New research from federal health researchers shows that central Appalachian coal miners are suffering from black lung disease at the highest rate in nearly half a century.
Mine regulations passed in the 1970s had pushed those rates down, but they began rising again in the late 1990s, and now about a third of veteran miners are sick.
Experts say mining in this region has become riskier as mining companies go after less accessible, thin seams of coal mixed with rock, exposing miners to toxic silica dust. Yet the Trump administration froze a rule enacted under Biden to limit silica dust exposure.
Justin Hicks with the Appalachia Mid-South Newsroom reports.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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