Retired coal miner Josh Armes spent 38 years working in the coalfields of West Virginia and Virginia. Now 74 and living in Grundy, Virginia, he was recently diagnosed with coal workers’ pneumoconiosis (CWP), commonly known as black lung disease. The condition, caused by prolonged inhalation of coal dust, results in irreversible lung damage.
Armes is among thousands of sick miners currently trapped in a backlog of benefit delays. While President Trump has publicly stated that he ‘digs coal,’ pneumonia-like cases linked to the industry have surged to their highest level in 50 years.
The crisis has left many former miners pleading for financial assistance, with some expressing despair over the length of time it takes to receive approved claims. As pneumoconiosis cases climb, advocates say the system is failing those who spent decades exposed to dangerous dust levels in the mines.
Leave a Reply