FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 12, 2023 CONTACT Trey Pollard, trey@pollardcommunications.com, 202-904-9187 COAL COUNTRY – Last night at midnight EST, the 45-day comment period on the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s draft rule to protect coal miners from exposure to respirable…
The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration is planning three hybrid hearings on its proposed rule to strengthen silica exposure standards for coal miners. These hearings will give miners and their advocates an opportunity to point out some of the weaknesses of the proposal.
Today, Sens. Mark Warner (VA), Tim Kaine (VA), Joe Manchin (WV), Sherrod Brown (OH), Bob Casey (PA) and John Fetterman (PA) introduced legislation to ease the process for families of deceased miners to apply for black lung benefits. Surviving dependents can apply to receive black lung benefits after a miner’s death, but filing for benefits is complex and burdensome.
Today, the Biden Administration’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) released a long-delayed draft rule to protect coal miners from exposure to respirable silica — the principal cause of the resurgence of deadly black lung disease.
This morning, advocates for miners with black lung and their families released a new report detailing how black lung benefit payments have fallen far behind the cost of living, putting ailing miners and their dependents among the most at risk as inflation continues to rise.
Congressional appropriations leaders are preparing to release omnibus spending legislation for FY2023 today, and community advocates from across coal country are urging them to ensure several long-standing priority investments are included. Advocates argue that the omnibus legislation is an important opportunity to get three key provisions over the finish line.
The announcement comes as a surprise to many key stakeholders in the region, and no local citizen groups were informed about the governor’s visit — nor have any been invited to participate in the planning of the location and development of the new energy infrastructure.
The federal government is getting ready to make a huge investment in cleaning up abandoned mine lands. The Department of Interior released guidance to help states and tribes to spend that money in ways that have the greatest impact for hard-hit communities.
With the passage of the Fiscal Year 2022 omnibus spending package, Congress has failed to address one of the most pervasive and visible problems caused by abandoned mine operations in the country: acid mine drainage.
CONTACT: Dan Radmacher, (540) 798-6683, dan@appvoices.org Trey Pollard, (202) 904-9187, trey@pollardcommunications.com APPALACHIA – Today, the Biden Administration announced that nearly $725 million in Fiscal Year 2022 abandoned mine land (AML) funding secured in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will…
