Black Lung Cases Surge

NPR reports that cases of the worst stages of black lung disease have doubled nationwide in the last decade and have quadrupled in Appalachia in the same time period. 

I can't help remembering that the Massey Energy coal mine explosion was caused by excessive coal dust. The Mine Safety and Health Administration found that the company's culture of favoring production over safety contributed to flagrant safety violations that caused the coal dust explosion. Now we are seeing the effects of excessive coal dust on the rest of the miners' health. 

"The autopsies of the 29 victims of the 2010 explosion at what was then Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch mine also show... 71 percent had the nodules and lesions on their lungs that signify the disease.

That's a rate 10 times the average for southern West Virginia, says Davitt McAteer, a former federal mine safety chief who led an independent investigation of the explosion, in Raleigh County, W. Va., and reviewed the autopsies.

"What was shocking was the number of miners who showed evidence of black lung," McAteer says, "particularly among younger miners ... and miners who you would not have expected to have black lung."

 

An analysis of federal data by CPI and NPR shows that the mining industry and federal regulators have known for more than two decades that coal miners were breathing excessive amounts of the coal mine dust that causes black lung. CPI and NPR also found that the system for controlling coal mine dust is plagued by weak regulations and inaccurate reporting that sometimes includes fraud.

"This is clearly a public health epidemic," Laney says. "This is a rare disease that should not be occurring. It's occurring at a high proportion of individuals who are being exposed."

Especially shocking to Laney and others focused on black lung is the grip the disease has on younger miners and its rapid evolution to progressive massive fibrosis, or complicated black lung.

"From the patterns and from the severity, from the prevalence of the disease, this must be a situation in which the dust in many, many mines is simply not adequately controlled," says Edward Petsonk, a pulmonologist at West Virginia University and a consultant for NIOSH. "There's nothing else that could possibly cause this."

Massey Coal Report

A report by an independent team of investigators on last year's deadly coal mine disaster in West Virginia puts the blame squarely on Massey Energy, the mine's owner, according to the NY Times. The report says the company "made life difficult" for miners who tried to raise safety issues like accumulating coal dust.

The report used blunt language to describe what it said was a pattern of negligence that ultimately led to the deaths of 29 miners on April 5, 2010, in what was the worst American mining disaster in 40 years.

 "The story of Upper Big Branch is a cautionary tale of hubris," the report concluded. "A company that was a towering presence in the Appalachian coalfields operated its mines in a profoundly reckless manner, and 29 coal miners paid with their lives for the corporate risk-taking."

Company executives invoked their Fifth Amendment rights, and refused to be interviewed by investigators. 

Perhaps this report is one step along the road towards seeing justice done. 

Blankenship resigns

Don Blankenship, the chairman and CEO of America's most notorious coal company, unexpectedly announced his retirement this week. 

Blankenship ran Massey with an iron fist and a stunning disregard for the safety of its workers or the environmental effects of its mining practices. Last year alone, Massey had more than 500 safety violations and nearly $1 million in fines, and last April's explosion at Massey's Upper Big Branch Mine alone (29 men killed) was America's worst mining tragedy in 40 years. 

The company has been a leading proponent of mountaintop-removal mining for years and, between 2000 and 2007, violated the Clean Water Act more than 4,500 times. Its record number of safety violations has resulted in another, tragic record: In the past decade, 54 Massey workers have lost their lives -- more than at any other American coal company. 

Shareholder calls for Massey Energy CEO's Resignation

As federal and state investigators begin to investigate what caused the deadly blast that killed 29 miners in West Virginia, New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli called on Massey Energy Chairman Don Blankenship to resign.

DiNapoli is the sole trustee of the $129.4 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund, which holds 305.550 shares of Massey stock, worth $14.1 million.

"This tragedy was a failure both of risk management and effective board oversight," he said. "Blankenship must step down and make room for more responsible leadership at Massey."

The CtW Investment Group, a subsidiary of the labor federation Change to Win (comprised of five unions representing six million members), sent a letter to Massey Energy lead director retired Admiral Bobby R. Inman calling on the mining company's board "to immediately seek the resignation of Don Blankenship as chairman and CEO."