team of government researchers wrote in a medical journal in 2014. ...
High Level Abstractions:

(disease,medical)
(disease,government)
(disease,journal)

challenge - Back to HLA

The effects began showing up on chest X-rays and in tissue samples taken from miners'lungs. Clinics in Appalachia began seeing miners in their 30s and 40s with advanced disease.. . "Each of these cases is a tragedy and represents a failure among all those responsible for preventing this severe disease," a team of government researchers wrote in a medical journal in 2014 ...
High Level Abstractions:

(disease,appalachia)

WIP - Back to HLA

In 1974, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a federal research agency, recommended reducing the existing limits on silica in the air workers breathed. For years, the report languished. ...
High Level Abstractions:

(silica,agency,workers)
(agency,workers)
Inferred entity relationships (1)
(silica,workers) [inferred]

WIP - Back to HLA

In interviews, the heads of the agency during the Clinton and Obama administrations described a mix of politics, industry opposition and competing priorities that impeded progress on a silica rule. ...
High Level Abstractions:

(agency,industry)
(dust,agency,politics)
(dust,agency,opposition)
(silica,agency,industry)
(silica,agency,politics)
(agency,politics)
(silica,agency,opposition)
(agency,opposition)
(dust,agency,industry)
(dust,agency,silica)
Inferred entity relationships (14)
(dust,silica) [inferred]
(agency,dust,obama) [inferred]
(agency,dust,politics) [inferred]
(agency,dust,fraud) [inferred]
(agency,dust,opposition) [inferred]
(agency,politics,silica) [inferred]
(agency,industry) [inferred]
(agency,politics) [inferred]
(agency,dust,industry) [inferred]
(agency,opposition,silica) [inferred]
(agency,opposition) [inferred]
(agency,industry,silica) [inferred]
(agency,dust,justice_department) [inferred]
(agency,dust,silica) [inferred]

WIP - Back to HLA

In 1974, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a federal research agency, recommended reducing the existing limits on silica in the air workers breathed ...
High Level Abstractions:

(silica,occupational_safety)
(silica,agency,health)
(silica,agency,federal)
(silica,national_institute)
(silica,health)
(silica,agency,occupational_safety)
(silica,federal)
(silica,agency,national_institute)
Inferred entity relationships (6)
(occupational_safety,silica) [inferred]
(national_institute,silica) [inferred]
(health,silica) [inferred]
(federal,silica) [inferred]
(agency,occupational_safety) [inferred]
(agency,national_institute) [inferred]

WIP - Back to HLA

In interviews, the heads of the agency during the Clinton and Obama administrations described a mix of politics, industry opposition and competing priorities that impeded progress on a silica rule ...
High Level Abstractions:

(dust,agency,obama)
(silica,agency,obama)
(dust,agency,clinton)
Inferred entity relationships (7)
(agency,dust,justice_department) [inferred]
(agency,obama) [inferred]
(agency,dust,opposition) [inferred]
(agency,dust,politics) [inferred]
(agency,dust,silica) [inferred]
(agency,dust,fraud) [inferred]
(agency,dust,industry) [inferred]

WIP - Back to HLA

The regulations largely leave it to mining companies to collect samples showing they are in compliance, despite evidence of past gamesmanship and fraud ...
High Level Abstractions:

(dust,regulations)

WIP - Back to HLA

"I regret that we didn't get many things done, and silica is one of those," said Davitt McAteer, who ran the agency from 1994 to 2000. ...
High Level Abstractions:

(dust,agency,davitt_mcateer)
(dust,agency,silica)
Inferred entity relationships (7)
(agency,dust,justice_department) [inferred]
(dust,silica) [inferred]
(agency,dust,opposition) [inferred]
(agency,dust,obama) [inferred]
(agency,dust,politics) [inferred]
(agency,dust,fraud) [inferred]
(agency,dust,industry) [inferred]

WIP - Back to HLA

They come eight years after a sister agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, issued similar protections for workers in other industries, such as construction, countertop manufacturing and fracking. ...
High Level Abstractions:

(agency,manufacturing)
(agency,workers)

WIP - Back to HLA

The new requirements were announced by Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su at an event in Pennsylvania Tuesday morning. They come eight years after a sister agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, issued similar protections for workers in other industries, such as construction, countertop manufacturing and fracking ...
High Level Abstractions:

(agency,occupational_safety)
(agency,pennsylvania_tuesday)
(agency,labor_julie_su)
Inferred entity relationships (1)
(agency,occupational_safety,silica) [inferred]

WIP - Back to HLA

history.. . In 1974, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a federal research agency, recommended reducing the existing limits on silica in the air workers breathed ...
High Level Abstractions:

(agency,national_institute)
(agency,occupational_safety)
Inferred entity relationships (2)
(agency,occupational_safety,silica) [inferred]
(agency,national_institute,silica) [inferred]

WIP - Back to HLA

Bush's, Barack Obama's and Donald J. Trump's presidencies.. . In interviews, the heads of the agency during the Clinton and Obama administrations described a mix of politics, industry opposition and competing priorities that impeded progress on a silica rule ...
High Level Abstractions:

(agency,obama)
Inferred entity relationships (1)
(agency,obama,silica) [inferred]

WIP - Back to HLA

Williamson defended the program as a key way for miners to track their health and for researchers to track disease.. . The rule's effectiveness may not be clear for years, as lung disease can take time to develop ...
High Level Abstractions:

(disease,health)
(disease,track)

WIP - Back to HLA

The effects began showing up on chest X-rays and in tissue samples taken from miners'lungs. Clinics in Appalachia began seeing miners in their 30s and 40s with advanced disease. ...
High Level Abstractions:

(disease,x-rays)
(disease,chest)

Semantics Relevance

U.S. Limits Deadly Mining Dust as Black Lung Resurges