Bill to increase black lung benefits gets bipartisan local support, faces uphill climb in Congress

Black lung disease, as depicted in the above 

X-ray photo, has affected thousands of coal miners. 

Efforts to increase those benefits have been ongoing 

but have thus far failed. (Photo courtesy of Unsplash.com)

Efforts to increase benefits to coal miners suffering from pneumoconiosis, commonly known as “black lung disease,” have stalled in Congress despite bipartisan support at the local level across coal-producing states. Liam Niemeyer reports in the Kentucky Lantern that “dozens of county and city governments — comprised of both Republicans and Democratic leaders — across multiple Appalachian states have passed resolutions to urge an increase in benefits to support the approximately 25,000 recipients of black lung disability benefits.”

The Save Our Miners Act was introduced June 30. The Lantern story notes that it “would seek to increase benefits all the way back to the same funding level, relative to inflation, as miners received in 1969.” The average monthly benefit in 2026 is $794 or about two thirds of what the check would have been in 1970, adjusted for inflation. But while local officials from both parties sound the alarm, partisan ideologies on Capitol Hill have prevented change.

The trust fund pays miners when coal companies deemed responsible can’t be identified or have gone out of business. The revenue comes from a tax on mined coal. “That fund has taken on hundreds of millions of benefit liabilities because of coal mine bankruptcies, a larger trend seen with the rapid decline in the state’s coal mining industry,” Niemeyer reports.

Republicans are hesitant to support the increased spending, citing concerns about the solvency of the fund, and they accuse Democrats of waging a war on coal companies who pay into the fund. Democrats say their proposals would require only modest investment to provide the needed benefit increases.

The Save Our Miners Act is sponsored by Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) and co-sponsored by Rep. Chris DeLuzio (D-PA) and Rep. Morgan McGarvey (D-KY). It goes next to the House Education and Workforce Committee.

Tired of waiting for the Trump administration to enforce silica limits, coal miners protest

Silica dust in coal mines causes black lung disease.
(Adobe Stock photo)

In response to the Trump administration's refusal to enforce federal limits on silica dust, dozens of miners and their families will protest today "arguing the Trump administration has failed to protect them from black lung disease, an incurable illness caused by inhaling coal and silica dust," reports Lisa Friedman of The New York Times.

"Labor unions, Democrats and a growing number of miners accuse the Trump administration of ignoring workers while using hundreds of millions of dollars in federal subsidies to bolster the companies that operate coal plants and mining operations," Friedman writes.

The ceiling on silica exposure was "supposed to take effect in April. But the National Sand Stone and Gravel Association, the National Mining Association and other industry groups asked a federal appeals court to block the rule, citing the cost to mine operators," Friedman reports.

The Trump administration could have moved forward with applying the silica rule, but instead opted to "pause" enforcement while the court case plays out.

Gary Hairston, a retired West Virginia coal miner, who is the president of the National Black Lung Association, told Friedman, "The companies might be getting a handout, but the miners ain’t getting none."

While miners wait, the black lung disease continues to spike, with doctors diagnosing the disease in younger coal workers. Friedman writes, "Once considered a disease of older miners, black lung is now being diagnosed in workers in their 30s and 40s."

Anna Kelly, a White House spokeswoman, said in a statement that "President Trump cares deeply about unleashing America’s energy potential, as well as standing up for those who fuel our country' like coal miners," Friedman reports.

More recently, the Trump administration "petitioned the court to prevent labor unions and a lung health association from intervening in the case," Friedman writes. "This month it asked for another court delay, citing the government shutdown."

Report: Coal dust from active mines is more toxic, but mining inspectors fail to sanction coal mine owners

Healthy lung versus black lung. (CDC graphic)

Despite increasing rates and severity of black lung disease in Appalachia, coal mining operators continue to avoid U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration harsh consequences meant to protect coal miners from toxic levels of coal dust and its more lethal counterpart, silica, report Michael D. Sallah, Jimmy Cloutier and Mike Wereschagin of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

MSHA inspectors have repeatedly documented "dangerous levels of dust spewing in the mines — conditions that can prompt a temporary shutdown of an underground workplace — but failed to impose any penalties, only to find the companies violating the same thresholds again," the Post-Gazette reports.

When black lung disease began surging in 2009, the MSHA launched a campaign to clamp down on coal operators, but critics say the stricter sanctions on mine owners have not produced safer work conditions for miners.

