Court Victory Restores Critical Black Lung Services for Miners

Charleston, WV - The West Virginia Democratic Party applauded attorney Sam Petsonk and the legal team at Mountain State Justice for their successful legal action in federal district court that has led to the restoration of critical National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) programs for coal miners, including black lung screening and health monitoring services that were shut down by the Trump administration.

“While West Virginia’s Republican congressional delegation offered tepid letters and half-hearted requests to the Trump administration, others were taking real action - by challenging the administration's cold hearted actions in court,” said Mike Pushkin, Chair of the West Virginia Democratic Party. “This is what standing up for miners looks like.”

The lawsuit, filed by Mountain State Justice and led by Petsonk, a longtime advocate for workers’ rights and a member of the Democratic National Committee, challenged the closure of NIOSH’s occupational health programs as unlawful and dangerous to the lives and livelihoods of West Virginia’s miners. The federal court’s ruling reverses the Trump shutdown and mandates the reinstatement of health protections for miners that have been in place for decades.

In response to the ruling, Petsonk issued the following statement:

“America’s coal miners won an injunction today reversing the federal government’s closure of NIOSH’s miners’ health programs, including the Part 90 low-dust transfer & miners’ health screening programs. These programs are more urgent than ever as Appalachian coal miners cut through massive amounts of highly-toxic sandstone to reach the thin coal seams that remain in our heavily-depleted coal basin.

This opinion gives life to America’s foundational principles of judicial review, empowering ordinary citizens like these coal miners to defend their rights against illegal actions by our government. I’m glad to see the Administration already taking some initial steps in the direction of complying with the order. America’s coal miners deserve nothing less, and in fact they deserve a heck of a lot more.

The United Mine Workers of America in southern West Virginia struck and picketed to create these federal miners’ health programs, which have protected working people worldwide - from African emerald miners to Italian stonecutters to rare earth miners and beyond. And it was southern West

Virginia miners again today who stepped up to save these programs by bringing this lawsuit.”

Pushkin added praise for Petsonk’s leadership:

“Sam Petsonk deserves enormous credit for this legal victory. His leadership,and legal expertise stood in stark contrast to the hollow political gestures we saw from our Republican representatives.”

Pushkin added, “Senator Justice had the audacity to say that we just ‘need a pause’ - as if life were a Netflix show and not a daily struggle to survive in West Virginia. Sure, that strategy might work for Justice when he’s stiffing his creditors or dodging court judgments, but most out-of-work West Virginians don’t have the luxury of hitting the pause button on their mortgage, car payment, or grocery bill. Try telling the electric company you’re taking a Justice-style timeout and see how fast the lights go out. While Jim Justice and the Trump administration are 'taking a pause,' real West Virginians are falling behind - and they can’t afford the Senator’s version of fantasy economics.”

Now, Republican officials are scrambling to take credit for reinstating NIOSH workers and black lung health services - conveniently omitting the fact that it took a federal court order to compel them to do what they should have done from the start.

“This is not leadership by the Republican delegation or the Trump administration,” Pushkin said. “This is accountability, imposed by the courts. And it only happened because people like Sam Petsonk and brave coal miners stood up and fought back. They won - and all of West Virginia wins because of it.”