Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) released the following statement regarding the Department of Labor’s announcement issuing a final rule to strengthen safeguards for the health of coal workers.
“Today’s announcement from the Department of Labor is a substantial victory for coal miners afflicted with black lung and their families. This is an issue of basic justice. No person who has developed black lung because of their years of labor in the depths and darkness of our nation’s coal mines should be denied black lung benefits. For far too long a rigged system stacked the decks against very ill coal miners. I’ve been pushing the Department of Labor for action and I’ll continue to fight back against attempts to deny sick coal miners and their families the black lung benefits they desperately need and are qualified for.”
The official text of the rule can be found here: https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2016-09525.pdf.
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