If anything, mining is more deadly for workers who have to drill deep into silica-producing sandstone and limestone to reach coal beds. The Post-Gazette reports, "Fine particles of silica cut into the lungs, creating deep scars and inflammation, forcing the patients to use oxygen and eventually choking off their ability to breathe."

The impact of silica on today's coal miners is startling. Sallah writes, "In central Appalachia, one in every five people who have worked in the mines for at least 25 years is suffering from black lung disease."

Equally troubling is how many active mines ignore regulations and escape enforcement. "Hundreds of coal dust samples pulled from mines since 2014 were found to be breaking the limits without any disciplinary action taken by MSHA," the Post-Gazette reports.

Coal operators could lessen dust exposure, but those changes to ventilation and processes would cost "roughly $100 million a year," the report explains. 

Mine operators continue to push for their right to choose how they protect workers from coal dust.
Over the past year, one mine in Kentucky "showed a silica level eight times the safety threshold," the Post-Gazette reports. "In West Virginia last year, the level was six times over the limit."

Doggedly investigating and reporting on coal, this reporter and his team are finally getting results

Howard Berkes' investigations have helped change coal
mining. (Photo by Wanda Gayle, Mt. State Spotlight)

Why and when federal officials pay attention to a problem may hinge on one thing -- who reports on it and how they do their job. In Appalachia, Howard Berkes has been covering coal for 38 years, bringing awareness, attention, and government action to miners' health issues. "The coal-producing regions of central Appalachia are at the center of an epidemic of advanced black lung cases among coal miners," reports Mason Adams of Mountain State Spotlight in West Virginia. "New reporting by a retired NPR reporter [Howard Berkes] has shown how federal officials underestimated the sheer number of cases across West Virginia, eastern Kentucky and southwestern Virginia, and now regulators seem to be responding."

At issue is silica dust produced from coal and quartz mining, causing exposed miners to develop an advanced version of black lung disease known as progressive massive fibrosis. Responding to the increase and severity of black lung cases in Appalachia, Berkes' coal beat has uncovered data and propelled change. "He worked with NPR and the PBS series "Frontline" and spent more than a year investigating fears that federal regulators and mining companies were failing to protect coal miners from toxic dust," May explains. "He and his team obtained documents and data showing federal mine safety officials had evidence of the danger dating back more than 20 years, but never addressed it.

"Lately, the metallurgical coal industry has been ramping up production to meet global demand, and experts predict even more advanced black lung cases will appear. After years of inaction, though, federal officials are addressing the issue," May reports. "Over the summer, the Mine Safety and Health Administration proposed a rule intended to protect coal miners from exposure to silica dust. By the time the comment period closed in September, the draft rule had attracted 157 comments."

Berkes is part of a new investigation into advanced black lung cases co-published by Public Health Watch, Louisville Public Media and Mountain State Spotlight. Click here to read Berkes' Q&A with "Inside Appalachia" host Mason Adams on what that investigation has found.

New silica-dust exposure limits aim to protect coal miners from black lung disease; data may not support that promise

The CDC encourages miners to get screened for black-lung
disease; the severest type is on the rise. (CDC graphic)

A proposed federal solution for preventing black-lung disease in coal miners may overlook thousands of deaths, and its regulation would not be enough to push mine operators to change tactics, report Howard Berkes of Public Health Watch and Justin Hicks of Louisville Public Media. "After decades of delay, the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration is finally getting serious about overexposure to silica in the nation’s mines," they write. "The agency is proposing a silica-dust exposure limit twice as tough as it is now. MSHA would also directly regulate excessive silica exposures, something it hasn’t previously done, making citations and fines possible for putting miners at risk."

Black lung "has been a known threat to coal miners for over a century — it’s taken the lives of tens of thousands of Americans since 1968. While black lung became less common through the 1990s, it’s on the rise again. Now, even middle-aged miners have been diagnosed with advanced stages of the disease," reports Allen Siegler of Mountain State Spotlight. "Severe black lung continues to disproportionately affect central Appalachia; from 2019 to mid-2023, nearly 30% of Americans diagnosed with progressive massive fibrosis at federally-funded black lung clinics were West Virginians, according to the Black Lung Data and Resource Center at the University of Illinois. That trend is widely attributed to more frequent exposures to silica dust. . . . Grinding quartz creates silica dust, which is 20 times more toxic than coal dust alone."

How effective MSHA's proposed measures would be is uncertain. "An investigation by Public Health Watch, Louisville Public Media and Mountain State Spotlight shows that the plan’s purported benefits understate the silica risk to coal miners and the urgent need for immediate action," Berkes and Hicks report. 

