A year ago, just before President Joe Biden left office, the federal government issued a new rule for coal mine operators. It mandated that if mine operators are going to insure themselves, they have to prove they can cover 100% of the future costs of black lung disease if their workers contract it.

It was an attempt to solve an ongoing problem. The federal government requires disability payments for black lung treatment or, in the event of death, payments to family members. But coal companies were going bankrupt, and some ran out of money to pay black lung benefits to their miners. That shifts the burden for disability payments to the federal Black Lung Disability Trust Fund.

The trust fund is supposed to be funded by a tax on coal sales, but it regularly has to borrow money from the U.

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