Coal Miners Face Lengthy Appeals as Black Lung Cases Surge to Near 50-Year High
Veteran miner Josh Armes has spent over a decade fighting appeals that stripped his federal black-lung benefits, a struggle shared by many as disease rates climb to a half-century peak.
Former coal miner Josh Armes, now 74 and living in Grundy, Virginia, relies on supplemental oxygen after being diagnosed with coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, yet his federal black-lung benefits have been repeatedly overturned by a coal operator’s appeal since 2014. His case exemplifies a broader crisis: a GAO review found 7,709 beneficiaries in 2024 and about 22,500 in fiscal year 2025, while 40% of approved claims since 2013 have faced disputes, often leading to multi-year delays.
Recent research published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine shows black-lung prevalence among central Appalachian miners at 32.5%, the highest since 1978, with over 1,700 deaths between 2020 and 2023. Lawmakers Mark Warner, John Hickenlooper, Tim Kaine and John Fetterman have sought reforms, but the Trump administration’s Mine Safety and Health Administration has indefinitely postponed a federal silica-dust rule, citing pending litigation.
The United Mine Workers of America and the Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center criticize the inaction, warning that each delay costs miners their health and livelihoods. Armes’s daughter, Crystal, argues the burden of proof unfairly falls on miners, who must finance medical tests and legal fees while awaiting benefits.
Why it matters
Delayed benefits and lax safety rules leave sick miners without support as black-lung disease resurges.
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