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.

3 Charleston Gazette-Mail reporters say paper fired them for criticizing publisher's fawning interview with ex-coal baron

Three reporters from West Virginia's Charleston Gazette-Mail say the newspaper fired them after publicly criticized their company president's video interview with former coal baron Don Blankenship, "who was convicted of a safety violation in connection with the worst U.S. mine disaster in decades," reports John Raby of The Associated Press.

Doug Skaff

Caity Coyne, Lacie Pierson and Ryan Quinn said they were fired because of comments on Twitter about the interview by HD Media President Doug Skaff of Huntington, who is leader of the Democratic minority in the state House of Delegates. He didn't reply to messages seeking comment.

The interview, part of the “Outside The Echo Chamber” feature on the paper's website, was posted last week but is no longer there. "In response to a question about the dwindling coal industry, Blankenship calls climate change 'an absolute hoax.' The comment goes unrebutted," Raby reports. "Blankenship also is asked to promote his 2020 book about the mine disaster, in which he repeats his claims of innocence and blames the administration of then-President Barack Obama."

Don Blankenship

Blankenship once ran now-defunct Massey Energy, which owned the Upper Big Branch mine where a 2010 explosion killed 29 miners. He was convicted in 2015 of a misdemeanor for conspiring to violate mine safety laws and was sentenced to one year in federal prison.

Skaff told Blankenship at the end of the interview, “Thanks for what you did for the community down there. I know your heart’s in the right place. And you want to see southern West Virginia built back to the best that they can.”

Quinn said in a series of tweets, backed by Pierson and Coyne, that Skaff shouldn't have given Blankenship a platform without giving journalists the opportunity to ask follow-up questions.

“I don’t have the words for how screwed up this is,” Coyne, who had previously announced she was leaving the paper, told AP. “I’ve met families whose loved ones died in UBB. I’ve watched them cry as they remember their relatives and their fight for answers after the disaster. Who cares where Blankenship’s heart lies? What a slap in the face to them.”

On his WestVirginiaVille newsletter on Substack, former Gazette journalist Douglas John Imbrogno recalls the newpsaper's storied history and laments this episode.

Imbrogno's post includes a screenshot from an old "Meet the Press" on NBC-TV, right, in which one of the questioners was then-Publisher Ned Chilton, whose main marching order to the Gazette staff was "sustained outrage." Imbrogno says this meant "to stick like a bloodhound to a story of misuse of power, corruption, and naked self-interest."

Republicans still effectively control mine-safety commission, which seems not to be a priority for Senate Democrats

"Sixteen months into the Biden presidency, Republicans still effectively control a federal agency that oversees mine safety, frustrating miner advocates who say the Trump nominees will continue to hand down decisions friendly to mine operators," Dave Jamieson reports for Huffpost. "Not many people outside the industry would be familiar with the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, an independent agency that reviews legal disputes stemming from citations and fines against mining companies. But the commission plays a crucial role in making sure workers come out of their mines alive, by interpreting health and safety law and seeing that it’s properly enforced by federal inspectors."

The commission is meant to have five members with staggered terms: three from the president's party and two from other parties. Right now the chair, Art Traynor, is the only Democrat on the commission, and he can be outvoted by his two Republican counterparts, William Althen and Marco Rajkovich (both of whom are longtime mining company lawyers). President Biden has nominated two Democrats, but the Senate has not scheduled a vote to confirm them, Jamieson reports. 

The main problem is that the Senate has too much on its plate to prioritize the mine safety commissioner confirmations, according to Max Stier, president of the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, which tracks presidential nominees. "It’s a classic small pipe with too much being jammed through it," he told Jamieson. "It’s the agencies that don’t have the overall political pull that end up falling by the wayside." One United Mine Mine Workers of America official said he believes a Republican senator is blocking the confirmation votes with a hold, Jael Holzman reports for Energy & Environment News. Even if Biden's two nominees were quickly confirmed, the commission might not stay under Democrats' control for long unless the Senate also reconfirms Traynor, since his term expires in August, Jamieson notes.

