Sec. 3. Findings
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Congress finds the following: The Black Lung Benefits Act ( 30 U.S.C. 901 et seq. ) was enacted to provide health care and modest benefits to coal miners who develop pneumoconiosis (referred to in this section as black lung disease ) resulting from exposure to coal dust during their employment. Yet, the determination of a claimant’s eligibility for these benefits often requires complex, adversarial litigation. Resource disparities between coal companies and such claimants are widespread within the statutory and regulatory framework.
Comprehensive reforms are necessary to ensure that coal miners and their survivors can get access to the workers compensation benefits they are entitled to receive and are not at a disadvantage when filing claims for benefits. The Government Accountability Office has found that many claimants under the Black Lung Benefits Act are not equipped with the medical and legal resources necessary to develop evidence to meet the requirements for benefits. Without better options for legal representation, significant numbers of such claimants proceed with their claims through a complex and potentially long administrative process without resources that Department of Labor officials and black lung disease experts note are important for developing evidence and supporting their claims.
Only 42 percent of claimants are represented by an attorney during the initial claims determination. Absent efforts to remedy administrative problems and address structural weaknesses in the process for obtaining benefits, claimants with meritorious claims will not receive benefits. Reforms are necessary to help miners and their survivors access legal representation. Contrary to the intent of Congress, benefits payments under the Black Lung Benefits Act do not automatically increase with the rising cost of living.
Benefit payments are tied to the monthly pay rate for Federal employees in grade GS–2, step 1. In multiple fiscal years between 2010 and the enactment of this Act, there was a pay freeze for Federal employees, which had the effect of eliminating cost-of-living adjustments for miners, surviving spouses, and dependents under the Black Lung Benefits Act during such years. Reforms are needed to ensure that benefits are not eroded due to inflation and are brought up to date to keep up with the cost of living.
Congress intended for coal companies to have primary responsibility for benefits due to black lung disease acquired by their workers. However, because many companies have self-insured their obligations without proper collateral available and subsequently defaulted on those obligations, too many former workers have had to rely on the public Black Lung Disability Trust Fund as a backstop. Reforms are needed to ensure that companies are prepared to meet their primary responsibilities and that their plans for self-insurance are fiscally sound.
Black lung disease has been the underlying or contributing cause of death of more than 78,000 miners since 1968. After decades of decline, the incidence of coal miners with black lung disease is on the rise, recently reaching levels not seen in 25 years. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, miners are developing advanced cases of the disease at younger ages. In response, the Department of Labor took important steps to combat the disease, including promulgating a rule in 2014 that reduced the allowed concentration of coal dust and addressed weaknesses in the dust sampling system.
Retrospective studies should be continued to determine whether revisions to the standards are necessary to eliminate the disease. The Mine Safety and Health Administration of the Department of Labor has made clear its intent to issue rules around respirable crystalline silica. In the interim, the Mine Safety and Health Administration launched an enforcement initiative to protect miners from the health hazards of respirable crystalline silica. Under this initiative, the Mine Safety and Health Administration will conduct inspections on silica hazards and expand silica sampling at mines.
The Mine Safety and Health Administration will also provide mine operators with compliance assistance and best practices to limit miners’ exposure to harmful silica dust.
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