Coal Miners With Black Lung Say They Are ‘Cast Aside to Die’ Under Trump

When coal miners came to Washington in April, they posed behind President Trump at the White House, wearing their hard hats and thanking him for trying to reinvigorate their struggling industry.

But on Tuesday dozens of miners and their families will be in a more unusual position: protesting the Trump administration outside the Labor Department building, arguing it has failed to protect them from black lung disease, an incurable illness caused by inhaling coal and silica dust.

They have been waiting months for the government to enforce federal limits on silica dust, a carcinogen that has led to a recent spike in the disease. But mining industry groups have sued to block the rule, and the Trump administration has paused enforcement while the lawsuit plays out.

Labor unions, Democrats and a growing number of miners accuse the Trump administration of ignoring workers while using hundreds of millions of dollars in federal subsidies to bolster the companies that operate coal plants and mining operations.

“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. Mr. Hairston has been living with black lung disease since he was in his 40s.

Anna Kelly, a White House spokeswoman, said in a statement that President Trump “cares deeply about unleashing America’s energy potential, as well as standing up for those who fuel our country” like coal miners.

“Blue collar Americans played a key role in sending President Trump back to the White House because they know he has their back,” she said, adding that “he is working tirelessly to deliver policies that improve the livelihoods of working families across the nation.”

The federal government has recognized the health threats that coal dust poses since 1969, when Congress passed the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act, which set health and safety standards for coal mining and required federal inspections and monitoring for black lung disease.

But now, after decades of improvements, the disease has made a disturbing resurgence, particularly among younger workers because of their exposure to a different material: silica dust. Experts said that is in part because of changing mining practices. Most of the thick coal seams in places like Appalachia have already been mined, and workers are increasingly cutting through more rock to reach coal, exposing them to silica dust.

Composed of tiny crystals that can lodge in lung tissue, silica dust can cause inflammation and scarring when inhaled. It is considered about 20 times more toxic to the lungs than coal dust and can also cause lung cancer and kidney disease.

The Biden administration set limits on miners’ exposure to the silica dust that mirrored federal regulations covering construction and other industries in which workers are exposed to the dust. It also required mine operators to take immediate corrective action if exposures exceeded the limit. The administration estimated the rule would prevent at least 1,067 deaths and 3,746 cases of black lung.

A 2018 study found that more than 10 percent of coal miners who had been working for at least 25 years had black lung disease. In Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia, home to most of the miners who planned to travel to the Tuesday rally, up to 20 percent of veteran miners suffer from lung disease caused by dust.

“It’s not the coal that’s getting them, it’s the silica,” said Mr. Martin, who paused to cough and catch his breath every few minutes during a recent interview. “We need to get this done for the younger generation.”

Limits on silica exposure were supposed to take effect in April. But the National Sand Stone and Gravel Association, the National Mining Association and other industry groups asked a federal appeals court to block the rule, citing the cost to mine operators.

“We are absolutely supportive of the new lower levels,” Conor Bernstein, a spokesman for the National Mining Association, said in a statement. But while the regulation requires operators to reduce the concentration of silica inside mines through ventilation systems, dust control devices and other improvements, the association argues the government should also allow for greater use of personal protective equipment to comply with the standards, a position similar to one taken by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Miners’ advocates have criticized respirators as impractical and ineffective.

The Trump administration did not defend the rule in court. Instead, it agreed to delay enforcement and has since petitioned the court to prevent labor unions and a lung health association from intervening in the case. This month it asked for another court delay, citing the government shutdown.

West Virginia’s senators, Shelley Moore Capito and Jim Justice, both Republicans, declined to comment on the rule and the delays.

Democrats and labor unions accused the Trump administration of using coal miners as backdrops for photo opportunities while ignoring their health needs.

“The Trump administration was handed tools to protect black lung and they are doing everything in their power to toss those rules in the trash,” said Jason Walsh, executive director of the BlueGreen Alliance, a partnership of labor unions and environmental organizations.

Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, said abandoning the silica standards “would be a real slap in the face for those who work so hard to power our communities.”

Mr. Trump has promoted the coal industry since his first presidential run in 2016, when he campaigned with miners. Since retaking the White House this year, he has expanded the mining and burning of coal, prevented unprofitable coal plants from shutting down, rolled back regulations limiting coal pollution that the industry had opposed, and announced $625 million in subsidies to help coal plants.

Coal once generated nearly half of America’s electricity but today produces just 16 percent. Hundreds of coal plants have retired since the mid-2000s as utilities switched to cheaper natural gas, wind and solar power.

Judith Riffe, 80, whose husband, Bernard, died in March of complications from black lung disease after working in West Virginia coal mines for more than 40 years, said miners deserve an administration that would fight for them as hard as it fights for the coal companies.

“Sure, they talk about how much they care about coal but come down here and look,” Ms. Riffe said from her home in Wyco, a once-thriving coal community in West Virginia.

“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,” she said.

She added: “The coal miners have supplied this country with electricity, and now they’re just cast aside to die.”