{"id":10757,"date":"2025-01-07T08:20:19","date_gmt":"2025-01-07T13:20:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/?p=10757"},"modified":"2025-01-08T17:51:08","modified_gmt":"2025-01-08T22:51:08","slug":"labor-department-acts-to-protect-miners-black-lung-compensation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2025\/01\/07\/labor-department-acts-to-protect-miners-black-lung-compensation\/","title":{"rendered":"Labor Department Acts to Protect Miners&#8217; Black Lung Compensation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"firstcharacter\">T<\/span>he excellent <em>Confined Space<\/em> 2024 <a href=\"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2025\/01\/02\/2024-year-in-review\/\">year-end summary<\/a> missed one important accomplishment of the Biden administration: In December 2024, the DOL\u2019s Office of Workers\u2019 Compensation Programs (OWCP) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dol.gov\/newsroom\/releases\/owcp\/owcp20241211\">finalized<\/a> a little publicized rule to plug gaping loopholes in the Black Lung Benefits Program which had allowed self-insured coal operators to substantially underinsure for current and future black lung benefit liabilities.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">\u201cThis final rule will give greater transparency and clarity for mine operators\u00a0about the procedures and standards for obtaining self-insurance authorization,\u201d\u00a0said Office of Workers\u2019 Compensation Programs Director Christopher Godfrey. \u201cThis will ensure that mine operators, not taxpayers, bear responsibility for benefit payments under the Black Lung Benefits Act, as Congress intended.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Why It&#8217;s Needed<\/h2>\n<p>To summarize, coal operators are responsible for paying black lung benefits to workers suffering from Black Lung disease. This program is especially important because after years of falling, the rate of a severe form of black lung diseases has been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wyomingpublicmedia.org\/natural-resources-energy\/2024-12-12\/u-s-department-of-labor-protects-black-lung-fund-as-new-administration-approaches#:~:text=In%20Wyoming%2C%20Godfrey%20said\">rising<\/a> recently.<\/p>\n<p>Coal operators are required to either purchase commercial compensation insurance to cover the costs of black lung compensation, or they can also self-insure by posting adequate collateral.<\/p>\n<p>But that system didn&#8217;t work well.<\/p>\n<p>As I <a href=\"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2023\/05\/17\/gaming-the-system-how-wealthy-coal-operators-are-undermining-the-solvency-of-the-black-lung-benefits-program\/\">explained in great detail in 2023<\/a>, over the past decades, self-insured coal mine operators have subjected generations of miners to disabling and fatal black lung disease, and then managed to transfer their responsibility to pay benefits to suffering coal miners from their own coffers to the taxpayer\u2019s pockets.\u00a0 Operators had been able to post collateral on as little as 3% of their back lung liabilities, and when these operators filed for bankruptcy they shifted over a billion dollars in unfunded liabilities into the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund (BLDTF)&#8211;which is already buried under more than $6 billion in red ink.<\/p>\n<p>This cost shift allowed Wall Street bankers to secure larger recoveries in bankruptcy, while saddling taxpayers with costs that should have been borne by the coal operators that were responsible for causing this lethal disease. Self-insured coal operators have reserved a mere 19% of their $630 million in self-insured black lung liabilities.<\/p>\n<p>However, the final OWCP rule, which goes into effect on January 13, requires operators to post 100% of their current and future estimated back lung liabilities, using DOL actuarial methods. Coal operators are allowed to phase in the increased collateral requirements over the next year.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>The outgoing Biden administration is trying to ensure that coal companies \u2013 not American taxpayers \u2013 pay for their workers\u2019 black lung disease treatments and monthly benefits. Predictably, the National Mining Association is squawking that this mandate on self-insured operators is unreasonable<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The outgoing Biden administration is trying to ensure that coal companies \u2013 not American taxpayers \u2013 pay for their workers\u2019 black lung disease treatments and monthly benefits. Predictably, the National Mining Association is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wyomingpublicmedia.org\/2018-06-04\/coal-miners-fund-set-for-deep-cuts-as-black-lung-epidemic-grows#:~:text=Increasing%20the%20tax%20or\">squawking<\/a> that this mandate on self-insured operators is unreasonable, according to reporting by Wyoming Public Radio.