Black Lung Disability Trust Fund Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Black Lung Benefit Rates Lag Behind Rising Inflation

Miner benefit levels are tied to the federal pay scale rather than the cost of living. Therefore, though inflation levels have risen, miners’ black lung benefits have not.

The Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center and Appalachian Voices released a report Wednesday, that shows benefits paid to miners with black lung, and their families, have fallen behind the cost of living and rising inflation.

According to a press release from Appalachian Voices, when the federal black lung benefits program was created in 1969, single miners with zero dependents received $144.50 per month.

The report released today shows that with inflation adjustments that figure today should be $1,204.70. However, miners with zero dependents actually receive $738 per month under current law.

Miner benefit levels are tied to the federal pay scale rather than the cost of living. Therefore, though inflation levels have risen, miners’ black lung benefits have not.

Chelsea Barnes is the legislative director at Appalachian Voices, an environmental organization.

“This report that we’ve released today makes it clear that the status quo is not sustainable for miners with black lung or their families as the cost of food, medicine and rent goes sky high and their benefit levels remain stuck in the past,” Barnes said. “Congress can make a simple fix and disconnect miner benefits from the federal pay scale and tie them to inflation. This is a change that will not break the bank. Instead, it will ensure that coal miners and their families have the basic safety net they deserve to survive.”

The new report finds that at the beginning of 2023, inflation rates hit 8 percent, but benefit levels increased by just 4 percent, leaving many miners and their families to struggle to make up the difference as the price of food, gas and medicine continue to rise.

Rebecca Shelton is the director of policy for Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center and spoke about the struggles miners and their families face without support.

“After sacrificing their health and well-being to power our country, miners and their families struggling with a black lung diagnosis shouldn’t have to pinch pennies to survive,” Shelton said. “But the current law ignores inflation and ignores rising prices, leaving disabled coal miners behind. This report should be a clarion call to Congress that, in their efforts to tackle inflation, they must take urgent action to ensure black lung benefits can truly support the people who have earned and deserve them. Anything less is a failure to support our communities during the ongoing cost of living crisis.”

Black Lung Clinics Statewide Awarded More Than $2 Million

The money comes from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and will go towards the state’s Black Lung and Coal Miner Clinics Program to provide financial help to the program’s health and treatment services.

Over $2 million in federal funding is going towards supporting black lung clinics across the state.

Some of the services the program offers include lung function testing and rehabilitation, chest imaging, case management and benefits counseling.

U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito said in a joint statement that miners are entitled to the medical care and treatment provided by the clinics, and that they will continue to advocate for more accessible healthcare for coal miners in the Senate.

Current reports indicate that cases of black lung disease are on the increase, even with fewer miners currently working. It is also affecting younger miners. The increase is tied to smaller coal seams causing miners to work in areas with more rock, raising the concentration of silica.

The funding also comes after Congress let a higher excise tax for coal expire at the end of last year, putting the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund further in debt and in danger of insolvency.

Inaction to renew the higher rate reduced excise tax revenue on both underground and surface coal by 55 percent.

A 2018 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office says the reduction could see the fund $15 billion in debt by 2050.

More information about the West Virginia Black Lung Clinics Program, including services available by county, is available online.

New Bill Could Help Black Lung Widows/Survivors

U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin announced legislation meant to help survivors of miners who died after suffering from black lung.

According to a news release, the Relief for Survivors of Miners Act would ease the “bureaucratic proof requirements” currently needed in order to secure benefits.

Survivors of miners with black lung are entitled to monthly benefits. The installments were part of the Black Lung Benefits Act which passed in 1972. The money comes from coal companies or the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund.

But currently, survivors must prove their loved one died from black lung. There are frequent complications that come from black lung that ultimately bring miners to the end of their life so proving this can be difficult.

The bill focuses on making it easier for survivors to access those benefits by allowing proof of disability if they cannot prove the miner’s death was due to or hastened by black lung.

If passed, miners and their families would also have better access to legal representation for such cases. The bill would also establish a payment program for attorneys’ fees and other medical expenses incurred while establishing the claimant’s case. The program would be to prevent survivors of miners from being turned away because of income.

No New Black Lung Benefits, West Virginia Miners Seek Changes

The 2020 West Virginia legislative session has ended with no new legislation addressing black lung benefits, leaving former and current coal miners to depend on waning federal benefits to combat the lifelong disease.

