NPR published a story this week highlighting the recent increase of the number of coal miners diagnosed with progressive massive fibrosis, otherwise known as black lung disease, in central Appalachia, the heart of coal mining in the US. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) says that they have identified the largest cluster of advanced black lung disease ever reported. More than 400 new cases between 2013 and 2017 were reported by just three clinics in the area.
The disease was nearly wiped out in the mid-90s, with those clinics reporting five to seven cases per year. The number of cases has multiplied alarmingly to five to seven cases every two weeks or so. The spike is attributed to several causes, including longer shifts and the mining of thinner coal seams, grinding up the surrounding rock into silica dust, which is deadlier than the coal dust itself. The increase of layoffs and retirements also contributed, and brought in more miners into the clinics to take advantage of federal black lung compensation programs.
The Trump Administration is looking into rolling back some of the protections implemented just two years ago, which increased protections for miners by forcing operators to limit mine workers’ exposure to the dust by adding filters to the work areas, among other things. While the administration may not touch the regulations themselves, they are impacting the ability to enforce those regulations.
As in other departments, Trump’s strategy appears to be hiring the fox to guard the henhouse. The former mine safety chief of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, Joe Main, was the driving force behind these tougher regulations. Trump’s pick to replace him is David Zatezalo, former chairman of Rhino Resources, which has been cited numerous times for mine safety violations.
Workers in the coal industry might see this appointment as bringing in one of their own. The coal industry is declining, and miners need to feed their families. However, no critically-thinking human can deny that the coal industry is killing people, destroying families, abusing the environment, and enriching the oligarchs. When one takes into consideration all of the factors, Trump’s rhetoric about caring for the coal miners rings hollow.
Similar read: Betrayal of the Coal Miner
(No Claps Yet)
Loading…
Let them die: they don’t want universal healthcare, riiiight?
The solution is better jobs and training for those jobs… easier said than done. “Let them die” is not the answer and should never be used… even as a joke.