Ahead of the 2016 presidential election, coal country came out in droves to support Donald Trump, who promised rural America a mining revival . Eight years later, some coal miners are saying they are in crisis because of the administration’s inaction on industry safety.
Miners on Tuesday are gathering outside the Labor Department building to protest the Trump administration’s move to indefinitely postpone the federal enforcement of a rule limiting exposure to carcinogenic silica dust particles. Miners argue increased subjection to the dust has led to an eruption of black lung disease, an incurable disease associated with inhaling the particles.
“The mine workers obviously take extreme interest in the passing of the silica rule, because it is our members and our workers that are being