Black Lung Investigation on PBS/Frontline [a Week Ago]

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Black Lung Investigation on PBS/Frontline Tonight

January 22, 2019

We wrote last month about an PBS/Frontline story by Howard Berkes about the return of black lung, how the mixture of coal dust and silica were ripping miners’ lungs apart, and the government agencies that were unable to stop the problem.

Tonight, tune in to your local PBS station where Frontline and PBS will be presenting the investigation. 10:00 Eastern, 9:00 Central Time.

[marble falls]

1. Jeez. My granfather died of blacklung in the mid sixties after mining in the Bethahem mines ...

I just cannot believe there are still people dying of it over fifty years later.

Regulation saves lives.

[progree]

2. The coal dust regulations worked well for awhile, to greatly reduce black lung disease

incidence.

But in recent years as high grade coal seams were mined out, they started mining lesser and lesser quality coal seams. Meaning that per ton of coal mined, they were grinding up more and more rock -- releasing more and more silica into the air. That caused a big uptick in black lung, particularly the more aggressive faster forms of the disease that are striking miners at younger and younger ages after fewer numbers of years in the mine.

In 2014, they adjusted the coal dust regulations in response, but did not address silica dust concentrations (that would have been "too expensive" ). So it wasn't much help.

At least that's the gist of what I got out of last week's program.

[marble falls]

3. They worked great. Jock Yablonski and the UMW fought hard, bled and died (Jock was murdered

in his sleep) to help the working man and helped to make workplace conditions safer for miners and showed other unions how to work Washington and Congress to get laws that help all of us.

Trump is working hard to get chained to our machines and paid starvation wages.