For 38 years, Josh Armes worked as a coal miner in West Virginia and Virginia.
asserted
Armes → work → Virginia
After retirement, Armes, 74, of Grundy, Virginia, was diagnosed with black lung disease, medically known as coal workers’ pneumoconiosis (CWP), caused by breathing in coal dust over long periods, which irreversibly damages the lungs.
asserted
which → diagnose → lungs
Armes has required an oxygen tank to breathe for the pastfour years or so, along with regular doctor visits and an albuterol inhaler to help when he has trouble breathing.
asserted
he → require → trouble
Even with the supplemental oxygen, he’s severely limited in what he can physically do.
asserted
he → limit → what
In 2014, Armes received notice that the federal black lung benefits he had been receiving for more than three years were being appealed against by a coal operator.
asserted
he → receive → operator
For the last 12 years, he and his family have been in an appeals process limbo, trying to regain their benefits while Armes’s condition progresses.
asserted
condition → try → benefits
The federal black lung program was created in 1969 to provide coal miners disabled by black lung with monetary compensation and medical benefits.
asserted
program → create → compensation
But the Armes family is just one of many who have struggled with appeals and long delays in obtaining federal black lung benefits.
asserted
who → struggle → benefits
Those delays come as the Trump administration moves to boost the coal industry and as cases of black lung are surging – reaching a nearly 50-year high, according to data published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine last month.
uncertain
cases → come → Medicine
According to a May report by the government accountability office (GAO), 7,709 miner beneficiaries were receiving black lung benefits in 2024.
uncertain
beneficiaries → accord → 2024
The report was requested in 2023 by Democratic senators Mark Warner, John Hickenlooper, Tim Kaine, and John Fetterman, who have also introduced legislation to improve the black-lung benefits system.
asserted
who → request → system
In the fiscal year 2025, about 22,500 beneficiaries, including dependents, survivors, and miners, were receiving black lung benefits.
asserted
beneficiaries → include → benefits
Between 2013 to 2024, 40% of approved claims by the Department of Labor were disputed, generally by coal operators.
uncertain
% → approve → operators
The May report said miners have expressed problems with obtaining black-lung benefits.
uncertain
miners → say → benefits
It said miners have been forced to wait several years for their claims to be approved, and raised issues with coal operators filing appeals.
“I can’t figure out one thing.
uncertain
I → say → thing
They sent me a paper that said I got first- and second-stage black lung.
asserted
I → send → lung
That ought to be enough, or do you have to be dead?” Armes said.
asserted
Armes → have → ?
His daughter, Crystal Armes, said obtaining the black lung benefits is an arduous process, involving paying out of pocket for medical tests and finding a lawyer to take on the case.
asserted
obtaining → say → case
She also argued that the law should change so that coal companies shouldn’t be able to appeal after benefits are awarded.
asserted
benefits → argue → ?
“The burden of proof lies on the coalminer to prove that he has black lung,” she said.
asserted
she → lie → lung
“We have appealed it and appealed it and appealed it.
asserted
We → appeal → it
He [Josh] does have black lung.
asserted
He → have → lung
Hopefully, soon we will be awarded the black lung benefits again.
asserted
we → award → benefits
But I’m not holding my breath on that one.”
asserted
I → hold → one
The GAO report said: “Miners in all six groups expressed their belief that mine operators were either ‘waiting for them to die’ or ‘waiting for them to give up’ so they could avoid paying benefit.”
uncertain
they → say → benefit
It noted between January 2013 to mid-August 2024, 390 beneficiaries whose claims were initially approved had their claims denied after appeal, leaving them responsible for paying back the benefits.
uncertain
claims → note → benefits
According to the report, the median length of an appealed claim was three years or more.
uncertain
length → accord → claim
Among 53,000 closed claims between January 2013 and August 2024, 11 claims took longer than 10 years to close.
uncertain
claims → close → years
The report did not state how many open cases have surpassed 10 years.
asserted
cases → state → years
The Armes family are still waiting for their black lungs benefits appeals process to complete, while not receiving benefits.
asserted
process → wait → benefits
“When you’re awarded it, they can appeal it, get a different judge, and it’s stripped away from you, which I find absolutely insane,” added Crystal Armes.
asserted
Armes → award → which
“They fight you at every single step of the way.
asserted
They → fight → way
They’ll send you from one doctor to another doctor to go do another test and another test.
asserted
They → send → test
You got to go to this doctor.
asserted
You → got → doctor
You got to travel over here, and it’s very costly.
asserted
it → got → ?
And some people don’t have the means to be able to do that.
asserted
people → have → that
I don’t feel like the process should be this difficult.
asserted
process → feel → ?
According to data published in August in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, researchers at the National Institute for Safety and Occupational Health (Niosh) found 32.5% of veteran underground coalminers in central Appalachia are suffering from black lung disease, a rate unseen since 1978.
uncertain
% → accord → 1978
Between 2020 and 2023, more than 1,700 coal miners in the US died from black lung disease.
asserted
miners → die → disease
The rise in cases has been attributed to silica dust that is more common in the coal seams being mined today.
asserted
that → attribute → seams
…and 15 more, not listed.
The Aporia
