It’s time for West Virginia leaders to be friends of coal miners, not coal.
Note: This is a lengthy commentary, but a very important one....one that questions why politicians support coal, but never seem to care about the heath and well being of the miners.
It’s time for West Virginia leaders to be friends of coal miners, not coal.
News from the States/West Virginia.
Apr 08, 2025 | 5:55 am ET
Commentary By Leann Ray
It’s time for West Virginia leaders to be friends of coal miners, not coal.
I’ve always thought the bumper sticker “Friends of Coal” was odd. Why be a friend to a fossil fuel? Especially one that’s caused so much disease, death and destruction in the state.
About 20% of coal miners in Central Appalachia are suffering from black lung, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is the highest rate of black lung detected in more than 25 years.
Coal miners are also being diagnosed with the disease at younger ages because they have to dig through such large amounts of silica-rich sandstone to reach the coal, West Virginia Watch reporter Caity Coyne reported last summer.
We hear our politicians constantly talking about supporting coal, and how former President Joe Biden hurt coal production. They say they want to stand up for coal. In reality, they’re only standing up for the coal mine owners to have less regulations so they can make more money.
And let’s be honest — coal mine owners in West Virginia show all the time they don’t care about coal miners.
For more than a decade the U.S. Department of Labor sent out monthly newsletters detailing impact inspections the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) performed at mines with histories of repeated safety and health violations. These reports started after the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster in West Virginia killed 29 miners in April 2010.
Saturday marked the 15 year anniversary of the worst mining disaster in the United States since 1970.
A little background of the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster — MSHA’s final report concluded that
“Massey’s corporate culture was the root cause of the tragedy.” MSHA issued Massey Energy Co., the owner of the mine, and its subsidiary, Performance Coal Co, 369 citations and orders, including for an “unprecedented 21 flagrant violations, which carry the most serious civil penalties available under the law.”
The former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship was convicted of conspiring to violate mine safety and health standards that led to the disaster. He served a year in prison.
The last MSHA newsletter was in January, before President Donald Trump took office. At the top of the final press release, it states, “Please note: As of 01/20/2025, information in some news releases may be out of date or not reflect current policies.”
You’re probably familiar with another man who owns coal mines — West Virginia Sen. Jim Justice.
Justice often said he didn’t want to go to Washington, D.C., and yet, he still ran for a U.S. Senate seat and he won.
The Justice family owns nearly two dozen coal companies that owe more than $409,000 in delinquent mine safety fines to the federal government. Last month, the companies agreed to pay off that debt by May 1.
If West Virginia’s members of Congress care about coal and coal miners, then explain why not a single member of the state’s delegation is backing the Robert C. Byrd Mine Safety Protection Act that was introduced Thursday by Sen. Tim Kaine and Rep. Bobby Scott, who both represent Virginia.
Sens. Justice and Shelley Moore Capito, and Reps. Carol Miller and Riley Moore, why are you not on this bill — named for our former senator — that aims to help coal miners?
“Miners take incredible risks to power our nation. While we’ve made progress to support them — like extending the Black Lung Disability Trust excise tax at a higher rate and strengthening silica standards — the recent actions of the Trump Administration have undermined decades of work to enhance protections for coal miners,” Kaine said in a press release. “This legislation is critical to strengthening safety standards and holding mine operators accountable for unsafe working conditions.”
To be clear: While our leaders have remained silent, the health and safety of our coal miners is under direct threat at this very moment and right under their noses.
Just last week, a federal appeals court issued a temporary stay on the implementation of what advocates have called a long overdue industry rule that would have limited how much dangerous silica dust coal miners are exposed to while they work. The rule — which simply adds the same exposure limits to the mining industry that have existed in other industries for years through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration — was set to go into effect for coal mines next week.
Officials said last year that the rule would have likely saved thousands of lives by limiting exposure to silica dust, which is the leading cause of black lung disease. But with the decision from the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the final fate of the rule remains unknown.
The Trump administration is closing 33 MSHA field offices. According to the Appalachian Citizens Law Center, these closures could significantly reduce the number of staff and inspections meant to prevent exposure to toxic dust, mining injuries and fatalities, and mining disasters.
“Closing these offices will, at a minimum, dramatically limit the ability for inspectors todo their job in a timely way by greatly expanding the territory they must cover from remaining offices,” according to the Appalachian Citizens Law Center. “At worst, staff and inspection numbers could be sharply reduced.”
The Department of Government Efficiency also eliminated hundreds of employees at Morgantown’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. The office is expected to close completely, according to Cathy Tinney-Zara, president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 3040.
NIOSH focuses on black lung research and screening.
“It’s devastating. People will die,” said Tinney-Zara. “There is no one else in the government that does occupational safety and health. There’s no one else in the U.S. We’re the only group, NIOSH, that does occupational safety and health. We do the research to make everyone’s job safer.”
To her credit, Capito did say she has “strong disagreements” with the Trump administration’s approach to cutting federal employees in West Virginia, and told reporters that she’d be talking to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about the NIOSH layoffs.
It’s about time Capito grew a backbone. Senator, please show the rest of your delegation how to stand up to Trump when he’s hurting your constituents.
