Coal Company Accused of Cheating on Tests that Protect Miners from Black Lung

Prestonsburg, KY (WorkersCompensation.com) – A coal mining company in Eastern Kentucky has been charged by a federal grand jury of cheating on dust samples designed to protect its miners from black lung disease.   

On Wednesday, Black Diamon Coal, LLC, in Prestonsburg, Ky., was charged with willfully violating mandatory federal health and safety standards, as well as with making false statements, for its reporting on coal dust levels in air samples. Walter Perkins, the man in charge of dust sampling in the mine, was also charged with one charge of violating federal health and safety standards, and two charges of making false statements.  

Federal regulations require that mine operators control the level of breathable dust in coal mines in order to prevent black lung disease, an incurable disease that restricts breathing in the patient and has been a cause of death for more than 76,000 miners since 1968. The disease has cost the federal government more than $45 billion in benefits to miners and their families.  

Between 1995 and 1999, the prevalence of black lung disease dropped sharply after regulations were put in place to control the dust. However, in 2000, it started to rise again, reaching 3.3 percent of surveyed miners between 2005 and 2006, according to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Those levels were worst in Eastern Kentucky with about 9 percent of miners reported to suffer from black lung between 2005 and 2009.   

At the time, NIOSH said it was also seeing miners with more advanced cases of black lung in younger miners. As a result, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) put in place new rules aimed at eliminating the disease – lowering the levels of coal and rock dust miners could be exposed to and requiring personal dust monitors for miners to provide real-time exposure information.   

Officials accused Black Diamond of running the dust monitor outside in the clean air in October 2020, instead of keeping it on an underground employee. The company’s actions lowered the dust reading, officials said. The company then submitted the false air sample reading to the MSHA.   

Officials also allege that Perkins knowingly failed to require a coal miner to wear a dust monitor as required by the MSHA, and then lied to officials about it. Perkins allegedly told a mine inspector he had assigned a dust monitor to a miner operating a continuous mining machine, but that the machine malfunctions. In reality, Perkins didn’t give the worker the device at all, the indictment said. Instead, Perkins ran the monitor in the air outside of the mine, giving a cleaner reading.   

Perkins is alleged to have lied about the incident to a MSHA investigator when he was questioned about it.   

According to the American Lung Association, an estimated 16 percent of miners will contract some form of black lung disease.   

Coal mine operators are required by law to provide coverage for its miners that contract black lung disease. Mine operators may either self-insure or purchase and maintain commercial insurance. Any coal miner who fails to secure the payment of benefits is subject to a civil penalty of up to $1,000 per day for each day of non-compliance.   

Coal mines, however, are closing at an alarming rate, leaving miners without benefits.   

According to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), between 2008 and 2017, the number of coal mines operating in the US dropped from 1,435 to 671.   

When coal mine operators cannot provide benefits, the coverage falls to the U.S. government under the Black Lung Benefits Act which provides monthly payments and medical benefits to coal miners totally disabled by black lung disease. The act also provides benefits to a miner’s dependent survivors.  

The program covers medical services for black lung disease, including diagnostic testing and treatment of the disease. Treatment covers the cost of prescription drugs, office visits, hospitalizations and durable medical equipment.  

In 2019, the basic monthly payment for a totally disabled miner or the surviving spouse of a miner was $669.30 per month, or up to $1,338.60 for claimants with three or more qualified dependents.   

However, in order to qualify for the benefits, miners must prove that they got black lung disease due to their exposure to it on the job.   

Falsified air quality results would make proving that more difficult, experts said.  

If found guilty of the most serious charges, Black Diamond and Perkins could face up to five years in prison.  

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