Betrayed in the Coalfields: The Trump Administration’s Attack on Miners’ Health

The Trump administration cut funding for mobile black lung X-ray unit. For more than 20 years, NIOSH’s “Miners Choice” mobile unit has traveled the country, offering confidential chest X-rays to miners - vital screenings that detect black lung disease early, when it’s still manageable.

Although a federal court temporarily restored it, travel funds remain frozen, stranding the unit in Morgantown, WV – far from most mining communities. Program information, including the schedule for the mobile unit (when and where) were removed from government websites and Facebook and have not been restored.

This isn’t about waste, fraud and abuse. It’s a direct blow to the health of America’s miners. While coal companies are protected and prioritized, miners are left more vulnerable to deadly lung disease. Earlier detection means a chance to slow the brutal progression of black lung.

Miners who voted for Donald Trump didn’t sign up for cuts to their health and safety protections—measures that shield them from illness, injury, and death.

Miners deserve better. They deserve respect, safety, and continued access to the tools that can save their lives. Anything less is a betrayal.

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