Coal Miners Vs. Coal Companies

The Kanawha County chapter of the Black Lung Association — which includes about 30 current and former coal miners, wives, widows and volunteers — lobbied local legislators this past year to no avail. Last week the group celebrated its one-year anniversary while discussing what the future will look like for miners at its’ monthly meeting in Cabin Creek, West Virginia.

Cabin Creek has a long history with coal mining and strife between union workers and the coal companies over wages. In 1912 the Paint Creek-Cabin Creek strike resulted in a year-long, deadly battle, and over 200 miners were arrested, and even 108 years later, the resentment is palpable.

John Ingram has black lung, a crippling disease caused by the inhalation of coal and silica dust. He worked underground and on surface mines as an electrician.

“I get a little frustrated because coal companies for years, I mean before I was born even, got away with whatever they wanted to get away with,” Ingram said. “And somebody needs to stop them, hold them accountable. After all we made the money for them.”

The Federal Fight

These days, miners are still fighting, albeit nonviolently, through the bureaucratic system for federal black lung benefits. The Black Lung Disability Trust Fund provides some miners disabled by black lung with monthly payments and medical benefits. Coal companies pay into it through a per-ton tax on coal.

But the fund is more than $4 billion in debt, and as coal companies increasingly file for bankruptcy it is facing insolvency more quickly than predicted.

For miners, getting approved for the federal benefits is time consuming. Jerry Coleman, the chapter’s president, fought for seven years. He said many of the men in the room have been denied and are trying to appeal.

“Yeah I’ve got 37 years in the coal mines,” he said. “Some of them they’ve got 30 some years in the coal mines, and they’re getting turned down. There’s something wrong.”

One of the members wears the Kanawha County Black Lung Association’s T-shirts at the meeting March 5, 2020 in Cabin Creek, WV. The group celebrated its one-year anniversary.

Historically there have been many loopholes for coal companies to appeal miners’ requests for federal benefits, and cases can be tied up for sometimes 10 years.

The Local Fight

Three bills presented to state legislators this year intended to ease pressure off miners in the process of seeking federal benefits and help those who are diagnosed with black lung but can still work. Senate Bill 54 and House Bill 440 would have guaranteed miners diagnosed with black lung 20 weeks of paid benefits and a 25 percent permanent partial disability award. Additionally, House Bill 2588 would have eliminated any time limit to receive a black lung diagnosis. None of the bills made it out of committee.

Delegate Mike Caputo, D-Marion county, sponsored two of the black lung bills this session.

“It’s not something that’s real popular with the masses, like promising jobs. But it’s real and it needs discussed and it needs more focus put on it,” he said. “And we tried to do that by introducing legislation but getting the leadership to try to move that type of legislation is almost impossible.”

The failure of the West Virginia Legislature to once again take action comes as miners in central Appalachia face an epidemic of deadly progressive massive fibrosis, the advanced stage of black lung disease.

Sam Petsonk, a Beckley-based attorney who has largely represented black lung cases, explained to the chapter why the partial disability award is a bill to lobby for next year.

“It’s an important way to prevent people from getting deathly sick, as fast,” Petsonk said. “You get that 25 percent, monitor yourself, make sure you’re out of the dust, don’t do anything crazy and control your disease — prolong your life.”

As the meeting ended, members talked about how to move forward. Their plan is to continue lobbying the Legislature for the 25 percent permanent partial disability award, and to lobby the federal government for a permanent plan to fund the black lung benefits.

Plan For Lifelong Sickness

One of the resounding sentiments was to vote. Former miners John Ingram and Arthur Betty have black lung and said miners have felt disenfranchised for the last 75 years.

“There’s where the fight starts right there,” Betty said. “You can’t win if you keep putting the same cutthroat crooks year after year. Let’s get a new racehorse in there.”

“Any politician that sides with the coal companies, don’t vote for them,” Ingram said.

And as for the younger generation, Ingram said he encourages them to still work in the coal mines even though he admits black lung is inevitable in the working conditions. Although he said younger miners need to take steps now to plan for their future of sickness.

“You work in the coal mines. It’s a good honest living, but you work in there safely,” he said.

Del. Caputo said there are plans to introduce similar legislation to the black lung partial disability benefits, again, in next year’s session.

The Kanawha County chapter of the Black Lung Association meets at 3:30 on the first Thursday of every month at the Zion Assembly Church of God in Cabin Creek.

