In Appalachia, a Father Got Black Lung. Then His Son Did, Too.

[LiberalArkie]

June 19, 2025

Denver Brock and his son Aundra used to spend early mornings hunting rabbits in the wooded highlands of Harlan County, Ky. But they don’t get out there much these days. They both get too breathless trying to follow the baying hounds.

Instead, they tend a large garden alongside Denver Brock’s home. Even that can prove difficult, requiring them to work slowly and take frequent breaks.

“You get so dizzy,” Denver Brock said, “you can’t hardly stand up.”

The Brocks followed a long family tradition when they became Appalachian coal miners. For it, they both now have coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, a debilitating disease characterized by masses and scarred tissue in the chest, and better known by its colloquial name: black lung.

Snip

https://archive.ph/JRUt1
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/19/well/black-lung-appalachia-coal-miners.html


Once nearly eradicated, Black Lung is back and suffocating younger miners than before. Officers working on the problem were fired by DOGE

[Mountainguy]

1. Been climbing for decades

Thicker seams have been mined out. Thinner seams mean more rock has to get cut, which means more silica in the dust.

Most miner dont wear their respiratory unless an inspector is on site and more companies dont make them. It's hot in a mine and they are uncomfortable to wear and try to work all day, so they dont.

Young guys think they are invincible and by the time they realize they aren't its already developing.