Casey visits McMurray black lung facility

McMURRAY – One less noticed component of the climate and health care legislation signed by President Biden last month was the permanent reauthorization of the tax that subsidizes the Black Lung Trust Fund, which pays benefits to miners who have black lung disease if the company they worked for has declared bankruptcy or is otherwise not paying benefits.
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey was among a group of Democratic senators from coal-producing states that championed the measure, and he said Wednesday afternoon that there are additional steps that need to be taken, “certainly in terms of quality of care and the provision of benefits that miners and their families have a right to expect.”
“We wouldn’t have won World War I and World War II without their work,” Casey added.
Casey made his remarks during a visit to the nonprofit Lungs at Work clinic in Waterdam Plaza. It’s the only free-standing black lung clinic in the country, and treats miners who have black lung as a result of coal dust they inhaled while working in mines. The disease, formally known as coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, scars the lungs and steadily diminishes their ability to breathe. The clinic and its founder, Lynda Glagola, also assist miners in filing claims for black lung disability benefits.
When he was at the clinic, Casey observed the workings of a pulmonary function machine, which measures the lung capacity of miners who are being treated. By stopping at the clinic, Casey said he learned how the state of a miner’s health is determined “based on the high-quality technology in a place like this. And you learn by seeing up close what our miners have to go through.”
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) estimates that black lung disease has contributed to or caused at least 78,000 deaths since 1968. Casey has introduced additional legislation, along with fellow Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., Tim Kaine, D-Va., Mark Warner, D-Va., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, that would improve benefits for miners with black lung disease by, among other things, ensuring they have access to legal representation and making sure their benefits are not eroded by inflation.
Glagola said Casey can help miners struggling with black lung disease because “he obviously has a bigger pulpit than what we have here.”