This story is part of West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s Southern Coalfields Reporting Project which is supported by a grant from the National Coal Heritage Area Authority.

An earlier version of this story mistated the name of the miner in the lead photo. It is Milton ‘Mickey’ Pettry, not Milton ‘Mickey’ Patrick.

“Lax Oversight” Threatens Health Fund for Miners With Black Lung, Watchdog Finds

Just three bankruptcies of American coal companies have added more than $800 million in costs to a federal government program that funds health care for disabled coal miners, the Government Accountability said in a report released Wednesday.

The report comes after a 2018 analysis by the same agency which found the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund faced significant financial challenges, and had borrowed taxpayer money to cover necessary expenses nearly every year since 1979. This new research shows that coal company bankruptcies have been a significant factor contributing to the fund’s financial debt, and lax oversight from the Department of Labor is partly to blame.

The report is “completely consistent with the strategy coal companies have used to evade pension, retirement, and environmental obligations,” said Josh Macey, a Cornell University visiting assistant professor and researcher of coal bankruptcies.

The Black Lung Disability Trust Fund provides monthly benefits and health care coverage for disabled miners whose own employer cannot cover the cost. Coal companies pay into the fund via a per-ton tax on coal. A coal company’s liability to the trust fund is the total cost of care for the lifetime of each miner disabled by black lung due to work in the company’s mine. If a company doesn’t have enough insurance or hasn’t put up enough collateral to cover those liabilities when it goes bankrupt, the cost of care falls on the trust fund.

Of the eight companies that declared bankruptcy between 2014 and 2016, three companies, Alpha Natural Resources, James River Coal, and Patriot Coal transferred $865 million in liability onto the fund. Alpha Natural Resources alone transferred $494 million in benefit liability onto the fund, making it the largest contributor to the problem.

“The GAO’s report details a decades-long failure by the Department of Labor to fulfill its duty to protect the solvency of Black Lung Disability Trust Fund,” said Rep. Bobby Scott, a Democrat of Virginia. Scott chairs the House Committee on Education and Labor, which conducted a hearing on the matter Wednesday. “The Department’s lax oversight allowed coal mine executives to shift the cost of paying black lung benefits onto the shoulders of the taxpayers to the tune of nearly a billion dollars, while those same coal executives rewarded themselves with tens of millions of dollars in salaries and bonuses.”

“Lax Oversight”

The companies that transferred liability onto the fund were self-insured, which means that instead of purchasing insurance, the company posted a small amount of collateral and promised it was good for the rest. The practice is falling out of fashion at the state and federal level as coal company bankruptcies reveal many self-insured companies cannot meet their obligations.

In the case of Alpha Natural Resources, for example, the GAO found that the company had posted collateral of $12 million at the time of the company’s bankruptcy, which was just 2.4 percent of the company’s total liability.

The GAO hammered the Department of Labor for its “limited oversight” of how or whether companies were sufficiently insured, even after July 2019 updates to agency policy. In addition to an incomplete review process, the GAO found that companies were still underfunding their liabilities.

“Once the coal industry really started to struggle, regulators found themselves in a hard position,” Macey said. “They had faced pressure not to force companies to fully fund all sorts of regulatory obligations. And then once the industry is in financial distress, they have an extremely difficult choice to make. Because if they force the company to pay out, they [the companies] face the prospect of liquidation.”

The Labor Dept. has taken steps to strengthen its oversight, the GAO said, including requiring companies to post more collateral depending on their risk of collapse. But significant lapses in oversight remain: The DOL also failed to track whether or not coal operators had commercial insurance. “We found six operators (parent or subsidiary) that were not insured for the entire 3 year period from 2016 through 2018, according to our review of DOL data,” the GAO said in the report. “When we discussed our findings with DOL, agency officials had to research each operator individually and in some cases contact the operator or their insurer to find out whether or not they had been covered.”

In response to the allegations in the report, Labor officials said it agreed that further action was necessary. The Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs, which oversees the trust fund, “agrees with the GAO on the importance of improving oversight of coal mine operator insurance, and, as GAO acknowledges, has made major oversight improvements in recent years. OWCP… is committed to ensuring effective oversight of coal mine operator insurance.”

