Labor Dept. to Uphold Black-Lung Safeguards

The Bush administration has decided to defend rules from the Clinton era making it easier for coal miners suffering from black-lung disease to get benefits.

The coal mining industry, which backed President Bush during last year’s campaign, has filed a lawsuit against the rules, which it argues are arbitrary and burdensome. But Labor Secretary Elaine Chao said Tuesday she will back them.

“It is the department’s duty to defend the law, regardless of whether they are this administration’s regulations or the previous administration’s regulations,” Chao said.

Justice Department lawyers asked a judge in February for a suspension of the rules so Chao could consider them. U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan denied the request but agreed to block the processing of some new claims pending the outcome of the lawsuit.

“Our concern is that the litigation is itself delaying the larger goal of trying to improve the black-lung program,” Chao said.

Black-lung disease impairs breathing and is caused by long-term exposure to coal dust. Unlike other lung diseases, it does not show up on X-rays and generally is diagnosed by its symptoms. The United Mine Workers of America estimates 1,500 miners die of the disease each year.

Since the early 1970s, liability for payment of benefits to victims and their dependents has been imposed on coal mine operators and their insurance companies. The program is administered by the Labor Department on behalf of about 75,000 miners and family members.

The new rules, which took effect the day before President Clinton left office, limit the amount of medical evidence that can be submitted for black-lung claims. Under the old rules, mine operators were permitted to submit an unlimited number of medical opinions, effectively cutting off would-be beneficiaries by keeping their claims in litigation for years.