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Showing posts with label lung disease. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lung disease. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 06, 2023

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

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The CDC encourages miners to get screened for black-lung disease; the severest type is on the rise. (CDC graphic) A proposed federal soluti...
Monday, August 07, 2023

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

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Dr. Drew Harris demonstrates why temporary use of respirators may not protect miners. (Photo by Justin Hicks, LPM) The first of three hearin...
Wednesday, July 05, 2023

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

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After decades of delay, federal regualators have  proposed to limit  the exposure of miners to silica dust to the same limits that apply to ...
Wednesday, March 15, 2023

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

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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...
Wednesday, July 28, 2021

How to protect your lungs from wildfire smoke; interactive map shows smoke in your area

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The big wildfires right now are in the West, but the smoke is drifting all the way to the Atlantic, so rural areas that usually don't ha...
Friday, April 23, 2021

Quick hits: Idaho Senate approves bill to kill 90% of state's wolves; federal pandemic aid isn't reaching some of the poor

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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  he...
Thursday, August 27, 2020

San Joaquin farmworkers beset by heat, smoke, pandemic

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California's San Joaquin Valley is a critical agricultural area that supplies a wealth of fruits, vegetables, and nuts to the rest of th...
Saturday, April 18, 2020

Black women fearing covid-19 choose home birth, adding to their underlying risk of complication, especially in rural areas

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Getty Images photo via Stateline African American women are two to three times more likely to die from causes related to pregnancy than...
Friday, April 10, 2020

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

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Citing the economic cost of the coronavirus pandemic, coal companies are asking Congress to let them pay less of the excise tax that pays f...
Thursday, April 09, 2020

Epidemiologists projecting virus's impact on state health-care systems begin to make estimates at the county level

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CovidActNow map; gray areas have insufficient data to make projections. (For a slightly larger version, click on it) A group of epidem...

Feds end support for state testing, but plan new program for smaller cities and towns that haven't been heavily hit yet

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The coronavirus crisis has been worsened by the lack of testing, which has been especially scant in rural areas, but federal officials plan...
Thursday, March 12, 2020

Seniors live longer these days, but not as long in rural areas, and their lifespans lag many other developed nations

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Life expectancy for seniors at age 65 increased across the board from 2000 to 2016, but not nearly as much in rural areas, according to a n...
Tuesday, March 03, 2020

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

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"A new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office revealed that shoddy government enforcement has allowed coal companies t...
Friday, February 28, 2020

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

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In March of 2018, Kentucky enacted  a law  that opponents feared would make it harder for miners to get compensation for black-lung disease...
Thursday, December 12, 2019

Report: cutting black lung funding will cost taxpayers billions

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A recent cut to the tax coal companies pay to help miners with black-lung disease will cost taxpayers at least $15 billion by 2050, accordi...
Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Study: Surface coal miners more exposed than underground miners to silica dust that causes lung disease

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Appalachian coal miners who work at surface mines are consistently overexposed to the silica dust that causes a form of black-lung disease,...
Thursday, November 07, 2019

McConnell on bipartisan bill to protect coal miners' pensions

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A bipartisan Senate bill introduced Wednesday would "secure the pensions for nearly 90,000 retired coal miners as a recent wave of coa...
Friday, October 25, 2019

Quick hits, from Appalachia to Mississippi to Colorado to Minnesota to Canada

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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 he...
Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Coal miners urge Congress to replenish black-lung fund

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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 ...
Friday, July 19, 2019

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

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NPR and the PBS program "Frontline" will hold a special screening of their documentary Coal's Deadly Dust from 7 to 8:30 p...