The black lung crisis deepens in Appalachia
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What is the current resurgence of black lung disease in Appalachia?
I'm Aisha Roscoe, and this is The Sunday Story. Back in 2023, we brought you a story about the resurgence of black lung disease among coal miners.
The doctor says my lungs started shutting down. I said, it's hardened. It's like a lump of coal. It's bad when you walk outside and all that air out there and you can't get none in your lungs. Parents just trying to take a bag of trash out. Steps and heels. I can even walk up my driveway and check my mailbox. You get up hacking, spitting black and blood. Coughing to the point of almost throwing up.
That episode, Cole's Deadly Dust, documents failed efforts to prevent this deadly disease and what those failures have meant for minors, their families, and their communities.
We're going to die from it. There's no cure for it.
It's a death sentence. And knowing that that's coming to you. It's pretty hard to take.
Howard Berkus has been investigating the rise of black lung disease for more than a decade, first as an NPR correspondent and now as a retired correspondent. Howard Berkus is joining us again today to bring us a major update. He's still investigating. But first, let's go back three years to that original episode. In that interview with Howard back then, we talked about the revelations he reported over the years. So Howard, first of all, welcome to the podcast.
I really appreciate being with you.
I just want to better understand this disease. So when I think of Black Lung Disease, it's not something that I think of and associate with today. I'm thinking of the past, the Industrial Revolution. You know, I'm not thinking 2023. Right.
You know, it's actually still pretty common in coal country in Appalachia to hear about dads and grandfathers, uncles, friends who mined coal and then suffered and died from black lung disease. It was typically an old miner's disease, and the deaths can be really horrific. The lungs slowly build up with fibrotic tissue. The affected portion of the lungs become hard, and eventually they no longer work. It's often death by suffocation.
I mean, it sounds... like a terrible way to die. Has the government done anything to address this?
Back in 1969, 40,000 coal miners in West Virginia staged a wildcat strike over black lung disease, and that prompted Congress to enact a new mine safety law. It put tough limits on exposure to coal dust, and it made a big difference. The rate of black lung disease plunged 90% in the next couple of decades.
Okay, so what prompted you to begin investigating black lung disease in 2011, like when you got started with all this?
Actually, the year before, in 2010, there was this terrible coal mine explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia. 29 coal miners were killed. It was catastrophic then. Dozens of mine rescuers, EMTs, and ambulances were mobilized.
It's a total disaster control. I need all the resources you can give me. Okay.
This was the worst mine disaster in 40 years. A year later, in 2011, a report about the disaster was released, and it contained a one-page sidebar. And that sidebar said that the autopsies on the miners who were killed in the explosion revealed an extraordinarily high rate of black lung disease, One of the miners who died in the explosion was named Gary Wayne Quarles. He was just 33 years old at the time. And his father, who's also named Gary and also was a coal miner, he told me this.
He had black lung. Being in the mines for 13 to 15 years and already considered having black lung nowadays, it's unbelievable. And not only him, quite a few other younger guys died. And being that young, that's uncalled for.
So the thing that is striking about this is because with Black Lung Disease in the past, this was something that hit miners when they were in their 60s and 70s, like their later years in life. And that image that kind of comes to mind of older, retired miners hooked up to oxygen tanks after mining for 30 or 40 years, right?
How did the 1969 miners’ strike lead to the first black‑lung safety law?
One of the shocking experiences we had right away was meeting coal miners who did not fit that description. They were far younger when they were diagnosed and they got far sicker more quickly.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the current resurgence of black lung disease in Appalachia?
0:01–4:50
2
How did the 1969 miners’ strike lead to the first black‑lung safety law?
4:50–9:52
3
Why are younger miners now being diagnosed with complicated black lung?
9:52–14:08
4
What do personal stories like Mark McCowan’s and Mackie Branham’s reveal about the disease’s impact?
14:08–20:05
5
How did investigators uncover thousands of hidden black‑lung cases through clinic data?
20:05–26:42
6
What role does silica dust play in the new wave of black lung cases?
26:42–32:59
7
Why have recent federal silica‑dust regulations been stalled, and what are the consequences?
32:59–38:55
8
What can be done now to protect miners and prevent the crisis from worsening?
38:55–45:15
Speakers
4 identifiedMore from Up First from NPR
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