Apr 7, 2002 3 min read

Changes enacted by Congress to the Black Lung Act went into effect last year with the aim of making it easier for suffering miners and their survivors to receive entitled benefits. It missed the mark. But it’s hard to know whom the Black Lung Act is really supposed to help and whom it is supposed to protect as it is almost as complicated to digest as the nation’s tax code. The difference is that mere mortals can figure out on their own how to file a tax return. A team of lawyers and doctors are necessary to wade through a typical black lung claim which is exactly what every sick person, gasping just to breathe, does not need. Surely this wasn’t the intent of Congress.

Talk to any miner and they’ll tell you the trials that their own families or those of friends have gone through when a miner is diagnosed with pneumoconiosis, contracted from breathing coal dust and is unable to work and support a family. Not only must they fight for air, even on their deathbeds they must fight a government bureaucracy to prove they are disabled.

And they tell tales that even if a miner wins the benefit, once he dies, his widow must fight all over again to prove the disease caused or contributed to his death in order to qualify for benefits.

This isn’t the way it should be and Congress needs to hear about it.

Two black lung widows – Linda Chapman of Spencer, W.Va., and Phyllis Tipton of Inez, Ky. – are making sure they do hear.

They began a journey on foot from West Virginia and last Monday spent the day in Uniontown during the annual Mitchell Day rally. As they make their way toward Washington, D.C., the women plan along the way to raise awareness of the obstacles the government has put up to block miners and their families from receiving black lung benefits.

Their sad, tragic stories need to be heard. In Uniontown they found a crowd of well-wishers, including the United Miner Workers of America’s international president, who are keenly aware of their plight and have pledged to help draw attention and pressure Congress for changes. U.S. Rep John Murtha, who attended the rally, pledged to introduce legislation to ease the burden, a promise that he should be held to carry through.

This journey certainly won’t be easy for the women. But if black lung claimants have learned anything it is tenacity – a trait that is needed to keep after Congress to reform the Black Lung Act and make it serve disabled miners as it was intended.