U.S. coal lobby fights black-lung tax as disease rates surge [View all]

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Last edited Fri Jun 1, 2018, 10:27 AM - Edit history (1)

Source: Reuters



JUNE 1, 2018 / 7:04 AM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO

Valerie Volcovici

PRINCETON, West Virginia (Reuters) - As a young man, Barry Shrewsbury dug coal in the West Virginia mines and spent his time off hunting and fishing in the rolling hills.

Now, at 62, he struggles to breath and accomplish basic tasks such as shopping and showering, and relies on a federal fund for ex-miners with black lung disease to pay for an oxygen tank and doctor visits.

“The benefits are a lifeline,” Shrewsbury said between labored breaths after a treatment at the Bluestone Health Center, an industrial-style building set against a leafy landscape in Princeton, West Virginia.

That lifeline is threatened. The Black Lung Disability Trust Fund is as risk of insolvency due to soaring debt and a slashing of coal-company contributions through a tax cut scheduled for the end of the year, according to a report the U.S. Government Accountability Office plans to publish soon, two sources briefed on the study told Reuters.




Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-coal-blacklung-insight/u-s-coal-lobby-fights-black-lung-tax-as-disease-rates-surge-idUSKCN1IX4EG