“The coal mines now are mining coal that they never did want before,” Coleman said. According to Coleman, the kind of coal that gets mined now was once viewed as “trash coal,” but now, it’s the standard.

The ratio of rock-to-coal is different now, with miners encountering increasing amounts of rock, especially quartz, which is the source of silica dust.

A raging epidemicĬoal mining has changed a lot since Coleman started in the 1970s. Now, new research shows the mine safety standards around silica dust have a lot to do with it. Over the years, the numbers have steadily increased. One in twenty will develop progressive massive fibrosis, the most severe form of the disease, which is linked to silica rock dust. Some take years to see the doctor in the first place, dreading the truth, and dreading the years of litigation, testing, and doctor appointments that come with it.Īccording to a 2018 study in the American Journal of Public Health and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, one out of five coal miners will develop black lung, which has no cure. He spent nine years in the courts, battling the coal company that once cut his paycheck for a black lung diagnosis that would allow him to collect benefits and access treatment. To contest the diagnosis, those seeking benefits, like Coleman, go to court. A recent study from the American Thoracic Society indicated that these doctors often show bias and conflict of interest. When miners and former miners seek a diagnosis for the disease, they must also seek a diagnosis from coal company-approved doctors. Living With Black Lung: Coal Miners Caught in the Epidemic.A Surge of Black Lung Disease in Appalachia.How Miners With Black Lung Disease Are Navigating the Pandemic.“Their doctors will do everything they can to say that you don’t have it.” “The companies will spend every dime they have to go to their doctors,” Coleman said. Breathing deeply before each sentence, Coleman recounted the lengths the company took to avoid paying his benefits. Sitting in a health clinic in Cabin Creek, West Virginia, Coleman wears a shirt with the Black Lung Association ’s signature logo - a skull in a miner’s helmet with the words “Black Lung Kills” splashed across the top. Your body just won’t let you do it.” LISTEN to the story Īt 69 years old, Coleman has spent almost two decades living with black lung, struggling to breathe and straining against the close-fisted bureaucracies of the government and industry that promised to look after workers with the dreaded pulmonary disease. “When you start getting black lung, you will notice that you can’t keep up with people. “Most people who look at you may think that you’re healthy,” Coleman said.

When he was in his early fifties, he found himself gradually struggling to keep up with other men his age, and went to get checked out. Jerry Coleman mined West Virginia coal underground for 37 years. This story comes from our partners at Ohio Valley ReSource, a regional journalism collaborative reporting on economic and social change in Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia. The administration is currently working on a new rule that will improve on current silica dust standards. The initiative includes increased inspections at facilities with a history of silica exposures and more sampling for silica dust, as well as educating miners about their rights. UPDATE: On June 8, the Mine Safety and Health Administration announced a new enforcement initiative to reduce miners’ exposure to silica dust.

Silica dust exposure