Traynor, meanwhile, has recently alleged "seriously unethical and criminal misconduct" by the two Republican commissioners, including fraudulent work benefits issued through a pandemic relief program, Holzman reports.

Biden recently nominated a mine-safety chief, but still no one to run Interior Department's Office of Surface Mining

"Congress approved $11.3 billion to clean up abandoned mine lands in the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, but environmental groups are worried that President Biden hasn’t chosen anyone to oversee how that money is spent on coal mines," Jael Holzman reports for Energy & Environment News.

President Biden hasn't nominated anyone to run the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, which hasn't even had an acting director, Holzman concludes from the website of the agency, part of the Interior Department.

Tuesday, the Sierra Club and other activists, mainly from Appalachian states, urged Biden to nominate an OSM director to see that the money is “carefully administered.” They also asked, among other things, that the new money be spent on mines that closed before 1977. That's when Congress passed the federal strip-mine law, which included a severance tax on coal to fund reclamation of abandoned mines.

"This letter comes after Biden recently made picks for posts at other mining-related government agencies, including Christopher Williamson, a labor attorney and former staffer for West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, to run the Mine Safety and Health Administration," a Labor Department agency, Holzman reports, without making the departmental distinction.

Tom T. Hall, who did 'a rhyming journalism of the heart,' dies

Tom T. Hall (Photo by Robert Oermann)

Tom T, Hall, who chronicled the everyday experiences of rural America in plain language that was always understood, died Friday at his home in Franklin, Tennessee. He was 85.

Hall practiced "a rhyming journalism of the heart that sets his compositions apart from any other writer," Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum CEO Kyle Young said. "They are bound by his ceaseless and unyielding empathy for the triumphs and losses of others."

Country-music pioneer dubbed Hall "The storyteller." He "joined Kris Kristofferson and Billy Joe Shaver in bringing a class of storytelling to country music unlike those before them," writes Matthew Leimkuehler of the Nashville Tennessean. "Hall timelessly an empathetically chronicled the human spirit — from barstool stories to cemetery caretakers — with words that would influence generations of wordsmiths to follow."

Sperling's Best Places map

Hall was born in Olive Hill, Kentucky. He was a performer while in the Army, and wrote humorous songs about Army life. His big break was “Harper Valley PTA” in 1968. "The record skyrocketed to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and County Music singles charts, an impressive feat in a rich music era," writes Bruce Haring of Deadline.

"It freed Hall to record his own work, which included songs about burying a man who owed him 40 dollars [which you don't learn until the song's last line], mourning the death of the local hero who taught him how to drink and play guitar, and 'Trip to Hyden,' a journalistic tale of a drive to the scene of a mining disaster that was part Woody Guthrie, part Studs Terkel," says Rolling Stone's list* of 100 Greatest Songwriters, which ranks him No. 99. ["I guess the old man thought we were reporters," one line goes.] "Hall was an English major who said he learned to write songs by osmosis, soaking up everything from Dickens to Hemingway. His best work was charged with literary irony but unfolded with the ease of spoken language," as he wrote for Jeannie C. Riley in "Harper Valley PTA." Here's the next-to-last stanza:

"Well, Mr. Harper couldn't be here 'cause he stayed too long at Kelly's Bar again.

And if you smell Shirley Thompson's breath you'll find she's had a little nip of gin.
And then you have the nerve to tell me you think that as a mother I'm not fit!
Well, this is just a little Peyton Place, and you're all Harper Valley hypocrites."

*Other country writers on the list: 94.John Prine; 89.Felice and Boudleaux Bryant; 87.Kris Kristofferson; 79.Lucinda Williams; 76.Loretta Lynn; 60.Willie Nelson; 43.Johnny Cash; 33.Merle Haggard; 30.Dolly Parton; 28.Woody Guthrie; 13.Hank Williams

David Hawpe, who advocated for rural Kentucky as head of the state's largest newsroom, dies at 78; here's a tribute

By Al Cross

Director, Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, University of Kentucky

David Hawpe died last night at 78. He was my friend and colleague for more than 40 years, and he was a great friend to rural journalism in Kentucky, where we both lived almost all our lives.