Siegler reports, "Independent analyses of MSHA’s own coal-mine dust samples show its previous silica-dust exposure limits failed to adequately protect miners for decades. An investigation by NPR and PBS Frontline in 2018 analyzed MSHA’s data and found 21,000 instances of overexposure to silica dust since 1986. . . . While the proposed rule, in its current form, does require regular dust sampling, much of its effectiveness will depend on mining companies sampling their own mines and reporting it accurately and honestly."

At hearing on mine-dust rule, miner advocates and industry find fault; next one is Thursday morning in Beckley, W.Va.

Dr. Drew Harris demonstrates why temporary use of respirators
may not protect miners. (Photo by Justin Hicks, LPM)

The first of three hearings on a regulation proposed to cut in half "the amount of toxic silica dust all miners can legally be exposed to," and extend the first such protections to coal miners, elicited concerns from both sides of the issues, reports Justin Hicks of Louisville Public Media.

"Lung doctors and labor unions representing coal workers profusely thanked the agency for drafting the proposal," but objected to continued reliance on mining companies to record dust exposure, Hicks reports. Dr. Drew Harris, medical director of the Black Lung Program at Stone Mountain Health Services in Virginia, told U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration officials, “Many of my patients were told by their supervisors to do things that are appalling to me, whether it’s covering their dust monitors in coffee filters or putting them in their lunch boxes or being told to hang them in clean air parts of the mine.”

"Miner unions and black lung advocates also chafed at part of the proposal that lets miners 'temporarily' continue work in known silica-laden environments as long as they use respirators," Hicks reports. "Advocates said no clear definition of the word 'temporary' in the rule could leave a loophole for companies to ignore hazards, and practically, they doubt miners will wear respirators faithfully during hot, strenuous work."

On the other hand, "Industry groups – most representing companies who deal in minerals like limestone, sand and gravel – had their own concerns,' Hicks reports. They wanted more than 45 days to submit comments, and asked that the rule acknowledge "that dust exposure at work varies by task, not by the specific job title. They cited an Occupational Safety and Health Administration table for non-mine jobs that involve silica dust.

"Several industry representatives characterized the proposed rule as 'onerous' and speculated that the costs to implement it would put smaller mining companies out of business," Hicks reports, noting that the rule "comes after years of clamoring for stricter measures to address a surge in the incurable lung disease commonly called black lung."

The hearing was held in Arlington, Va. Additional hearings will be held Thursday, Aug. 10 in Beckley, W.Va., and Aug. 21 in Denver. Details are here. The Beckley hearing will be held at the National Mine Health and Safety Academy auditorium, 1301 Airport Rd., starting at 9 a.m.

Labor Department proposes rule to give miners same protection against silica dust as those in other industries

After decades of delay, federal regualators have proposed to limit the exposure of miners to silica dust to the same limits that apply to workers in other industres. Silica dust, produced from sandstone, has been linked to "the rising death toll from lung disease among mining industry workers," West Virginia's Mountain State Spotlight reports.

The Mine Safety and Health Administration, part of the Labor Department, announced the proposal Friday. Before it can take effect, it must be published in the Federal Register and MSHA must hold public hearings. It says those will be held in Arlington, Va., and Denver, but did not announce dates.

The change would reduce the exposure limit to 50 micrograms per cubic meter of air from 100. “This is a good day for miners, although it has been a long time coming,” said United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts. "Just two weeks ago, the UMWA had noted that MSHA under the Biden administration had not yet proposed a new silica dust rule in a statement announcing that the union was not ready to make an endorsement in the 2024 presidential race," Mountain State Spotlight notes.

"In 2018, a landmark investigation by NPR and PBS Frontline focused on the impact of silica dust on a resurgence in deadly lung disease among miners. A 2020 inspector general’s report also criticized MSHA’s inaction on the issue," Mountain State Spotlight notes. The increases were especially large in Central Appalachia, where the depletion of thick coal seams and reliance on thinner ones has led to more generation of silica dust from sandstone that lies next to coal seams.

"The National Mining Association criticized the proposal, because MSHA would allow personal respiratory protection equipment in limited situations, but not as the central compliance tool," Mountain State Spotlight reports.

