Last month, I attended the funeral of a 48-year-old miner who had black lung. Black lung is getting younger miners sicker than I have ever seen. Thousands in my community have it. A lot of them are already gone, and their families are left behind, struggling, unable to pay the bills. 

The disease takes everything. But I have now watched too many of my friends and neighbors die without anyone in power doing anything about it. 

I’m very disappointed in the coal operators and in the government because they have not tried to do more. In fact, they’re now going in the opposite direction. Just last week, the Trump Administration announced it was indefinitely pausing a new safeguard that would have curbed the silica dust that is causing black lung. It’s a rule coal miners fought for decades to secure. We finally got it in 2024. But, since then, the Trump Administration negotiated with mining companies to weaken it before they hit pause on implementation all together. 

This is happening while miners constantly hear promises from politicians about bringing back coal. Those words don’t mean much to us when we see those same politicians are shelving the rules that can save our lives. They aren’t talking about black lung that’s killing miners. Instead, they’re giving tax dollars to the coal companies. They’re not interested in the law we fought for decades to get that would cut down on the silica dust exposure that has caused so much black lung in recent years. Instead, they’re telling the Defense Department to buy more coal. They’re not doing anything about the fact that the small stipends given to miners with black lung aren’t enough to live on. Instead, they’re acting like the coal companies are a treasure worth protecting. 

But the greatest asset isn’t coal – it’s the miners. Without us, there is no coal mining. So why are things getting harder for us when they say they’re here to save coal?

For years, I watched both MSHA and the companies cut corners on protecting us. You never saw an inspector when we were cutting the hardest rock and kicking up the most dust. When they did come around, we’d usually be above ground and the air samples always seemed to come back clean.

As mining changed, we weren’t just cutting coal — we were cutting a lot more rock, and rock means silica dust. Silica is more dangerous than coal dust when it comes to black lung, but for decades we couldn’t get a federal rule in place to protect us from it. We fought for decades for a meaningful silica law and we finally got one in 2024. But, now this administration has put it on the shelf, endlessly delaying it at the very moment miners need it most.

What miners need are real laws and real enforcement. Miners today are cutting more rock than ever before. There is more silica in those mines than there has ever been. But there is no law that does anything to keep that dust out of their lungs. They are in trouble.

For most miners who are already sick, the first thing you hear when you apply for black lung benefits is “denied, denied, denied.” It seems like the system wears you down by design. I have never once had a prescription that wasn’t denied initially. I once had to tell a doctor: if you don’t get me this medicine, I’ll have to go to the emergency room right now. 

A three-day hospital stay cost me nine thousand dollars.

And even for miners who do get approved, the benefits haven’t kept pace with reality. Last month I paid a $575 energy bill. We all know how out of control these bills are getting, and that’s especially true on a fixed black lung stipend. 

The cost of living goes up. Energy costs go up. Benefits barely move. 

Miners are people who spent their lives underground so this country could keep its lights on. They should not have to choose between groceries and medicine.

My health has deteriorated sharply. In two years, my disabilities have doubled. I go to respiratory therapy two or three days a week just to maintain what I have. I know what is coming.

But that is not going to stop me from speaking out. We are human beings. We consider our lives as valuable as anyone else’s.  It is past time to get us a strong silica dust rule to stop black lung and stronger benefits to support the miners who are already sick. If this President or any politician truly wants to talk about the coal industry, they need to start by protecting the people who make it possible: the miners.

William McCool is the President of the Black Lung Association of Southeastern Kentucky and a former coal miner from Letcher County, Kentucky, living with Black Lung disease.