David V. Hawpe (1996 C-J photo)

David was editor of the Louisville Courier Journal (formerly The Courier-Journal), and before and after that managing editor and editorial director. During that span, I was a regional reporter, city reporter, state-capital reporter and political writer, and I still write a political column that appears in the paper.

When another longtime friend and colleague, CJ reporter Andy Wolfson, asked for David's legacy and accomplishments for his story, I said for that me his greatest legacy was the preservation of the newspaper as a statewide voice until his retirement in 2009.

The C-J had a statewide system of news bureaus that I do not believe was surpassed by any other paper, and it was one of the last to close its far-flung bureaus, in 2005. The one closest to David's heart was in Hazard, where one of his first big stories was the Hurricane Creek coal-mine explosion that killed 38 miners at the end of 1970. He told Alan Maimon, the paper's last Hazard reporter, that he vowed after the disaster to "do what he could as a journalist to bring attention to, and advocate for, mine safety," Alan writes in his new book, Twilight in Hazard.

David made good on that promise as managing editor from 1979 to 1987, as editor from 1987 to 1996, and even as editorial director, a job that had no news responsibilities. Hazard reporter Gardiner Harris's revelatory 1998 series about dangerous coal dust in mines might not have been published if David hadn't pushed for it. It helped to have a ranking person in the building who had lived significant pieces of his life in Eastern Kentucky; he was born in Pikeville, in the state's easternmost county, and grew up in Louisville.

Even from an office that was on a floor below the newsroom, David had influence, and people listened to him, because beneath the initial bluster that he would often use to start a conversation, he was a first-class journalist dedicated to our craft's role essential role public service. I have no doubt that without him, the paper would have closed its bureaus earlier; outside the Louisville television market, they made no commercial sense, because Louisville advertising sold very little goods and services in the farther reaches of Kentucky, a state that lies in 10 TV markets.

Map shows TV market areas that include Kentucky.

The state's Balkanized media landscape meant that even after TV became the leading news source for Kentuckians, The Courier-Journal had reach and influence. It was a statewide institution, helping Kentuckians in cities, small towns and rural hamlets realize that they had something in common, and the newspaper was a place to find it. It still plays that role online, but to a much lesser degree.

When Alex S. Jones, then of The New York Times, asked me in the C-J newsroom the day Gannett Co. bought the paper from the Bingham family in 1986 what the test of the new owner would be, I said it would be the maintenance of the statewide news operation. That faded in fits and starts, and it was a proximate reason that I left the paper in 2004. But I am sure that if it hadn't been for David, the fade would have come sooner. For that, rural Kentucky owes a debt to David Hawpe.

Honoring lost miners 10 years after Upper Big Branch blast

Judy Jones Peterson looks at a photo of her brother, who
died in the mine explosion. (NPR photo by Howard Berkes)

Ten years ago yesterday, 29 coal miners lost their lives during an explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine in Raleigh County, West Virginia. An episode of West Virginia Public Broadcasting's "Inside Appalachia" remembers those who died and explores how the families, artists and communities have memorialized those lost. Click here to the episode.

The episode features an interview with husband and wife playwrights Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, who wrote a play about the disaster called "Coal Country."

Blank and Jensen drew on hours of interviews and court testimony for inspiration, Jeff Young reports for Ohio Valley ReSource. The play opened to critical acclaim at The Public Theater in New York City on March 3, but was postponed after two weeks because of the pandemic.

Blank and Jensen, who live in Brooklyn, New York, said they had a hard time getting family members to return their calls when they first became interested in writing a play, but had a much easier time after they began traveling to Charleston and having long visits with the families, Young reports. Jensen, who grew up in the rural Midwest, said he could relate to the mining families, and both say they hope the play will help urban audiences better understand life in coal country.