Stricter rules to prevent black-lung disease and fibrosis, 25 years in the making, are expected to be proposed soon

Michael and Liz Williams pose for a photo outside their home in

McRoberts, Ky. He mined coal for 40 years and has advanced-

stage black lung disease. (Photo by Taylor Sisk, Kaiser Health News)

It's been known for years that black-lung disease and fibrosis among coal miners has increased because coal seams have become thinner and miners are cutting into more sandstone that lies between the seams, but federal regulations still "allow miners to be exposed to twice as much airborne silica as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration permits for workers in other industries," reports Taylor Sisk of Kaiser Health News. "Five U.S. senators representing parts of Central Appalachia believe the Mine Safety and Health Administration has been dangerously slow to fix the discrepancy."

“The Department of Labor has indicated that we could see a proposed rule as early as April, so I’ll be watching this closely and will continue to push for proper protections for coal miners,” Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., told Sisk. Warner was among senators who wrote MSHA November seeking a new standard. MSHA Administrator Chris Williamson said in February that he plans to announce new rules soon, and noted that the rulemaking process began 25 years ago.

“It’s cruel that this would happen in such a rich country,” Wes Addington of the Appalachian Citizens Law Center said of the persistence of black lung. He told Sisk, “We know how to prevent it, and never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that we’d be in a situation where we’re having that same conversation” about progressive massive fibrosis, the lung ailment caused by silica dust.

"The dust turns to sharp particles that become trapped in lung tissue, causing inflammation and scarring and reducing the lungs’ capacity to take in oxygen. The condition is debilitating and potentially fatal," Sisk notes. "In central Appalachia, a region primarily comprising West Virginia, eastern Kentucky and southwestern Virginia, the increase in the disease’s most deadly form, progressive massive fibrosis, has been especially pronounced. Since 2005, black lung cases have tripled in the region and PMF has increased tenfold among long-term miners. A study published last fall identified the driving force behind the spike in severe black lung disease as silica dust."

“We were seeing much more severe disease,” said Dr. Robert Cohen, director of the Mining Education and Research Center at the University of Illinois-Chicago and the study’s lead author. “We were seeing disease in younger miners, with lesser exposures, so, therefore, more intense exposure.”

Study confirms silica has driven uptick in black-lung disease

A new study has confirmed a widespread belief that the cause of black-lung disease in coal miners has shifted recently from coal dust to silica dust. Silica has likely driven a spike in more severe black-lung cases among younger miners in Central Appalachia, the study found, since no other major variables changed over the decades; regulations have remained mostly in place, in come cases getting more strict, and people haven't suddenly become more vulnerable to coal dust.

The University of Chicago-Illinois study, in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society, is the first to examine changes over time in the disease's pathology (how it looks under a microscope, in this case) and its mineralogy (which kind of dust caused it) by comparing miners' lung tissue samples going back more than 100 years. Dr. Robert Cohen, the lead researcher, told NPR that there has been indirect evidence of silica's role, "but his study was the first to examine lung-tissue samples for it.

Coal and silica cause different kinds of lung damage, and though most black-lung disease results from a combination of coal and silica inhalation, modern lung samples showed a greater percentage of silica damage and also a greater amount of silica damage overall.

Silica dust is released when miners drill through rock. It takes more rock drilling and excavation to get a ton of coal today, especially in Central Appalachia, because easy-to-reach coal, in thick seams, is gone.

Quick hits: Ginseng and Appalachia; why your brain likes forests more than cities; did you know about Manure Expo?

Here's a roundup of stories with rural resonance; if you do or see similar work that should be shared on The Rural Blog, email us at heather.chapman@uky.edu.

Registration is open for the North American Manure Expo, which will take place in Chambersburg, Pa., July 13-14. Registrants can enter a t-shirt contest for the Top 10 Rejected Manure Expo Slogans; a recent one suggested that attendees "be part of the movement." We want some of the official swag! Read more here.

On the 150th anniversary of Yellowstone National Park, a fifth of its wolves have been killed by hunters in the last six months. Read more here.

A new book explores the importance of wild ginseng to Appalachia. Read more here.

 

A newly published study shows why your brain prefers walking in a forest to walking down an urban street. Read more here.

The Black Lung Disability Trust Fund is funded by a federal tax on domestically produced and sold coal. At the end of last year that tax was cut by more than half, and the fund is running out of money. Democratic lawmakers have proposed legislation to extend the tax at its original rate through 2031, but the bill has stalled out, leaving the program's future uncertain. Read more here.

