A mobile clinic that screens coal workers for black lung disease is coming to Letcher County next week.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health operates the free service for active and retired coal miners.
It will visit the Whitesburg Medical Center on Thursday, April 16, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The Coal Workers Health Surveillance Program was among those whose workers received termination notices a year ago as part of Trump administration cuts.
After lawsuits and protests from advocacy groups, the program was eventually restored.
The mobile clinic will also make visits to Alabama, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois in the coming weeks.
Black lung is an incurable and potentially fatal condition caused by exposure to coal and silica dust.
The federal government was supposed to implement a new dust limit a year ago to help protect the health of coal miners, but the rule has been stuck in federal court.
Rebecca Shelton, director of policy at the Appalachian Citizens Law Center, says too many miners, including younger miners, are getting sick and having their careers cut short.
“We know what the problem is, and we know what the solution is, and it's just that it's going to cost a little bit of money.”
Industry groups objected to the cost of implementing the rule and challenged it in the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis.
Earlier this week, the Mine Safety and Health Administration published a notice in the Federal Register that said the rule was on hold indefinitely while the court case is resolved.
It’s estimated that as many as 1 in 5 coal miners in central Appalachia have black lung.
Miners in their 30s and 40s have been diagnosed with severe cases, and some have required double lung transplants.
MSHA has a program for miners with black lung to reduce their exposure to toxic dust. It allows them to transfer to other jobs in less dusty environments.
Participation in the Part 90 program has increased in recent years, according to black lung advocates.