Though "Coal Country" isn't a musical, country rock singer Steve Earle wrote songs for it that he performs as accompaniment. "Earle sits on stage with a guitar or banjo and listens intently to the actors, then adds a song that might echo a characters’ loss or hint at deeper themes. Jensen described his role as akin to a Greek chorus of one," Young reports.

On April 5, Earle gave a livestreamed performance of the songs online, which you can listen to here.

Federal audit: $1 billion in fines hasn't made mines safer

Fines of more than $1 billion over 18 years for unsafe conditions have not improved mine safety, according to a four-year long audit from the Labor Department's inspector general.

"The audit was prompted by a 2014 NPR investigation of thousands of mines and mining companies that did find such a connection. Specifically, NPR found that mines that persistently ignored their penalties had injury rates 50 percent higher than mines that paid their fines," Howard Berkes and Robert Benincasa report for NPR. "In total, NPR examined the safety records of mines that had failed to pay nearly $70 million in penalties, some with delinquent fines that were decades old.

The auditors took a different tack, though: They measured data for mining companies instead of individual mines, which the OIG said made sense because mine operators must pay penalties for unsafe conditions. They also assessed safety by comparing raw numbers and averages of serious accidents and violations. That differs from the Mine Safety and Health Administration's primary metric, which is usually the rate of incidents and injuries during hours worked, NPR reports.

"The audit doesn't say whether the measures of safety and violations applied only after mines or mining companies failed to pay safety fines or while they continued to be delinquent. NPR's analysis of delinquent fines and safety applied only to mines while they were delinquent."

Wes Addington, director of the Appalachian Citizens Law Center in Whitesburg, Ky;, told NPR the audit shows that "violations are just a cost of doing business." Addington, who once conducted an independent analysis of overdue mine safety penalties and their impacts on safety, also calls the audit "superficial" and "poorly designed" because it conflates coal mines with other kinds of mines. That skews the data, he said, because metal and nonmetal mines have lower injury and violation rates.

"The auditors did recommend that MSHA not permit mining companies to operate new mines if they have outstanding penalties at existing operations," NPR reports. But "MSHA says it does not have the legal authority to deny mine operators the ability to open new mines due to unpaid fines."

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."

Justice sues Justice, so to speak: Feds seek $4.7 million in fines owed by coal companies owned by W.Va. governor

West Virginia Governor Jim Justice

"The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a civil lawsuit against 23 coal companies owned by the family of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, seeking more than $4.7 million in unpaid fines and fees for mine safety and health violations," Brittany Patterson reports for West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

The DOJ said in a news release that companies being sued racked up almost 2,300 safety and health violations in the past five years, and ignored multiple demands by several federal agencies to pay the debts. The companies are in Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia, Patterson reports.

Investigative reporting over the past few years brought Justice's debts to the public's attention. A 2016 investigation by NPR, the Ohio Valley ReSource and WVPB "found that Justice’s mines owed $2.6 million in overdue mines safety fines, as well as millions more in unpaid tax debt," Patterson notes. An OVR story last month revealed that the amount had increased to $4.3 million. "That meant the Justice companies had by far the highest delinquent mine safety debt in the U.S. mining industry," Park reports. "And it was also far more than the companies owed when Justice ran for governor in 2016, when he pledged to make good on such debts."

Top manager of bankrupt coal company's Western Kentucky mines is charged with ordering falsification of dust samples

Last year, eight former supervisors for now-bankrupt Armstrong Coal Co. were indicted on charges of conspiring to submit fraudulent dust samples to the federal government. This week, their boss was charged with ordering the fraud. Glendal "Buddy" Hardison, 69, of Belton, was "one of the most senior-level former coal company officials in Kentucky," the U.S. Department of Justice office for the Western District of Kentucky said in a headline on its press release about the indictment.