Quick hits: minor-league baseball getting squeezed by majors; FCC seeks input on pandemic telehealth program

Here's a roundup of stories with rural resonance; if you do or see similar work that should be shared on The Rural Blog, email us at heather.chapman@uky.edu.

In an echo of rural-urban tensions, minor-league baseball teams are getting squeezed by their major-league counterparts. Read more here.

The myth of the "real American" stems partly from rural homogeneity, and it feeds the growing political rural-urban political polarization, writes a political educator and writer in an op-ed. Read more here.

New study, no surprise: Republicans who relied mostly on Trump for news are more concerned than other conservatives about election fraud. Read more here.

A former supervisor at a Western Kentucky coal mine has pleaded guilty to helping with a scheme to hide the threat of black-lung disease from federal safety inspectors. Read more here.

Rural communities in Oregon paid millions of dollars for clean, safe drinking water because the state didn’t protect their watersheds from logging-related contamination. Read more here.

A Michigan judge nullified a critical permit for an open-pit mining project that's been debated for nearly two decades. Read more here.

A free, online webinar series aims to help rural grocery store owners plan ahead so their store can stay open after they retire. Read more here.

The Federal Communications Commission seeks public input on administering the second round of its pandemic telehealth program. Read more here.

The Low Income Housing Tax Credit plays an outsized role in poverty-stricken rural areas, writes columnist. Read more here.

How will Joe Biden's Pentagon handle extreme right-wing news media? Read more here.

Former coal baron Bob Murray, who fought against black-lung regulations, has filed for black-lung benefits

"Robert E. Murray, the former CEO and president of the now-bankrupt Murray Energy, has filed an application with the U.S. Department of Labor for black-lung benefits. For years, Murray and his company fought against federal mine safety regulations aimed at reducing the debilitating disease," Brittany Patterson and Dave Mistich report for Ohio Valley ReSource. 

In his claim, which is still in the early stages of evaluation, the 80-year-old former coal baron said he heavily depends on an oxygen tank and that he is "near death." He qualifies for black-lung benefits, he wrote, because he worked in an underground mine for 16 of the 63 years he has worked in the industry, and after that went underground "every week until I was age 75," Patterson and Mistich report. But in a 2019 interview with NPR, he said he had a lung disease that was not caused by working in underground mines.

"Reached by phone, Murray declined an on-the-record interview for this story," Patterson and Mistich report. "He disputed that he ever fought against regulations to quell the disease or fought miners from receiving benefits. Murray also threatened to file a lawsuit if a story was published that indicated he had fought federal regulations and benefits."

Citing costs of pandemic, coal companies asks Congress to reduce coal tax that pays black-lung benefits

Citing the economic cost of the coronavirus pandemic, coal companies are asking Congress to let them pay less of the excise tax that pays for miners' black-lung benefits. The move would force the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund, a Labor Department program already about $4 billion in debt to the Treasury, to borrow more money from the federal government to remain solvent, Will Englund reports for The Washington Post. The fund borrowed $1.9 billion in fiscal year 2019 alone.

"The National Mining Association asked Congress last month for a 55 percent cut in the excise tax for the trust fund, and a suspension of another fee that pays to clean up abandoned mines," Englund reports. "Altogether the operators say they could save about $220 million. While the level of taxation to back the fund has fluctuated sharply over the past two years, it currently stands at $1.10 for every ton of coal mined underground and 55 cents for surface coal."

The fund pays for benefits for 25,000 coal miners, and coal industry lobbyists have long sought to reduce their obligation to pay for such benefits, either by seeking cuts to the excise tax or by making it more difficult for miners to be diagnosed with black-lung disease. "Wes Addington, director of the Appalachian Citizens Law Center in Whitesburg, Ky., . . .said that the push would allow the industry to shed liability for a lung disease it caused," Englund reports.

Coal-company bankruptcies have already shifted about $865 million in liability for black-lung disability claims to federal taxpayers in recent years, according to a recent report from the Government Accountability Office.

Federal report shows that coal companies' bankruptcies shifted $865 million in disability claims to taxpayers

"A new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office revealed that shoddy government enforcement has allowed coal companies to transfer $865 million of disability liabilities to taxpayers during bankruptcies in recent years," Will Wright reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader. "The issue revolves around the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund, which exists to ensure that black lung victims receive workers’ compensation payments if their employer becomes insolvent or otherwise fails to provide those payments."

