In this photo, from 2015 Joe Main, third from left, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health, and Patricia Silvey, center, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Operations with MSHA, speak with workers at the Gibson North mine, in Princeton, Ind. Federal mining regulators in December 2017 indicated they were reconsidering rules meant to protect underground miners from breathing coal and rock dust - the cause of black lung - and diesel exhaust, which can cause cancer.
Timothy D. Easley / Associated Press
âenergy, explainedâ podcast: The black lung disease epidemic that âshouldnât have happenedâ
StateImpact's Reid Frazier talks with NPR's Howard Berkes
Scott Blanchard was WITF and StateImpact Pennsylvania's former director of journalism, he worked on things like newsroom strategy, culture, ethics, and training. He worked with reporters (mainly climate reporter Rachel McDevitt) on stories and was deeply involved with our community engagement efforts and collaborations with other news organizations.
Timothy D. Easley / Associated Press
In this photo, from 2015 Joe Main, third from left, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health, and Patricia Silvey, center, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Operations with MSHA, speak with workers at the Gibson North mine, in Princeton, Ind. Federal mining regulators in December 2017 indicated they were reconsidering rules meant to protect underground miners from breathing coal and rock dust - the cause of black lung - and diesel exhaust, which can cause cancer.
In December, an NPR and Frontline investigation revealed that regulators didnât act when they could have stopped the exposure of thousands of coal miners to toxic dust.
Now, NPR reporter Howard Berkes and a team discovered, thereâs an epidemic of black lung disease caused by that dust.
The disease is fatal. Bernard Carlson, who worked in mines in Somerset and Westmoreland counties in western Pennsylvania, has it.
âNo matter how you filter, no matter what they filter, the fine stuff is what gets in there and cuts you up,â Carlson told Berkes. âAnd it ainât coming out. Once it gets in there, it ainât coming out. The black stuff sometimes will. But that fine silica dust? Uh-uh. Youâre done.â
Berkes and his team found Carlson and other miners after their research on advanced black lung disease cases led to a simple question.
ââŠIâd been wondering, how could this happen?â Berkes said. âIf the regulatory system that was supposed to protect these miners had been working, it shouldnât have happened.â
In the latest episode of StateImpact Pennsylvaniaâs âenergy, explainedâ podcast, Berkes talks with StateImpactâs Reid Frazier about the story, and how miners like Carlson reflect on how practices in coal mines caused them to contract this deadly form of black lung disease.
StateImpact Pennsylvania is a collaboration among WITF, WHYY, and the Allegheny Front. Reporters Reid Frazier, Rachel McDevitt and Susan Phillips cover the commonwealthâs energy economy. Read their reports on this site, and hear them on public radio stations across Pennsylvania.
Climate Solutions, a collaboration of news organizations, educational institutions and a theater company, uses engagement, education and storytelling to help central Pennsylvanians toward climate change literacy, resilience and adaptation. Our work will amplify how people are finding solutions to the challenges presented by a warming world.
