Coal miners push for federal benefits boost in Washington

Retired Kentucky coal miners, led by Douglas Hayes, traveled to Capitol Hill this week to advocate for the Support Our Miners Act, a bill cosponsored by Rep. Morgan McGarvey, D-Louisville, that would increase federal benefits for miners disabled by black lung disease.

Hayes, secretary of the Southeast Kentucky Black Lung Association, and other advocates, including retired miner Bill Hatfield, urged Congress to raise monthly benefits and tie them to inflation, noting that current payments of just under $1,200 a month are insufficient as living costs rise.

Data from the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine shows that black lung prevalence among miners in Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia is nearly ten times higher than the national average, and the group also calls on the Trump administration to enforce a Mine Safety and Health Administration rule that was finalized under the Biden administration to reduce silica dust exposure.

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