Taxpayer Subsidies

Coal companies have long argued the per-ton tax they pay into the fund has been an undue burden, especially as the demand for coal declines. In 2018, Congress cut the fee by more than half. As a result, there was significantly less revenue going into the fund, even as thousands more miners’ liabilities are being transferred onto it. The GAO warned that would push the fund billions of dollars further into debt. At the end of 2019, Congress restored the old tax rate, but only for one year, leaving the fund’s long-term fiscal future in question. That risk is compounded by the growing number of black lung cases amid an epidemic of the disease in central Appalachia.

Bills pending in both the House and the Senate would raise the per-ton rate companies pay into the trust fund for the next 10 years.

The GAO said the fund has borrowed from the Treasury’s tax-payer funded general fund to make its expenses nearly every year since 1979, and borrowed about $1.9 billion from the general fund in 2019.

Rebecca Shelton, Coordinator of Policy and Organizing at the Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center, which represents coal miners in black lung benefits cases, noted that major coal companies Arch and Peabody did not directly shed liability onto the fund. But, the spokesperson noted, “Patriot Coal was a company made up of troubled assets from these two companies. Black lung liabilities from Arch and Peabody were transferred to Patriot which, as many predicted, subsequently went bankrupt.

The GAO report shows that Patriot shed $230 million onto the trust fund while Arch and Peabody continue to operate. “Congress should act to change the code that governs bankruptcy processes so that bankruptcy protects people, not coal company executives,” Shelton said.

Law professor Macey said the behavior fits a larger pattern in the coal industry. In a 2019 article in the Stanford Law Review, Macey argued coal companies masterfully use the bankruptcy process to spin off debts onto new companies loaded with poorly performing assets, increasing the likelihood that the environmental and employee-health obligations never get paid. “We allow coal companies to basically invoke bankruptcy as a way to externalize regulatory obligations,” Macey said.

“OWCP is wide awake,” said Julia Hearthway, the director of the Labor Department’s Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs, which administers the trust fund. “The self-insurance approval process for coal mine operators has been completely revamped. The process today is robust, it’s financially sound, and it’s designed to protect the trust fund. I also want to stress at the outset that no miner is at risk for not receiving the benefits they deserve.”

The Impact

Alice Hayes is the widow of a coal miner, Douglas Hayes, whose black lung disease made him too sick to work at the age of 43. Hayes has been receiving Douglas’ monthly check from the trust fund, about $650, since his death last October. “I think it’s bizarre that there is not something in place to oversee that that money is going in there for the purpose of the miners,” she said.

Hayes said the cost of her husband’s month-long hospital stays and at-home care could run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the trust fund helped her cover those costs. “When you’re sick, the last thing you want to do is be jerked around and have to fight for something that you shouldn’t have to be fighting for.”

Watchdog Group Calls Decreased Tax On Coal A ‘Blatant Subsidy’ For The Coal Industry

A new report from the nonpartisan budget watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense says that an expired coal tax is effectively a taxpayer subsidy for the coal industry. The analysis reflects a growing concern about the fiscal health of a federal fund that supports tens of thousands of disabled coal miners.

The Black Lung Disability Trust Fund was established in 1969 to pay health care expenses for certain disabled coal miners and their dependents. It is supported by coal companies, which pay a limited tax on each ton of coal they remove from the ground. Early this year, Congress allowed the tax to decrease by more than 50 percent. The Government Accountability Office found the move would leave the fund $15 billion in debt by 2050, and would likely require a bailout by taxpayers.

In the report, Taxpayers for Common Sense says the move is an effective subsidy of the coal industry, which already receives significant formal subsidization at the state and federal levels.

“Because congress has failed to take action to keep rates current with what the fund needs to be solvent, taxpayers are now shouldering the burden of the cost of this fund, instead of the coal industry,” said Autumn Hanna, vice president for Taxpayers for Common Sense.

Hanna said the coal industry should include health care expenses for miners with black lung disease a non-negotiable part of their business plan, and that the 2018 tax cut was a “blatant subsidy” for an industry already receiving significant subsidies from the government.

The report found that accounting for inflation, reducing the per-ton tax on coal means the tax holds about a quarter of the value it held in 1977, before the rate was raised to its 2018 level.

The trust fund is under pressure not only from the cut in funding but also from increased demand as rates of black lung disease skyrocket, particularly in central Appalachia.

Coal industry representatives have argued that the per-ton tax on coal that funded the trust fund was an undue burden in a time of financial stress for the industry. The industry has struggled in recent decades as utility companies switch to cheaper natural gas and renewable energy.