Some coal companies buy insurance to cover such claims, but other companies post collateral with the federal government to show that they have the means to cover the claims. But the report showed that the collateral is often far short of what's needed. "With several more-recent coal company bankruptcies looming in Eastern Kentucky, West Virginia and elsewhere, it is unclear how many millions of dollars of liabilities those companies may soon transfer to taxpayers," Wright reports.

"Coal companies pay into the fund via a tax on the coal they produce, but the fund also borrows billions of dollars from the U.S. Treasury. In fiscal year 2019, it borrowed about $1.9 billion, according to the GAO report," Wright reports. And when coal companies declare bankruptcy and their collateral doesn't cover its black-lung claims, the cost for those claims is shifted to taxpayers.

The GAO report shows that the Labor Department has failed to take steps to prevent this liability shift over the years. According to the report, "the department declined to use enforcement tools to force the company to post adequate collateral, failed to regularly review the financial condition of the coal companies, and did not factor in the companies’ future benefit liability amounts, Wright reports.

Last week the House Subcommittee on Workforce Protection held a hearing on the GAO findings. Labor Department officials said they have strengthened their policies and will take stronger action against companies that don't post adequate collateral, Wright reports.

Under change in Kentucky law, fewer coal miners qualify for black-lung benefits

In March of 2018, Kentucky enacted a law that opponents feared would make it harder for miners to get compensation for black-lung disease. A review of state records shows that the share of Kentucky miners "diagnosed by state-approved experts as having the disease fell from 54 percent before the law change to just 26 percent," Sydney Boles reports for Ohio Valley ReSource, a public-radio consortium. "An analysis of state data by the Ohio Valley ReSource also suggests that the doctors now making decisions on claims more often side with coal companies than with coal miners."

To get black-lung benefits, a miner or family member files a claim with the state Labor Cabinet that includes evidence of diagnosis: a blood-gas analysis showing breathing impairment, and an X-ray showing evidence of black lung. "Once the claim is filed, the miner’s most recent employer’s insurance company can request to have an X-ray read by a physician of their choosing, and the judge overseeing the case can require a third reading from a 'designated evaluator,' whose analysis is presumed to be correct unless there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary," Boles reports.

Before the law was passed, radiologists were allowed to diagnose black lung, since evaluating X-rays is their specialty. But under the new law, only certain pulmonologists, doctors who specialize in the lungs, are allowed to diagnose it, Boles reports. At the time the law was passed, only six Kentucky pulmonologists had the federal certification to diagnose black lung, and four of them were routinely hired by coal companies or their insurers, Howard Berkes of NPR and Benny Becker of OVR reported at the time. The law also excluded out-of-state doctors from diagnosing the disease.

Only two pulmonologists, both with ties to the coal industry, chose to serve as designated evaluators. Data showed that both disagreed with an initial black lung diagnosis in 85.5% of cases, Boles reports.

"The changes to state law have not resulted in a backlog of cases, as opponents had feared. But state records indicate that the restrictions have had an impact on the share of miners who win their claims," Boles reports. "The ReSource found that 161 benefits claims were filed but only 16 coal miners were awarded black lung benefits in 2019. That’s the lowest ratio of claims awarded to claims dismissed in the past seven years." Boles notes that not all claims are resolved in the same calendar year in which they are filed.

McConnell on bipartisan bill to protect coal miners' pensions

A bipartisan Senate bill introduced Wednesday would "secure the pensions for nearly 90,000 retired coal miners as a recent wave of coal company bankruptcies threatens the solvency of the federal pension fund," Valerie Volcovici reports for Reuters. "If passed, the bill would secure the pensions of around 92,000 retired and working coal miners and ensure health care for 12,000 retirees."

The telling news was that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky joined fellow Republican Shelly Moore Capito and Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia to sponsor the bill. It would use money from the federal Abandoned Mine Land program, funded by a coal tax, to prevent the United Mine Workers of America's pension plan from becoming insolvent.

"A bankruptcy filing last week by one of the largest coal mining companies, Murray Energy, was expected to hasten the insolvency of the pension fund - estimated to occur by 2022, Volcovici reports. "Eight other coal companies have filed for bankruptcy over the last two years as natural gas has taken over as the primary fuel for U.S. power plants."

The miners' union has been asking Congress to pass such legislation for years, and called the bill a breakthrough. However, the bill does not address the future solvency of health insurance for miners with black-lung disease. "Manchin had included a measure to restore a higher coal excise tax to boost the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund in an earlier version of a pension bill, but said Wednesday he would introduce a separate bill to tackle that issue," Volcovici reports. "For now, he said the Senate has a path forward to address the looming crisis facing the pension fund."

