Casey urges passage of bill to improve black lung benefits for coal miners
Sen. Bob Casey met with members of the United Mine Workers of America in Uniontown on Tuesday to discuss a bill to improve benefits for coal miners suffering from black lung.
“We’ve made some progress over the years with legislation, but we still have some major challenges when it comes to black lung,” the Scranton Democrat told members of UMWA District 2.
For decades, Casey said, work done by coal miners powered the country. He said far too many have paid the price for it, developing coal workers’ pneumoconiosis — commonly referred to as black lung, a disease caused by the long-term inhalation of coal dust in underground and surface coal mines.
According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the disease has caused or contributed to more than 76,000 deaths since 1968, Casey said. The Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 included the Black Lung Benefits Act, which established health and safety standards to reduce miners’ exposure to coal dust, and created a program to provide compensation and medical care to miners who are totally disabled because of the disease.
As a result of that law, the country has seen a significant decline in the prevalence of black lung disease and has awarded billions of dollars in benefit payments to victims and their surviving family members.
However, recent studies show that the prevalence and severity of black lung disease is on the rise among Central Appalachian miners, and investigations have also revealed that the Black Lung Benefits Program, which requires coal miners to engage in complex litigation against coal operators, unfairly burdens claimants and prevents them from accessing benefits, Casey said.
In response, he, along with Democratic Sens. John Fetterman, Sherrod Brown, Tim Kaine, Mark Warner and Joe Manchin, and U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, introduced the Black Lung Benefits Improvement Act of 2023.
“We got to do something about it,” Casey said. “We got to introduce legislation and get it passed.”
Highlights of the legislation include improving miners’ access to medical evidence so that claims can be fairly adjudicated by:
n Requiring full disclosure of medical information related to a claim, whether or not such information is entered as evidence.
n Prohibiting unethical conduct by attorneys and doctors in the black lung claims process and helping miners review and rebut potentially biased or inaccurate medical evidence developed by coal companies.
n Allowing miners or their survivors to reopen their cases if they had been denied because of medical interpretations that have subsequently been discredited.
The bill also helps miners access stronger and more timely benefits by requiring the U.S. Department of Labor to reduce the backlog of black lungs claims and restoring cost-of-living benefit increases for black lung beneficiaries
UMWA President Cecil Roberts said the legislation establishes a new framework for determining benefit levels by incorporating annual adjustments based on the cost of living.
“It is imperative for Congress to swiftly enact the Black Lung Benefits Improvement Act, ensuring that miners, who have devoted their lives to working in the mines, receive the deserved black lung benefits,” Roberts said.
Lynda Glagola is the founder of Lungs at Work, a black lung respiratory and disease clinic in McMurray that provides comprehensive pulmonary care to coal miners and others with occupational lung disease. The clinic also assists coal miners and their survivors in their pursuit of benefits related to black lung.
“Lungs at Work has seen a steady rise in the amount of coal miners with complicated Black Lung from just two in 2016 to 21 in 2022,” Glagola said.
In 2023, she said, the clinic saw its first case of complicated black lung in a 34-year-old coal miner.
“This is not a disease of old age and, yes, black lung still exists much to the astonishment of people outside of our world,” Glagola said.
“It’s about fundamental justice for those who have given their country so much,” Casey said. “I got a lot of confidence we’ll win this battle and pass this damn bill and keep our promise to you.”