Congress is running out of time to tackle the Black Lung crisis
Black lung disease is a crisis, and Congress needs to support miners with black lung by making sure coal companies continue to pay for medical care and disability benefits! Visit http://www.powerplusplan.org/black-lung
Black lung disease is a preventable disease caused by the inhalation of coal and silica dust particles. The Black Lung Disability Trust Fund provides monthly payments and medical benefits to coal miners (and surviving dependents) disabled from black lung disease when their employer is bankrupt or when no coal operator can be identified as responsible for paying benefits.
During fiscal year 2020, the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund paid $162 million in benefits to thousands of families across the United States.The Trust Fund is funded by a per ton excise tax on coal sold domestically. Congress allowed the excise tax rate that was in place for over three decades to drop by more than half at the start of 2019. Fortunately, the previous rate was reinstated for one year intervals through 2020 and 2021. If the tax again reverts to the lower rate, the Trust Fund’s benefits payments and administrative costs will exceed revenue and cause the program’s debt to skyrocket to over $15 billion by 2050.
Unless Congress takes action to ensure that the excise tax rate is sufficient, the Trust Fund’s solvency, and thus the future benefits and healthcare that miners depend on, are in jeopardy.
To take care of the coal miners who have sacrificed their health to provide the rest of us with power, Congress must pass legislation to ensure the long-term solvency of the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund by supporting a 25% increase in and permanent extension of the black lung excise tax.
CALL YOUR SENATOR TODAY at (855) 980-2358 and tell them to do right by coal miners by passing a permanent 25% increase to the Black Lung Excise Tax. Or send a letter by going to http://www.powerplusplan.org/black-lung
Want to share awareness about black lung? Post about this issue on social media and direct folks to http://www.powerplusplan.org/black-lung
Sample language for social media:
I am proud to stand up for #coal miners & their families who have been left behind. Congress must save the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund. Help support them by calling 1-855-980-2358 to hear a script & be connected with your senator. #blacklungkills
For more information about black lung disease, visit http://www.powerplusplan.org/about-bl...
Still photography by Earl Dotter, https://earldotter.com/
Video footage from webinar hosted Aug. 11, 2021, by Appalachian Citizens' Law Center, Appalachian Voices and the National Black Lung Association,
Video produced by Appalachian Citizens' Law Center, Appalachian Voices and BlueGreen Alliance
#BlackLungKills #BlackLungDisease