Senator Shelley Moore Capito says workers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health deserve greater certainty, as do workers like coal miners who are affected by its programs like black lung screening.
Senator Jim Justice says he trusts President Donald Trump and his administration to do the right thing.
Hundreds of workers at the NIOSH in Morgantown have been told they will lose their jobs in a matter of weeks. About a week ago, some NIOSH functions for coal miner and firefighter safety were restored, although that seems to be temporary.
The federal government’s executive branch and its representatives in court have continued to say the actions are not a done deal, that the work under NIOSH could be maintained or reorganized. Yet the first set of employees to receive reduction in force notifications is moving toward job losses hardening up at the first of next month.
It’s Schrodinger’s federal program — could be dead or alive until you actually observe what’s inside the box.
NIOSH is an agency under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who announced on March 27 a restructuring in line with the administration’s Department of Government Efficiency initiatives.
The facility conducts research and makes recommendations about preventing work-related injuries and illnesses. For example, the NIOSH Division of Safety Research in Morgantown focuses on preventing occupational injuries through preventing falls, encouraging motor vehicle safety and preventing violence in the workplace.
The Respiratory Health Division focuses on preventing work-related respiratory diseases and improving worker health. The Coal Workers Health Surveillance Program studies respiratory disease in miners and provides health screenings and information, particularly about black lung.
Capito, R-W.Va., has sent a formal letter to Kennedy pushing for a return of employees and work, saying “I believe in the President’s vision to right size our government, but I do not think eliminating the NIOSH coal programs and research will accomplish that goal.”
In a briefing with reporters this week, Capito said “we’re still making a case here that this is a unique institution that does research in a very unique way to protect our coal miners, our firefighters and others, and has a record of success.”
A lawsuit in federal court has focused on whether the idling of NIOSH has improperly stopped the Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program required under federal law. The black lung screening program is sometimes referred to as CWHSP.
Despite the layoff notices, federal officials are making an argument in court that a legal challenge is premature because it is still uncertain whether the job losses will become final or if the functions might be reorganized.
“As consumers of statewide news media are aware, decisions regarding staffing at the Morgantown NIOSH facility are still in flux and subject to revision, evidencing their interlocutory nature,” wrote attorneys representing HHS and Secretary Kennedy.
“And HHS has never indicated that despite the RIF sent to employees in Morgantown, it does not intend to carry out its statutory duties under the Mine Act by, for instance, transferring duties under the CWHSP to other offices.”
Asked about that statement by MetroNews, Capito said everyone involved needs more solid assurances.
“I think it’s pretty explicit in the law that the accessibility and requirement that we have a federal black lung program, you have to be certified to get into it. NIOSH does the certifications and to obtain your your black lung benefits, that is in the law. So that function needs to go forward,” Capito said.
“We keep talking to them about it; the response is always, ‘Well, we’re going to do that. It’s just going to be in a different form, and we’re going to put it under, you know, Make America Healthy Again.’ That’s an insufficient answer in this case because we have pending applications. We have sometimes very severe health problems associated with black lung; it can be a killer in a lot of ways. And to me, I think the more time we waste, the sicker people are going to get.”
Her counterpart in the Senate, Jim Justice, said on statewide radio this week that he trusts President Trump and his administration to do the right thing.
Justice said on MetroNews Talkline that he has not spoken directly with Secretary Kennedy.
“There’s no way that President Trump, at the end of the day, is going to ask our coal miners that he really loves — and actually, I know our coal miners really love him — there is no way he’s going to ask them to give more, to absolutely put more energy in this nation’s pocket to give more and then at the same time, do something that may very well endanger their health. There’s no way,” said Justice R-W.Va.
Justice alluded to the possibility that the programs that are currently under NIOSH could be rearranged in the federal government somehow.
“And so it may be a different animal, and none of us want to lose the jobs. We sure don’t want to lose the jobs in West Virginia because they’re great jobs, and we’re going to battle for that till the end of the earth,” he said, “but at the end of the day, there’s going to be a mechanism to where our coal miners are not going to be in danger, guaranteed.”