Jul 19 Energy & Environment Coal Miners To Hit Capitol Hill For Black Lung Funding Dozens of Appalachian coal miners plan to visit Capitol Hill Tuesday to ask lawmakers to bolster funding for the black lung disability trust fund, which miners depend upon when no responsible company can be identified to pay for needed health care. The fund is already billions of dollars in debt, and that will likely grow […] By Sydney Boles Jul 19 Energy & Environment Coal Miners To Hit Capitol Hill For Black Lung Funding Sydney Boles
Jun 19 Energy & Environment As Congressional Panel Focuses On Black Lung, Miners Health Advocates Urge Stronger Health Protections A Congressional panel heard testimony and had some sharp questions Thursday about the epidemic of black lung disease among Appalachian miners. Labor leaders are calling on federal regulators to strengthen protections for miners and several lawmakers wanted to know why the country’s top mine safety agency is not doing more in response to the dramatic […] By Sydney Boles Jun 19 Energy & Environment As Congressional Panel Focuses On Black Lung, Miners Health Advocates Urge Stronger Health Protections Sydney Boles
Jun 7 Energy & Environment As Calls For Action On Black Lung Disease Grow, Regulators Show Little Indication Of Change Harold Sturgill was disabled by black lung disease when he was 58 years old. Now he advocates for disabled miners. “When it comes to the mining companies, and it comes to the worker, it’s still all about production,” Sturgill said. “They could care less about me, how much dust I suck in, or how long […] By Sydney Boles Jun 7 Energy & Environment As Calls For Action On Black Lung Disease Grow, Regulators Show Little Indication Of Change Sydney Boles
May 3 Energy & Environment Remembering A Coal Miner Who Stood Up For Those With Black Lung Robert Bailey started mining coal in southern West Virginia’s McDowell County in the 1970s. By the time he retired from the Patriot Coal Company 36 years later he was already having trouble breathing. By the time I first interviewed Bailey in 2014, his black lung disease had become severe. “I’m in the process of a […] By Jessica Lilly May 3 Energy & Environment Remembering A Coal Miner Who Stood Up For Those With Black Lung Jessica Lilly
Feb 20 Energy & Environment West Virginia Coal Miners Rally For Black Lung Legislation Miners and advocates rallied Wednesday at the West Virginia Capitol in support of a series of bills aimed at preventing and treating severe black lung disease. Five bills introduced by lawmakers would make it easier to make qualify for state benefits and provide benefits to miners who have early-stage black lung. The bills come at […] By Brittany Patterson Feb 20 Energy & Environment West Virginia Coal Miners Rally For Black Lung Legislation Brittany Patterson
Jan 28 Energy & Environment Black Lung Clinics Call For Action But Top Regulator Plans No New Measures In the wake of an NPR and PBS Frontline investigation into the surge in cases of black lung disease, a coalition of black lung clinics is calling for action to better protect coal miners from dust exposure. NPR reports that more than 2,300 miners in central Appalachia are sick with the most serious form of […] By Jeff Young Jan 28 Energy & Environment Black Lung Clinics Call For Action But Top Regulator Plans No New Measures Jeff Young
Jan 18 Energy & Environment Still Fighting: These Widows’ Stories Show Larger Effects of Black Lung Epidemic Nancy and Rich Potter had the kind of marriage that made other couples jealous. He’d take her on spontaneous trips. She’d wear her Daisy Dukes just for him. Joyce Birman said her late husband, George, made a terrible first impression. It was his apology for it that made her fall for him, hard. Vickie Salyers’ […] By Sydney Boles Jan 18 Energy & Environment Still Fighting: These Widows’ Stories Show Larger Effects of Black Lung Epidemic Sydney Boles
Dec 19 Energy & Environment Still, They Persist: Black Lung Advocates Demonstrate At McConnell’s KY Office With just days left before a Congressional deadline, advocates for black lung treatment are still pushing Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell to secure funding for miners’ benefits. About two dozen people demonstrated Wednesday near McConnell’s regional office in London, Kentucky, carrying placards reading “Black Lung Kills” and singing along with a banjo tune modified for the […] By Sydney Boles Dec 19 Energy & Environment Still, They Persist: Black Lung Advocates Demonstrate At McConnell’s KY Office Sydney Boles
Dec 18 Energy & Environment Data Dives And Shoe Leather: How NPR’s Howard Berkes Investigated Appalachia’s Black Lung Epidemic NPR is reporting that more than two thousand coal miners are now suffering from the most severe form of black lung disease, Progressive Massive Fibrosis, or PMF. And despite clear warnings, investigative reporter Howard Berkes shows, the mining industry and government regulators did little to stop it. Data loom large in this story: Berkes took a […] By Jeff Young Dec 18 Energy & Environment Data Dives And Shoe Leather: How NPR’s Howard Berkes Investigated Appalachia’s Black Lung Epidemic Jeff Young
Dec 18 Energy & Environment Amid Black Lung Surge Pulmonary Rehab Brings Hope To Disabled Miners Marcy Tate grew up in southwest Virginia in a coal mining family. “My father-in-law was a coal miner, my father was a coal miner, my grandfather was a coal miner, my great-grandfather was a coal miner,” she said. Tate knew what black lung disease looked like. In 2003, her father-in-law passed away from what Tate […] By Sydney Boles Dec 18 Energy & Environment Amid Black Lung Surge Pulmonary Rehab Brings Hope To Disabled Miners Sydney Boles