The indictment alleges Hardison and his minions "conspired to commit dust fraud by knowingly and willfully altering the company's required dust-sampling procedures, by circumventing the dust-sampling regulations, submitting false samples, and by making false statements on dust certification cards," from 2013 through August 2015.

U.S. Attorney Russell Coleman and Asst. U.S. Atty. Randy Ream
announced the indictment. (Photo by Kelly Farrell, The Messenger)

U.S. Attorney Russell Coleman and Assistant U.S. Attorney Randy Ream traveled 150 miles to Madisonville to hold a press conference about the indictments at the regional office of the Mine Safety and Health Administration.

"We're going after the bad actors, such as Armstrong Coal, and I can assure you this investigation remains open and this investigation remains active," Coleman said. "Our goal is to go up the chain to those that made decisions, very clear business decisions that exposed miners to a grave degree of risk" at Armstrong's Parkway and Kronos mines.

Kelly Farrell of The Messenger in Madisonville reports, "Michael 'Flip' Wilson of Hanson, who mined for more than 40 years, attended the press conference and said afterward he worked at Parkway Mine in Muhlenberg County. He estimated about 165 people were exposed to dust at the mine. The mine is no longer open, while Kronos Mine [in Ohio County] is in operation under different ownership."

"It's about time for somebody to stand up and do the right thing," Wilson told Farrell. "I've got black lung in both lungs and am not able to do anything now." Cases of the disease have surged in Kentucky in recent years.

Black-lung clinics call for more action to protect coal miners

A coalition of black-lung clinics is calling for the federal government to better protect coal miners from breathing dust that causes the disease, but the government's top mine safety and health regulator said recently he has no plans to do so.

The statement, released Monday by the National Coalition of Black Lung and Respiratory Disease Clinics, comes in the wake of a recent investigation by NPR and PBS's Frontline which found that more than 2,300 miners in Central Appalachia are sick with black lung or massive fibrosis, and that industry and government regulators are not taking decisive action to prevent it or adequately treat or release benefits to afflicted miners, Jeff Young reports for Ohio Valley Resource.

The coalition said in the statement that the federal government has "more than enough data" to conclude that current practices expose miners to a dangerous level of risk and that new safety measures must be implemented, Young reports.

"Specifically, the coalition asks regulators to enact a standard to control the dust generated when mining equipment cuts into rock containing silica, or quartz. Silica dust is highly toxic and, as the NPR investigation shows, health advisors urged tighter control standards on that dust decades ago," because it causes fibrosis, Young reports. "In a recent call with mining industry stakeholders, the government’s top mine safety and health regulator, David Zatezalo, said he would have 'no announcements' on any new measures to control dust or to address lung disease among miners."

Zatezalo, a former mining executive, defended the Mine Safety and Health Administration's system of monitoring dust exposure in mines, saying they have more than doubled sampling and use personal dust monitors, and that incidents where samples exceed the dust standard are one-third to one-fifth as common as they were before the new monitoring was put in place, Young reports.

"However, the new devices do not specifically monitor for dust from quartz, or silica. And as the NPR investigation points out, MSHA’s own data show that earlier attempts to use an overall dust standard to control quartz dust exposure resulted in thousands of incidents where miners were exposed to excessive quartz dust," Young reports.

Getting black-lung benefits a daunting task for coal miners

Black-lung claims by total received since July 1, 1973, including terminated, non-approved claims and Medical Benefits Only claims. (Ohio Valley Resource map; click the image to enlarge it)

Black-lung disease is common among coal miners, with one in 10 nationwide suffering some form of it. The disease hit a 25-year high in Central Appalachia last year, where one in five suffer from it. But accessing federal benefits for the sometimes debilitating and deadly disease can be difficult, often taking years of fighting through bureaucracy, Sydney Boles reports for Ohio Valley Resource.

"The black lung benefits process is really adversarial," Evan Smith, an AppalReD Legal Aid attorney who represents miners and widows in black-lung litigation, told Boles. "For people who just kind of file a claim and think they can figure out the system on their own, sadly, they’re really at a disadvantage."

