In April, Harry Wiley, a Kanawha County coal miner, brought a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and its secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Wiley has black lung disease, and he applied for a job transfer to a part of the operation with less exposure to coal and rock dust that could worsen his condition.
Last week, Wiley’s attorneys filed an amended complaint, adding a new plaintiff, Matthew Ward, a Mingo County coal miner who also has black lung and is seeking a job transfer.
The suit challenges the decision by HHS to shutter the agency that processes such applications. In May, U.S. District Judge Irene Berger ordered HHS to restore the program.
Since then, only some of the Coal Workers Health Surveillance Program has been restored. A mobile X-ray unit remains inactive and technicians who read those X-rays have not been hired back.
The amended complaint says Ward has worked as a coal miner since 1993. In March of this year, the New River Clinic diagnosed him with complicated black lung disease.
In April, he applied to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health for a Part 90 job transfer, the kind that could reduce his exposure to coal dust and slow the progression of his disease.
Ward has not heard back about his application. He would also like to use the NIOSH mobile screening service, but the van that provides it is currently parked behind the agency’s office in Morgantown.
The Federal Coal Mine Safety and Health Act, passed by Congress in 1969, established the Part 90 program. It has seen little participation until recent years, as black lung cases have affected younger miners with more severity, especially in central Appalachia.
The Mine Act also prohibits any administration from weakening miner protections.
