Coal miners feel betrayed by President Donald Trump for failing to enforce health regulations to prevent black lung disease.
Dozens of miners and their families will protest Tuesday outside the Labor Department building to call attention to the Trump administration's failure to enforce federal limits on carcinogenic silica dust, which has led to a recent spike in the disease among younger miners, reported the New York Times.
“The companies might be getting a handout, but the miners ain’t getting none,” said Gary Hairston, 71, a retired coal miner from West Virginia who is the president of the National Black Lung Association.
Hairston has been living with black lung disease since he was in his 40s. While once considered a disease of older miners, it's being diagnosed more and more among younger workers in their 30s and 40s.
“It’s not the coal that’s getting them, it’s the silica,” said 68-year-old Andy Martin, a retired miner from Virginia who also has black lung disease. “We need to get this done for the younger generation.”
Limits on silica exposure were scheduled to take effect in April, but industry groups asked a federal appeals court to block the regulation as too costly to mine operators.
“We are absolutely supportive of the new lower levels,” said Conor Bernstein, a spokesman for the National Mining Association.
The regulation requires operators to remove silica from inside mines through ventilation systems and other improvements, rather than simply requiring the use of respirators and other personal protective equipment. The Trump administration did not defend the rule in court and instead petitioned to prevent labor unions and a lung health association from intervening in the case.
“Sure, they talk about how much they care about coal but come down here and look,” said 80-year-old Judith Riffe, whose husband, Bernard, died in March of complications from black lung disease.
Trump promised to reinvigorate the coal industry while running for re-election, but Riffe said the administration has abandoned miners.
“They’re mining a lot more now, the coal trucks and everything are running, but there’s no benefits for the coal miners coming in,” said Riffe, who lives in Wyco, West Virginia. “The coal miners have supplied this country with electricity, and now they’re just cast aside to die.”