Applying for benefits is a task mostly left to the wives of coal miners who died (or are dying) from black lung disease. The time-consuming process can be daunting and prohibitively expensive for women often struggling financially without their spouse's income, Boles reports.

Black-lung claims are often denied because the miner's lung damage was ruled to have been caused by smoking, or the miner died from another primary cause such as a heart attack, or the miner's blood oxygen level isn't quite low enough to qualify, Boles reports. That's despite a recent investigation NPR and the PBS program Frontline which found that federal regulators failed to protect coal miners from black lung, despite many warnings.

But even before an official diagnosis, black lung can effectively cripple miners living with the disease. As part of their investigation, NPR and PBS interviewed dozens of sufferers in Central Appalachia and heard about how black lung has changed their lives. "I can't follow a hound through the mountains nowadays. I had to give all that up," said Paul Kinder of Honaker, Va. "The old saying goes, you lay down with dogs, you get up with fleas. And if you work in the coal mines, you're going to get black lung."

Mining regulators could have stopped black-lung epidemic, reports NPR's Howard Berkes, who retires Dec. 31

Danny Smith, one of the miners interviewed, poses at the
coal mine where he worked. (NPR photo by Rich-Joseph Facun)

After analyzing 30 years of federal regulatory data, NPR and the PBS program "Frontline" report that government regulators had evidence of excessive and toxic dust in coal mines, and knew it was causing black-lung disease, but failed to protect miners even after they were "urged to take specific and direct action to stop it," Howard Berkes, Huo Jingnan and Robert Benincasa report for NPR.

In 85 percent of the samples regulators collected from mines, coal and silica dust were at safe levels. The other 15 percent, some 21,000 samples, showed excessive levels of the toxic dust. When regulators found too much silica dust, they made coal mines observe much stricter limits on coal dust, since silica and coal dust are often mixed together in the air. But not always: dangerous levels of silica were found in almost 9,000 samples even after the mines were required to reduce coal dust. And because inspections are so infrequent and not done while miners were actively mining at full production, it's almost certain that more miners were exposed to excessive amounts of toxic dust than regulators knew about, Berkes, Jingnan and Benincasa report.

"We failed," Clinton-era mine safety regulator Celeste Monforton told Berkes. "Had we taken action at that time, I really believe that we would not be seeing the disease we're seeing now. . . . Having miners die at such young ages from exposures that happened 20 years ago . . . I mean, this is such a gross and frank example of regulatory failure." Monforton is now a workplace safety advocate and teaches at George Washington and Texas State universities.

The investigation is notable for being the second collaboration on black lung by NPR and another nonprofit news outlet. After a multiyear investigation, NPR and Chris Hamby of the Center for Public Integrity reported in 2016 that the disease was surging among coal miners, and that the federal government had far underreported the numbers.

Howard Berkes

One more reason the story is notable: It's one of the last NPR will have from Howard Berkes, who will leave its air Dec. 31 after a nearly 40-year career at the network. Berkes told The Rural Blog he'll be working off air a little longer to finish up the Frontline report, scheduled to air on PBS Jan. 22.

Berkes has focused on investigative projects since 2010, many about black lung; before that he spent 10 years as NPR's first rural-affairs correspondent. He also covered eight summer and winter Olympics and has won more than 40 major journalism awards.

What has driven Berkes' tenacity as a watchdog for coal miners? "We as journalists do our best when we focus on those who have the least and suffer the most," he told The Rural Blog. "My investigative reporting following [West Virginia's] Upper Big Branch mine disaster in 2010 made me realize how dependent coal miners are on federal regulators doing their jobs and mining companies doing the right thing. Coal miners also tend to be misunderstood, dismissed and demonized. These are people without much of a voice and regulatory failure can be catastrophic. How could I turn away?"

An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified NPR's partner in the earlier investigation.

