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By Nedia Ramlagan
May 13, 2025
West Virginia coal miners filed a lawsuit asking a federal judge to temporarily halt the Trump administration’s layoffs impacting the Coal Workers Health Surveillance Program.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health houses the program, which offers the screenings free of charge.
Travis Parsons, director of occupational safety and health for the Laborers’ Health and Safety Fund of North America and a native West Virginian, said a majority, some 80% to 90% of workers at the program, have now lost their jobs.
“We always lean on NIOSH for research,” Parsons noted. “Any time we had a new OSHA rule, we leaned on them for their expertise and to create a safer workplace.”
The class action lawsuit against the federal government was filed on behalf of miners by Appalachian Mountain Advocates, Mountain State Justice and Petsonk Labor and Employment Law. Modern changes in mining technology have allowed miners to dig deeper into rock, increasing their exposure to silica dust, which has driven up rates of black lung disease, according to the American Journal of Managed Care.
Parsons added the program NIOSH has unique tasks and expertise which cannot be easily transferred to other agencies.
“They’re the only agency in the country that certified respirators and tested respirators,” Parsons pointed out.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates around 20% of coal miners in Central Appalachia have been diagnosed with black lung disease.