Top reporters on coal industry accept Tom and Pat Gish Award for courage, tenacity, integrity in rural journalism

Paul J. Nyden (deceased), Ken Ward Jr. and Howard Berkes

Three leaders in coverage of the coal industry in Central Appalachia and elsewhere received the nation's only award for courage, tenacity and integrity in rural journalism Thursday night.

The Tom and Pat Gish Award, named for the late editor-publishers of The Mountain Eagle in Whitesburg, Ky., went to Ken Ward Jr. of the Charleston Gazette-Mail; his mentor at the Gazette, the late Paul J. Nyden; and Howard Berkes, who retired this year as NPR's rural correspondent.

"Our three honorees join a long list of rural journalists who have demonstrated the courage, integrity and tenacity that is so often necessary to do good journalism in rural areas. In their own special ways, they live up to the example set by Tom and Pat Gish," said Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the University of Kentucky, which presents the award (and publishes The Rural Blog).

The presentations at the institute's annual Al Smith Awards Dinner had a strong West Virginia presence. West Virginia University law professor Pat McGinley accepted for Nyden, and Berkes talked about how he uncovered an epidemic of black-lung disease among coal miners in eastern Kentucky, Virginia and southern West Virginia that federal regulators had ignored or even denied.

Ben Gish, right, presents a Gish Award to Howard Berkes

Berkes said he had received many awards in his career, but puts the Gish Award at the top of the list because it is named for the Gishes, whom he knew. The awards were presented by their son, Ben Gish, publisher of The Mountain Eagle.

Ward is "the nation's best reporter on the coal industry," Cross told the crowd of 235 at the dinner in Lexington, Ky.

Ward said Nyden believed there were only two rules in journalism: Number one, "You find out who the bad guys are and you screw 'em." Number two? "You screw 'em again."

Cross said that might make non-journalists in the crowd wonder about objectivity in journalism. He said true objectivity is an impossible goal, but good journalists follow an objective method, testing all the information they get and putting it through a rigorous editing process.

Nyden's "hard-hitting reporting was matched by his kind personality," Cross said. "When he died last year, one former Gazette journalist wrote, 'Paul Nyden had an extraordinary talent I’ve never seen in a reporter, before or since. He could excoriate people in print one day and have them as guests at parties the next.' And that, of course, is a key to developing good sources, which produce good stories."

David Thompson, center, with KPA President-Elect Jeff Jobe,
left, and KPA President Jay Nolan (Photo by Claudia Nolan)

The Al Smith Award for public service through community journalism by a Kentuckian went to Kentucky Press Association Executive Director David Thompson, who has been in the job for 36 years, longer than any other current newspaper-association executive in North America. He was recognized for his long service and his recent lobbying to preserve state open-government laws. For a story on Thompson by Mike Scogin of the News-Graphic of Georgetown, his hometown, click here. He also wrote an editorial.

The guest speaker at the dinner was political commentator Howard Fineman, who covered coal and energy for the Louisville Courier Journal 40 years ago. A Pittsburgh native, he fondly recalled his reporting experiences in Eastern Kentucky. He filled in for Chuck Todd of NBC News, who was forced to stay in Washington because of the presidential impeachment news.

Coal miners urge Congress to replenish black-lung fund

About 120 coal miners with black-lung disease and their families went to Capitol Hill Tuesday to ask lawmakers to fully restore a coal tax that pays for medical care and some living expenses for miners with their condition. "The tax was cut more than 50 percent at the end of last year. It supports the federal Black Lung Disability Trust Fund, which is more than $4 billion in debt," Howard Berkes and Huo Jingnan report for NPR. Berkes has reported doggedly on black lung for years, and his reporting helped earn him a Tom and Pat Gish Award for courage, integrity and tenacity in rural journalism.

"The Government Accountability Office has said without an extension of previous tax levels the fund’s debt will rise from $5 billion to $15 billion by 2050 – a burden that would likely have to be met by U.S. taxpayers instead of coal companies," Valerie Volcovici reports for Reuters. "Coal company bankruptcies and a resurgence of the disease are accelerating the risk of insolvency for the fund, according to the accountability office."

Some miners told Volcovici they were left disappointed after a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. She reports: "McConnell, the Republican leader who represents Kentucky, one of the states that has seen a rebound in the progressive respiratory illness, told them their benefits would be safe, but gave no assurances about the excise tax and left without answering questions or offering details, several of the miners who attended the meeting said."