It’s time for our elected leaders to be friends of coal miners instead of “Friends of Coal.”
It’s time for West Virginia leaders to be friends of coal miners, not coal.
News from the States/West Virginia.
Apr 08, 2025 | 5:55 am ET
Commentary By Leann Ray
It’s time for West Virginia leaders to be friends of coal miners, not coal.
I’ve always thought the bumper sticker “Friends of Coal” was odd. Why be a friend to a fossil fuel? Especially one that’s caused so much disease, death and destruction in the state.
About 20% of coal miners in Central Appalachia are suffering from black lung, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is the highest rate of black lung detected in more than 25 years.
Coal miners are also being diagnosed with the disease at younger ages because they have to dig through such large amounts of silica-rich sandstone to reach the coal, West Virginia Watch reporter Caity Coyne reported last summer.
We hear our politicians constantly talking about supporting coal, and how former President Joe Biden hurt coal production. They say they want to stand up for coal. In reality, they’re only standing up for the coal mine owners to have less regulations so they can make more money.
And let’s be honest — coal mine owners in West Virginia show all the time they don’t care about coal miners.
For more than a decade the U.S. Department of Labor sent out monthly newsletters detailing impact inspections the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) performed at mines with histories of repeated safety and health violations. These reports started after the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster in West Virginia killed 29 miners in April 2010.
Saturday marked the 15 year anniversary of the worst mining disaster in the United States since 1970.
A little background of the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster — MSHA’s final report concluded that
“Massey’s corporate culture was the root cause of the tragedy.” MSHA issued Massey Energy Co., the owner of the mine, and its subsidiary, Performance Coal Co, 369 citations and orders, including for an “unprecedented 21 flagrant violations, which carry the most serious civil penalties available under the law.”
The former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship was convicted of conspiring to violate mine safety and health standards that led to the disaster. He served a year in prison.
The last MSHA newsletter was in January, before President Donald Trump took office. At the top of the final press release, it states, “Please note: As of 01/20/2025, information in some news releases may be out of date or not reflect current policies.”
You’re probably familiar with another man who owns coal mines — West Virginia Sen. Jim Justice.
Justice often said he didn’t want to go to Washington, D.C., and yet, he still ran for a U.S. Senate seat and he won.
The Justice family owns nearly two dozen coal companies that owe more than $409,000 in delinquent mine safety fines to the federal government. Last month, the companies agreed to pay off that debt by May 1.
If West Virginia’s members of Congress care about coal and coal miners, then explain why not a single member of the state’s delegation is backing the Robert C. Byrd Mine Safety Protection Act that was introduced Thursday by Sen. Tim Kaine and Rep. Bobby Scott, who both represent Virginia.
Sens. Justice and Shelley Moore Capito, and Reps. Carol Miller and Riley Moore, why are you not on this bill — named for our former senator — that aims to help coal miners?
“Miners take incredible risks to power our nation. While we’ve made progress to support them — like extending the Black Lung Disability Trust excise tax at a higher rate and strengthening silica standards — the recent actions of the Trump Administration have undermined decades of work to enhance protections for coal miners,” Kaine said in a press release. “This legislation is critical to strengthening safety standards and holding mine operators accountable for unsafe working conditions.”
To be clear: While our leaders have remained silent, the health and safety of our coal miners is under direct threat at this very moment and right under their noses.
Just last week, a federal appeals court issued a temporary stay on the implementation of what advocates have called a long overdue industry rule that would have limited how much dangerous silica dust coal miners are exposed to while they work. The rule — which simply adds the same exposure limits to the mining industry that have existed in other industries for years through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration — was set to go into effect for coal mines next week.
Officials said last year that the rule would have likely saved thousands of lives by limiting exposure to silica dust, which is the leading cause of black lung disease. But with the decision from the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the final fate of the rule remains unknown.
The Trump administration is closing 33 MSHA field offices. According to the Appalachian Citizens Law Center, these closures could significantly reduce the number of staff and inspections meant to prevent exposure to toxic dust, mining injuries and fatalities, and mining disasters.
“Closing these offices will, at a minimum, dramatically limit the ability for inspectors todo their job in a timely way by greatly expanding the territory they must cover from remaining offices,” according to the Appalachian Citizens Law Center. “At worst, staff and inspection numbers could be sharply reduced.”
The Department of Government Efficiency also eliminated hundreds of employees at Morgantown’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. The office is expected to close completely, according to Cathy Tinney-Zara, president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 3040.
NIOSH focuses on black lung research and screening.
“It’s devastating. People will die,” said Tinney-Zara. “There is no one else in the government that does occupational safety and health. There’s no one else in the U.S. We’re the only group, NIOSH, that does occupational safety and health. We do the research to make everyone’s job safer.”
To her credit, Capito did say she has “strong disagreements” with the Trump administration’s approach to cutting federal employees in West Virginia, and told reporters that she’d be talking to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about the NIOSH layoffs.
It’s about time Capito grew a backbone. Senator, please show the rest of your delegation how to stand up to Trump when he’s hurting your constituents.
It’s time for our elected leaders to be friends of coal miners instead of “Friends of Coal.”