Ky. jury awards $67.5 million to miners whose defective dust masks (and smoking) caused black lung

A jury in Knott County, Ky., awarded $67.5 million to two former coal miners who alleged that defective dust masks led to their debilitating black-lung disease, one of the largest judgments ever in an Eastern Kentucky civil suit, Bill Estep reports for the Lexington Herald Leader.

3M Company, which made the masks, was hit with $62.5 million of that total in punitive damages. The rest is for past and future pain and suffering for the defendents, brothers Leslie and Michael Cox.

During the three-week trial, the jury ruled that the respirators were so defective that an ordinarily prudent company wouldn't have put them on the market for use, and that 3M acted with reckless disregard from the Cox brothers' safety. No liability was assigned to the more than one dozen mine employers where the brothers had worked.

But the jury ruled that the brothers' heavy smoking habits contributed to their black lung disease, and that 3M was only responsible for 40 percent of Leslie Cox's lung injury and 30 percent for Michael Cox. "That means 3M would be liable for that percentage of the jury's award for compensatroy damages, which was $3.75 million for Leslie Cox and $1.25 million for Michael Cox," Estep reports. "However, 3M would be liable for all the punitive-damage amount if the judgment stands."

Republicans attack ex-con coal CEO in W.Va. Senate race, fearing he will win May primary and lose in November

Don Blankenship

The contentious Republican primary for a U.S. Senate seat in West Virginia has become a potential obstacle for the GOP's drive to preserve its two-seat Senate majority in the November elections. Career Republicans in many states are distancing themselves from President Trump, but his popularity in West Virginia — which had a higher share of votes for Trump than any other, 69 percent — led state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and Rep. Evan Jenkins to emphasize their support for Trump as candidates for the Senate seat, which is currently held by Democrat Joe Manchin, Asma Khalid reports for NPR.

But a third Republican candidate, Don Blankenship, is jeopardizing their odds with a mostly self-funded campaign that has turned the race into a three-way tie. Blankenship, the former Massey Energy CEO who spent a year in federal prison for his role in one of the nation's deadliest mine explosions in decades, mentions Trump the least in his campaign, but he has much in common with the president, as a wealthy political outsider with a polarizing message. "Some analysts say Blankenship's campaign is a vendetta — a personal quest to clear his name. But, even if it began as payback, it's morphed into something much more — he has an intense desire to crush his opponents and win at all costs," Khalid reports. "He's been running attack ads against both of his chief opponents, and they've been reluctant to punch back in public (or attack him directly about his prison record)."

Republican leaders are worried that Blankenship could be toxic in the general election, and some political operatives with ties to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have spent nearly $700,000 on anti-Blankenship attack ads via a newly formed political action committee called the Mountain Families PAC. "The national party isn’t promoting its role in the group, but its fingerprints are all over it," Alex Isenstadt reports for Politico.

"At the same time, they’ve been concerned that attacking him would allow Blankenship to portray himself in the race as the embattled adversary of powerful D.C. interests," Isenstadt reports. "The scenario is similar to the one that played out in last year’s Alabama Senate race, when the party spent millions of dollars in an unsuccessful effort to stop former state Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore from winning the GOP nomination."

UPDATE, April 18: Tensions between Blankenship and the national Republican party heightened when Blankenship compared Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to Russians interfering in political races, Alex Isenstadt reports for Politico. "McConnell should not be in the U.S. Senate, let alone be the Republican Majority Leader. He is a Swamp captain," Blankenship said in a statement Monday. "The Russians and McConnell should both stop interfering with elections outside their jurisdictions."

Ex-con coal baron nears lead in W.Va. Senate primary; illustrates 'conservative movement in rural America'

Blankenship

Convicted coal CEO Don Blankenship is running neck and neck in the race for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination in West Virginia, but he's aiming his blows at Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, the former governor he considers responsible for his year in the pokey.