George Massey, a retired miner from Harlan County, Kentucky, who is on disability, told Volcovici he was disappointed by the brief meeting: "We rode up here for 10 hours by bus to get some answers from him because he represents our state . . . For him to come in for just two minutes was a low-down shame."

The miners' presence in Washington was meant to increase pressure on the Mine Safety and Health Administration, "which has resisted direct and quick responses to the epidemic and silica dust exposure," Berkes and Jingnan report. "As NPR and PBS Frontline have reported, MSHA and the mining industry failed to respond to clear agency data showing three decades of overexposure to toxic silica dust. They also failed to respond to warnings more than 20 years ago about clusters of sick miners exposed to silica and to an urgent call for direct and tougher regulation of silica dust in coal mines. In the wake of the NPR/Frontline investigation, the agency did restart an abandoned effort to consider direct and tougher regulation of silica, but the process could take years."

The miners' visit came a week after the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health published a summary of studies that confirmed an increase in black lung among coal miners, especially in Appalachia. "NIOSH cited NPR and PBS Frontline reporting in the review, including detailed and systematic interviews of 34 miners from Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia and Kentucky, all diagnosed with PMF," Berkes and Jingnan report. The reporting of Berkes in the last few years formed the basis of a recent documentary on "Frontline."

As miners head to D.C. Tuesday to seek black-lung funds, NPR and PBS set screening of documentary on disease

NPR and the PBS program "Frontline" will hold a special screening of their documentary Coal's Deadly Dust from 7 to 8:30 p.m. July 23 at NPR headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Howard Berkes (Salt Lake Tribune photo)

The film, first released in January, explores the rise of advanced black-lung disease among coal miners and the government's limited response. After the screening, there will be a panel discussion with people in the film, including recently retired NPR reporter Howard Berkes, who reported tirelessly on black lung for years and whose reporting was the basis for the documentary; coal miners Greg Kelly and Danny Smith, who both have black lung; epidemiologist Scott Laney of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health; respiratory therapist Marcy Tate; and former federal mine safety official Celeste Monforton.

The event is free and open to the public, but an RSVP is requested. Click here for more information or to reserve a seat. If you're not able to attend, click here to view the film.

Also Tuesday, about 120 coal miners, many with black lung, will be in Washington to urge Congress to restore a tax that finances the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund. The tax, paid by coal companies, helps pay medical expenses of black-lung patients, but in January the tax was cut in half. The fund is at least $4.3 billion in debt, The Associated Press reports.

Quick hits: black-lung program underfunded; media protest EPA's FOIA rule; does free trade lead to opioid ODs?

Here's a roundup of stories with rural resonance; if you do or see similar work that should be shared on The Rural Blog, email us at heather.chapman@uky.edu.

As black-lung cases increase, federal funding has fallen sharply for a program that helps care for those with the disease, Joe Davidson writes for The Washington Post.

Though the nationwide unemployment rate is low, lost manufacturing jobs mean rural Tennessee hasn't recovered from the Great Recession as well as urban areas have, economics student and rural policy researcher John Casey writes in an op-ed for The Tennessean.

Nearly 40 news media publications co-signed a letter to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler, protesting a new rule that gives EPA more power to refuse requests for information made under the Freedom of Information Act, Miranda Green reports for The Hill.

A new study suggests that free-trade policy plays a role in opioid-overdose deaths, Chuck Dinerstein reports for the American Council on Science and Health: "Free trade shifts the manufacture of goods to the cheapest supplier . . .trade-related job loss closes factories, eliminates middle-class jobs, and, as it turns out, disproportionately impacts those regions in the U.S. most burdened by opioids’ disruption. The displaced workers, often less-educated, have only short term unemployment benefits for what has become a long term problem. There is also evidence that one way to make ends meet, is to apply for disability benefits; benefits that require a medical examination and are associated with a greater likelihood of being prescribed opioids. That argument aside, the researchers feel that trade-related job loss has two additional impacts. It eliminates manufacturing jobs that pay relatively well; the closing of local factors ripples through the community and affects not only the directly employed but those that are working in support of the lost jobs, like luncheonettes, grocery stores, the local retail community that gives regions an economic and cultural life. Finally, manufacturing jobs are labor-intensive, they cause aches and pains often treated, rightly or wrongly, with opioids – with no source of income and a medication 'habit,' illicit drugs are a convenient substitute."