\u00a0 And<\/p>\n<p>By contrast, the <a href=\"https:\/\/umwa.org\/news-media\/press\/umwa-applauds-black-lung-self-insurance-rule\/\">United Mine Workers of Americ<\/a>a noted \u201cThe burden of dealing with this always-fatal disease has for too long fallen on its victims. It\u2019s time to put the burden where it belongs \u2013 on the coal companies that ignored laws and regulations that are in place to keep mine workers safe and healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>House Education and Workforce Committee Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA) <a href=\"https:\/\/democrats-edworkforce.house.gov\/media\/press-releases\/scott-applauds-biden-harris-administration-for-caring-for-miners-and-their-families\">applauded<\/a> this rule, \u201cThis will ensure that miners and their survivors can access the care they are legally entitled to receive without bankrupting the BLDTF and forcing taxpayers to foot the bill.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Will Republicans Overturn the Rule?<\/h2>\n<p>Whether the incoming Administration and Republican leadership will sustain this overdue effort to solvency of the Black Lung Trust Fund remains to be seen. Because the new regulation was only recently issued, it is vulnerable to repeal by a Republican Congress using the<a href=\"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/category\/congressional-review-act\/\"> Congressional Review Act<\/a>. During the first Trump administration, Congress and the President repealed OSHA&#8217;s &#8220;Volks Rule&#8221; that ensured effective recordkeeping enforcement.\u00a0 Between Musk&#8217;s DOGE, and opposition by the NMA, it&#8217;s unclear what the future holds for this legislation and miners who need Black Lung compensation for many decades into the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The excellent Confined Space 2024 year-end summary missed one important accomplishment of the Biden administration: In December 2024, the DOL\u2019s Office of Workers\u2019 Compensation Programs (OWCP) finalized a little publicized rule to plug gaping loopholes in the Black Lung Benefits Program which had allowed self-insured coal operators to substantially underinsure for current and future black [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":10788,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mine-safety"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Labor Department Acts to Protect Miners&#039; 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He also worked at the House Education and &amp; Labor Committee (2007-2009, 2019-2021) and the Chemical Safety Board.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/jordan-barab-81b0218\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/jbarab\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7efd95584a03b6dba28922d5dfdc85b0\",\"name\":\"Richard Miller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5eb19eebcea85e1c19317119ebae0df814fcee763f450b70d2d0aa17b94721f3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5eb19eebcea85e1c19317119ebae0df814fcee763f450b70d2d0aa17b94721f3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5eb19eebcea85e1c19317119ebae0df814fcee763f450b70d2d0aa17b94721f3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Richard Miller\"},\"description\":\"Richard Miller is the retired Labor Policy Director for the House Education and Labor Committee.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/author\\\/rmiller\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Labor Department Acts to Protect Miners' Black Lung Compensation - Confined Space","description":"The Biden Administration has issued a rule that will require self-insuring coal operators to provide adequate funding for black lung comp.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2025\/01\/07\/labor-department-acts-to-protect-miners-black-lung-compensation\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Labor Department Acts to Protect Miners' Black Lung Compensation - Confined Space","og_description":"The Biden Administration has issued a rule that will require self-insuring coal operators to provide adequate funding for black lung comp.","og_url":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2025\/01\/07\/labor-department-acts-to-protect-miners-black-lung-compensation\/","og_site_name":"Confined Space","article_published_time":"2025-01-07T13:20:19+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-01-08T22:51:08+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2048,"height":1365,"url":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/21009251506_8ecf9d2919_k-3.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Richard Miller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@jbarab","twitter_site":"@jbarab","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Richard Miller","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2025\/01\/07\/labor-department-acts-to-protect-miners-black-lung-compensation\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2025\/01\/07\/labor-department-acts-to-protect-miners-black-lung-compensation\/"},"author":{"name":"Richard Miller","@id":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/#\/schema\/person\/7efd95584a03b6dba28922d5dfdc85b0"},"headline":"Labor Department Acts to Protect Miners&#8217; 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