A federal judge has granted the Bush administration’s request to halt processing of new claims for federal black-lung benefits.
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled that most requests for new benefits can be put on hold during a court battle over new rules to loosen eligibility requirements for miners. As a result, hundreds of miners and their families may be forced to wait for months to receive benefits.
“We’re extremely disappointed,” said Doug Gibson, a spokesman for the United Mine Workers union, which fought against the Bush request.
Last week, lawyers for Bush and the mining industry asked Sullivan to suspend the new eligibility rules for 60 days.
Labor Secretary Elaine Chao argued that she needed time to review the rules, and decide whether she agreed with an industry lawsuit to overturn them.
Breathing coal dust causes black lung, or coal worker’s pneumoconiosis. The disease causes a variety of breathing problems, and is often fatal.
The 1969 federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act was supposed to protect miners from coal dust exposure, and provide benefits to miners who contract the diseases and families of miners who die from it.
Today, the UMW estimates that 1,500 miners still die every year from black lung. The government pays about $460 million a year in benefits to 80,000 miners and family members.
About 475 new claims are processed every month, according to a labor department spokeswoman.
Over the last four years, the UMW and other miners’ advocates have fought to make it easier for sick workers to receive benefits.
In December, President Clinton approved the new rules. The changes were published in the Federal Register Dec. 20 and took effect the day before Bush was inaugurated.
Among other things, the new rules would limit the amount of medical evidence that coal companies can submit in black-lung claims proceedings.
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jwthompson@tribune.com