"In 2016, the former hard-charging chief executive officer of Massey Energy Co. went to federal prison for conspiring to evade safety laws in the lead-up to the worst coal mine disaster in a generation—a 2010 explosion at Upper Big Branch Mine that killed 29 miners. Manchin, the governor at the time, commissioned an independent probe that reached blistering conclusions about Blankenship’s tight grip over Massey and did a lot to seal public opinion about his role in the disaster," Tim Loh reports for Bloomberg. "Years later, as federal prosecutors zeroed in on Blankenship, Manchin, by then a senator, said on national TV that the ex-coal boss had 'blood on his hands'."

Blankenship, who maintained his innocence during his year in prison, "entered this race because he has an axe to grind with Joe Manchin," state House Democratic Minority Whip Mike Caputo told Loh. "It's more personal than politics." But to face Manchin, Blankenship has to get through the May 8 GOP primary. His foes are more experienced politicians, but he has blown past state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey in polling and is only two percentage points (within the margin of error) behind U.S. Rep. Evan Jenkins, who represents the state's southern third.

Many West Virginians seem to have accepted Blankenship's claim that he's a victim, and some miners associate him with better times, when the state's coal production was three times higher than today. Through his anti-union, anti-illegal immigration stances, "Blankenship has tapped into the anger of working people in West Virginia and their deep frustration over the state’s stagnant economy," Loh reports. "To understand Blankenship’s appeal is to understand the current conservative movement in rural America, and how, in the span of several years, West Virginia became one of the reddest states in the country after decades as a Democratic enclave."

Ex-con coal baron's bid for W.Va. Senate seat gains traction

Convicted misdemeanant at his campaign kickoff in January
(Associated Press photo by Steve Helber)

Don Blankenship's campaign for a U.S. Senate seat in West Virginia would have sounded like a pipe dream last year. After all, the former Massey Energy CEO just got out of prison for his role in 2010's Upper Big Branch coal mine explosion that killed 29 men. But "opponents who once dismissed his candidacy now see him as a credible threat in the Trump era, positioned to appeal to many West Virginians’ resentment of elites of any kind," Trip Gabriel reports for The New York Times.

Blankenship' events have drawn protesters, but some in coal country support his claim that he is a former "political prisoner," unfairly targeted by federal prosecutors and safety inspectors. No evidence has been found to back up those claims, but Gabriel notes that Blankenship "is running for office in an era of nationwide voter credulity for conspiracy theories." That dovetails with many West Virginians' belief that the federal government, especially Barack Obama, is to blame for coal's decline, despite experts' belief that a larger factor was cheap, plentiful natural gas that stole coal's prime market, power generation.

West Virginia has a long history of miners vs. mine operators, but once non-union operators began paying union wages, the United Mine Workers union weakened, and when the miners and operators found a common foe in Obama's anti-coal policies, they became allies and operators were seen as job creators. R. Booth Goodwin II, who prosecuted Blankenship as U.S. attorney and then ran for governor unsuccessfully in 2016, told Gabriel: "I have heard people say, 'When Don was in charge, we always worked.' . . . The coal industry is still perpetuating a lie that coal mining is coming back, and it’s going to be just like it was before, when all objective evidence is to the contrary."

Former coal operator Don Blankenship, just out of prison, is running for U.S. Senate in W. Va.

Blankenship

Former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship is running for a U.S. Senate seat in West Virginia, Kennie Bass and Jeff Morris report for Charleston's WCHS-TV. He was released from prison in May after a year-long sentence for his role in the Upper Big Branch mine explosion in 2010 that killed 29 men.

Blankenship maintains his innocence and has appealed, unsuccessfully, to have his conviction overturned. While in prison, he wrote a 67-page booklet in which he said he was an "American political prisoner" and distributed 250,000 copies. On his blog and in the booklet, he blamed the U.S. Mine Safety & Health Administration for the blast.

His longtime adversary, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, is running for re-election. But Blankenship is in a Republican primary with U.S. Rep. Evan Jenkins and West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey.